My cultural identity is female. To say this is to identify myself as having personal characteristics pertaining to femininity, as oppose to masculinity. Femininity is often synonymous with sensitivity, passiveness, gentleness, nurturing, empathy, and compassion. My cultural identity as a female has influenced several aspects of my life, including family, social development, education, and health. It affects the roles I take on in my family. It affects how I socialize with other people, shaping personal relationships. It influences my education and health. For example, I was raised with the idea that women are caretakers and must be housewife material. As such, I have taken on multiple roles; I am my parents’ housekeeper, my grandparents’ chauffeur, and my cousins’ sitter. Consequently, this caretaker persona extends towards my social life. For example, I become a “mother hen” with my friends. In one particular case, my friend was drunk and incapable of taking care of herself at a party, so I looked after her until she was well enough to go home. As a woman, my caretaker persona has led to healthy relationships, based on communication and nurturance. In regards to education, I am a psychology major. Psychology is a female-dominant field in academia; this is most likely because psychologists often utilize traits common to females (e.g., compassion, sensitivity, empathy), so women tend to gravitate towards this
Being a woman was always the largest piece of my identity. I focused my attention the oppression that comes with identifying as a woman. I resisted against the ideals of patriarchy and spent time in college starting a club that promoted and supported women in business fields. However, I never stopped to think about the intersection of my identities and how my other identities
“Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.” (Kramarae 1). As a citizen of America that is Hispanic the idea that men belong in superior roles in workplaces and homes while women do the “simpler” jobs was taught and should be addressed by politicians. For generations, men have been seen as superior to women, to the point where women lose their basic human rights. Women are seen as weak and incapable of doing anything for themselves. However, women have the ability to be independent. While some American and Hispanic people believe women are treated equally and feminism is an excuse for women to “rebel” because they have not experienced discrimination based on their gender, there are some American and Hispanic people, mostly
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 1587 Eleanor Dare started a history of first New England’s female settlers. In XVI-XVII century it was characterized more with dismal end then with a story of prosperous life and happy ending. Coming to New World mostly in search for a good partner, as “tobacco brides” or being simply deported as undesirable citizens, women died from starvation, malaria or Indian attacks. Some women sailed across the ocean as indentured servants and suffered from the cruelty of their masters. There were, of course, stories of success such as with the Brent sisters. Unmarried, they ran Maryland colony during crises. Margaret Brent became to be known as the nation’s first lawyer and the first colonial woman who demanded the right to vote.
In pre-ap english, I interviewed Jacquelyn who is a freshman at Macarthur High School in Lawton, Oklahoma. In our society, we are often subjected to gender roles. Gender roles is the act of assigning certain emotions or behaviors to men or woman. In response to finding out what gender roles actually are, Jacquelyn does not agree with the idea of them and states that people should “be able to do what they want.” Gender roles often prevent us from being the person we want to be. For example, if a guy were to wear makeup there are people who would judge him harshly and possibly even outcast him, simply because they believe women are the only ones who can wear makeup. Same thing goes for women, like if a girl wanted to play football many would
Students get their Master’s Degree for various reasons. Some earn their Master’s Degree merely to further their education. Many students want more concentrated instruction in a specific discipline. Others may wish to advance their professional career. Still, other students see it as a stepping stone in pursuit of a Doctoral Degree. Question three asks about declaring for a major. The question asks specifically about the proportion to which men declare for a degree versus women. The question implies that men declare for a degree at a significantly higher proportion than do women. The two-sample hypothesis test for proportion is used to answer the question. The textbook states that we can compare the proportions from two samples to each other (Mirabella, 2011)
Over the years the United States has grown to love each other as the way people are, especially women. Women have proven to be even stronger than what people expected them to be. You can see the strength, the courage, and the confidence they have gained. It has been discussed many years that women shouldn’t be allowed in combat for not being “strong enough”. Men have shown that they can be “manly” enough to do women or girl things, so why can’t women do “manly” things? If women feel like they can handle being on the frontline then we should respect their decision and allow them to go.
In Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan writes about women 's inequality from men to women 's equality to men, while also writing about women accepting the inequality to women and then fighting for equality. Friedan encourages women to find worth outside of the home and explore her possibilities but, “for the sake of every member of the family, the family needs a head. This means Father, not Mother. Children of both sexes need to learn, recognize and respect the abilities and functions of each sex. He is not just a substitute mother, even though he 's ready and willing to do his share of bathing, feeding, comforting, playing. [...] If in that world he is interested, courageous, tolerant, constructive, he will pass on these values to his children” (Friedan 99). Friedan is attempts to tell her readers that no matter the circumstances, men are “handed” power when they’re assigned their gender and they dominate the world in every aspect- jobs, politics and at home. Since the beginning, women, believing they didn 't have any other choice, would blindly follow their husband, because they were brought up believing when a woman grows up, they are to only marry and have children. “Girls didn 't get excited about things like that anymore. We don 't want careers. Our parents expect us to go to college. Everybody goes. You 're a social outcast at home if you don 't. But a girl who got serious about anything she studied, like wanting to go on and do research would be peculiar, unfeminine.
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.
Women from America have equal rights but sometimes are treated unfairly so one can only imagine the struggle of how Afghan women are treated when the come to America. Although women from Afghanistan who come to America may not be treated fairly or equally all of the time, they are still better off in America than Afghanistan, even before the Taliban seized power. In Afghanistan, married women are often seen as property and can be treated as property by their husbands as well; this also means that they have no voice or freedom to be themselves. While this unfortunately happens in America, sometimes Afghan women who come to America have more freedom and have the ability to be independent and make their own choices. The noticeable absence of women
Growing up in developing country, girls and women were shunned out to voice out their opinions and ideas. My culture, specifically believed that an ideal woman was someone who agreed to all laws passed by community elders despite their disapproval. For sixteen years that I lived there, my life was directed by the norms of my cultures and their heartless believe that women were worthless compared to men. To them our benefits were acknowledged when we got married and our parents get dowry. Having my own self-concept was out of the question; someone was always there to tell me how I look, what I should do, and whom I should be when I grow up. My life was built on the belief that once I was old enough, I would get sold to the highest bidder and start my own family. My parents on the other hand were not very affluent. My education was bound to stop after eighth grade because the government could not cater free high school education. When I move to the United States, everything shifted, here I have rights of being my own self and make my own decision the way I see fit.
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.
From Roman matron Libertas to Lady Liberty, there seems to be a normalization of femininity regarding the iconography used to represent freedom. When we think of liberty, we tend to think of ‘her’ as a ‘she.’ Her torch of freedom is seen on flags, Seals, and most prominently on Liberty Island, standing at 350 feet tall all around the United States. The first emergence of Lady liberty in the United States was during the colonial era, leading up to the American Revolution, where the meanings of femininity are negotiated through the images and narratives of women’s bodies published to the public. America is often pictured as a woman that is virtuous, scared and needs to be protected. When America is abused, she is used as a call to revenge her
Throughout United States history oppression of people has always been prominent, whether through African American’s and segregation or Asian American’s during the Vietnam War. What is often ignored is our history of the oppression of women. No matter what time in history, there is always a case to be found of the discrimination over gender. Many people know of how African American’s came into freedom and the long perilous road it took, but few know the struggles, changes and hardships that women have perceived to get where they are today. As the civil war halted and industrialization and urbanization came into play, the role of women changed dramatically and their status