Aishat Adebayo
WGSS 2010 – 12 PM
Cultural Influence on Gender Role
Ever since I was little, all I have ever dreamt about was becoming a successful doctor and living in a beautiful modern home with my husband and many children. You could say that I’m aspiring for my version of the “American dream.” My parents, who I look up to, portray a glimpse of this future that I hope to achieve. Since I grew up in a Nigerian Muslim household, with conservative parents, my sister and I were raised to uphold certain beliefs regarding gender roles. In a traditional African culture, it’s customary for women to be raised as ‘housewives’ as men are believed to be the ‘breadwinners’ of the household. From a very young age, I was taught to cook, clean and care for my future family. As extra ‘motivation’ my parents would often tell me how shameful it would be to fail as a 'housewife' and unable to marry as a result. Just getting married, does not cut it, women are also expected to birth a child for their husbands (notice the FOR) otherwise, they are looked down upon. My parents always made sure to tell my sister and me, that for us to obtain a happy marriage, we should look for an African Muslim
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Although I believe women should care for their husbands; I also think marriage is a two-way street, and a man should be treated like a King, and the wife should also be treated like a Queen. When I think about who my future husband is, I see an African Muslim man, with great qualities that exemplify characteristics resembling my father. Because of this, I rarely give men who do not display these characteristics, the time of day (Hence why I’m still single). Recently, I came across a situation in which a male individual revealed the mindset of a typical ‘egotistical man.' Situations such as this only reinforce my beliefs that good men no longer
Throughout history, women have been regarded as of lesser value than men particularly in the public sphere. This is the result of gender stratification. Gender stratification refers to the issue of sexism, “or the belief that one sex is superior to the other” (Carl et al., 2012, p. 78). The theory that men are superior to women is essential to sexism. Sexism has always had negative consequences for women. It has caused some women to avoid pursuing successful careers typically described as “masculine”—perhaps to avoid the social impression that they are less desirable as spouses or mothers, or even less “feminine.”
Gender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex. Gender roles are never comprehensive, even within a single country, and they are always historically and culturally unpredictable. Gender roles in the United States for one cultural group likely is not true for another cultural group. Similarly, gender roles in the United States have changed drastically over the time period. Gender roles has been the historical evolution from a single family income in which only the male spouse works and generates income, to dual family income or a family in which both spouses generate family income. The shifting gender roles in the past years has been huge. It happened so quickly
In today`s population gender, roles play part in our daily life. Gender roles are created by the society that each person lives in. It can be broken down into feminine roles, strength masculine, and many others. In American culture, it shows their gender roles by appealing to the environment and changing the way society thinks. After watching The Dangerous Ways Ads See Women video, it is important to look at the gender roles in contemporary U.S. society. I picked up four different magazines to collect my samples for this assignment. I collected four magazines at Barnes and Nobles on November 9, 2016. The first magazine that I chose was the Men`s Health magazine; which talked about how its best to fit and real guys who love to work out have insane results. The second magazine I collected was the Tatler magazine. The third magazine is Vanity Fair, and the fourth one is the rolling stone magazine. All of the magazines that I sampled from are all different because they all have different pictures that show why gender role can be different in culture. I will discuss how gender is portrayed in the sample ads, how the gender roles are reinforced in the situation that I observed, and I will apply the theory to the observations. Gender roles are very important to American Culture.
Gender plays a substantial role in how Chicanxs and Latinxs live their lives in the United States. Despite that both men and women who identify as Chicanxs or Latinxs, have had a very rough time feeling accepted and respected in the United States, gender is one of the many factors that contributes to how these individuals live out their lives. Hegemony in gender roles contributes to the different lifestyles both at work and in society of Chicanx and Latinx men and women in the way that women and men are expected to live up to the traditional gender roles. The living experiences of male and females differ greatly based on their gender; this goes to say for both Chicanx and Latinx men and women born in the United States of immigrants.
It was July 26, 1943, a historic day in history because it was the birthday of Mick Jagger, and my grandmother, Betty Andrews de Soto. Born in Jacksonville Florida, but raised on the Cherry Point North Carolina marine base by strict and religious parents, my grandmother is one tough cookie to crack. My grandmother is not fazed by much, but she continues to be astounded by the vast changes in technology, gender roles affecting American home life, and by the active role of racism in our society. “The world has changed dramatically in technology, home life, and racism, but mostly for the better.” (de Soto)
Throughout life every man and woman fits into a specific gender role. We are told what is expected of men and women from birth until death. Many people influence our view of how we should act and what we should say such as our parents, friends, and even the media. Males and females play very different roles and these differences are apparent in our every day lives. These differences are not the same as they used to be. Society has changed the way it treats men and women over time.
Throughout the history of the U.S., women have had two major social roles that were defined by gender. Women had two major roles, the first is being a moral compass for society. Women were seen to be virtuous and pure to the point that the idea of a woman stepping on the “wrong path” was horrible and made that particular woman worthless in the eyes of society and more importantly made her feel worthless to society. An example of this is seen with Helen Jewitt, Helen was tricked into sleeping with a man when she thought the love of her life was dead. After she slept with the man she felt terrible and was left stranded, she made her way to New York where she became a prostitute. In one of her letters to her parents, Helen writes of how ashamed she is and what a disgrace she is to her parents and that she can never go home because she would be the talk of the town. Helen is a prime example of how women that “failed” to live up to the rigid morals of society felt and how they were perceived by others. Women as keepers of morals can be seen in the American Female Moral Reform Society Warns Mothers About the “Solitary Vice,” 1839. Just the title of the document and the name of the activist group shows how much women were seen as the keepers
Despite the modern concepts of simpleton Southern belles sitting in the shade sipping mint tea while house slaves wait on her hand and foot, it is just overrated. Even if the history of this great nation chooses to not include women as much as they do men, that does not mean that they were not there during the struggles of our history, helping shape America into what it is today. No, women did not just sit idly by and watch the men make history, but instead joined in and changed the course of our society into what it is today. During the era in the Antebellum South few notable women contributed significantly to the history of our country, this fact is greatly owed to plantation life where plantations ruled the south and cotton was the King.
In the media specifically shows in United States are the typically represented some gender roles of men and women. Men are depicted as successful individual, bread winner of the family or the one that provides good things for the family. They are capable of everything and they represent men as strong and independent roles. Men roles are the superhero who will do everything to make everything perfect. Men are supposedly represented with honor competitiveness, with power and self-reliance or sometimes objectifying sex. Nonetheless, the roles of men in other shows illustrated more successful and more capable in doing more things than women. Consequently, we typically watch women as a mother who take cares of the family, the household chores
The American women served many roles. Some of which include nurturing, friendship, companionship, farmer and rancher, and housekeeper. Being a farmer and rancher was of great work. “Peace attended their labor; and they had nothing to alarm them, save the midnight howl of the prowling wolf, or the terrifying shriek of the ferocious panther, as they occasionally visited their improvements, to take a lamb or a calf to satisfy their hunger” (Seaver, (1992), p.63). As farming and ranching was the man way of life for those who lived in the rural areas, these American women needed to be on watch for their land and livestock when the men weren’t around. Along with this, these American women still served as the role maker for their other roles. They
I believe that gender roles are still relevant in American culture in the 21st century. There is a great statement about gender that was presented in the lecture PowerPoint Sex vs. Gender: “In our society, gender is a master status. In other words, gender impacts almost every single area of our lives, including our relationship with others. If we don’t know what someone’s gender is, then we often don’t know how to react with him or her and we get uncomfortable. As a result we like to know what people sex and gender are.” Today, however, we're less likely to stereotype though there are still narrow- minded people around.
Throughout this paper I will be discussing the role of women in the American society. I will reference the importance of gender and gender inequality. The definition of gender aims to clarify for of all the historical framework of the topic, the role of women in the American society. The paper will lead from the role women were given around World War II and then transition into the role women can now choose in the American society today. Addition to the role of women I will also discuss the differences of how the genders are treated in the same places, for example work place. Men and women are culturally molded when referring to gender in the American society. The gender roles play a lead part into how the model family, education, and liberty are. The reason I chose to write about this topic is due to my strong belief that although I don’t agree with the characteristics society gave to gender, I do believe in gender equality.
Gender Theories Christabel Ekechukwu Walden University Indians are collective society that promotes social cohesion through interdependence. Gender roles in the Indian society are revealed from the household level. In India, the male power is exposed right from the nuclear family and femaleness is seen as inferior. In this society, the male gender while boys are taught how to exercise their authority over the female gender, which are required to submit.
Kamala has struggle most on the culture and gender identity. Living in an America is a nightmare to her. She said I don’t know what I supposed to do, and she don’t know who she is. This is a biggest challenged to her. Kamala came to the American which her parents, and were started learning American cultures how they associated, and interact to each there. The kind of food they eat, and how to cope and associate with her friends. The main thing for here is to meet the expectation of her friends. It was hard for her trying to belong to the American cultures. However, she was a Muslim with a Pakistani culture. Based on the history, the Muslim policy and their rules were clearly different with others religions. Kamala has been disobeyed her parents,
All of our veterans around the world are appreciated very much. They sacrifice a lot for this country. They always do what they’re told even if they are scared or don’t want to. They fight for our country, risk their own lives, and give us freedom. These men and women do a lot for us. They deserve a lot of honor and respect.