Gender And Gender Roles

These stigmas about what is considered appropriate careers for women to pursue and what boys should grow up doing start at early stages in life. For every time we tell the girls they should watch their younger cousins or baby nieces and nephews and we let the boys run around pretend fighting or building forts with Legos, we reinforce the identity that women should take care of others while the men play and watch football and design cars. It may seem like I’m oversimplifying the situation but that isn’t the case. There is no transition between childhood and adulthood like Kay Hymowitz claims in her essay “Child-Man in the Promised Land”. The idea of an extended adolescence is ridiculous and insulting to me and any male who has read it.

Stemming from early in history, society has held a firm belief that states that one’s gender holds an immense impact on the path one chooses in life. Whether it be educational or career oriented, gender tends to determine which area of study as well as what jobs one chooses. In many cases, many hold the stigma that certain jobs are simply meant for men due to their robust figure. However, what if it is more than just a stigma? Girls are just as qualified to perform excellently in a man dominated field. However, many tend to think that women are simply meant for housework and simple careers such as design and education. Most statistics that are provided tend to show that women follow career paths that are “socially acceptable for women”. This means that they tend to focus on career choices that accommodate their needs and characteristics such as teaching, dancing, and designing. Similarly, men orient themselves around either classes that are for men, or jobs that require men. As the years have progressed, there has been a significant amount of evidence that portrays how gender can have a vital impact on many educational choices such as, influencing what classes one

When a person is born, they are either male or female. Before they are born, their parents are going to set goals and expectations for them. Sometimes parents will name their child after a famous celebrity hoping they will be just as great as them. Each gender will have different ways they should live their life in order to stay within their gender role. Some will meet the expectations and other will not. That does not make them look less of their gender, they will just be expected to meet them. Over the years, some gender roles have submerged and others have risen above. They will be able to show how the gender roles are supposed to be in jobs, education, and marriage and also how they can benefit from stepping out of the gender roles.

In many shops, there seems to be an obvious separation between boys and girls items, for example, the birthday cards, books, clothes, and toys. This is shown in a variety of ways the boy's items are mainly the color blue and the books have pictures of either action figures, superheroes or tools. Whereas the girl's items are mainly the color pink. The books show pictures of fairies, princess, and Bratz. The cards also have the theme of the color pink for girls and blue for boys. The girl's cards have a lot of sparkles and pretty pictures whereas the boy's cards are covered in camo kind of illustrations and also have action figures on the covers. The children's clothes are separated into sections where there are labels for the boy's clothes and labels for the girl's clothes. The girl's clothing is all pretty and pink, it is covered in sparkles. Whereas boys clothing has camo patterns, blue colors, and pictures of action figures.

In present day all around the world, society has certain expectations for the actions and behaviors of males and females. There are many factors in our everyday lives that contribute to the gender norms that society has set. This essay will discuss how situations in life can play a part in how people treat other people based on their gender. It is believed that males are the leaders of our world, but in present day woman can do as much as men can do. From The Journal of Marriage and Family, Hu states, “Differentiated gender roles in adulthood are rooted in one’s gender role socialization. In order to understand the persistence of gender inequalities in the domestic sphere, we need to examine the gendered patterns of children’s housework time.”(2015, P.1). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females that they must be taught. These roles define how females and males are viewed in society, their household, and workplace. In The Journal of Sports behavior by Hardin, he states, “Although gender role differences from biological and “Natural” exists in popular consciousness, research has long demonstrated that instead, many are long time socially constructed… Individuals understand their gender because they are given names and treated in particular ways, such as dress in pink for girls and blue for boys, that reflect social construction of gender. Bandura's social cognitive theory is key in understanding the factors in socialization”(2009, P.3). Bandura's theory of of social cognition is that behavior, environmental events, and cognitive factors are the main keys that shape attitudes and actions of an individual. Although, gender roles play a very big part in our society, specific genders are treated differently while dealing with peer influence, media influence, as well as employment.

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

In our society, there are many opportunities and jobs that are pursued by more men than women, and our society helps perpetuate this conception. “Lean In: What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?” by Sheryl Sandberg argues the point that in our society, women are not being encouraged and shown while growing up that they can and should do anything that boys can do. Sheryl Sandberg gives many statistics, firsthand experiences, and the experiences of other to support her argument. Sandberg also uses logos, ethos, and pathos at many points in her essay to prove her point.

One of the issues that exist in our society are gender stereotypes, which are crude and unacceptable. We should not be led by gender-based expectations that defined how a man and woman should dress, act, speak, and behave. Everyone should be entitled to who they want to become and how they want to present themselves to the world. Although times are changing in our society, there are some people who still believe in their traditional customs of what a man and woman gender roles should be. It would be frustrating that someone tells me that I can’t be a doctor or pilot because I’m a woman and that my purpose in life is to be a housewife.

Societies today are highly affected by the way people are believed to act. Gender roles are created by society, and they are a way to define how a gender should or shouldn't act. In “Answers” by George Singleton, there is a husband and wife thinking about getting divorced, and they begin answering questions in a book, and realize that the other turned out to be less manly or trustworthy, than they believed to be. In “Public Relations” by George Singleton, a man and his wife are out eating with his boss and his wife. While eating he gets fired for talking about how women should act, and how they will amount to nothing without an education. In both of these stories, men and women act differently than the stereotypes put on them by their

Throughout my learnings I have always learned that women have come a long way since the past. Going from the days where women were expected to stay at home and raise a family to today where women are encouraged and generally able to pursue whatever they choose to do. However even with all these changes it is clear that society is still not in a place it should be in terms of gender.

Men collectively choose to receive psychological help less than their women counterparts. The sex distinction in help-seeking behavior occurs even when both women and men are equally afflicted. If male help-seeking behavior is to be increased, the reason for its neglect must be considered. Increasing our awareness of factors that may deter men from exploring psychological guidance may help in accessing reluctant men, allowing them to see past their preconceived ideology of masculinity.

A great percentage of people in today's society would agree with the consensus that manhood is and should be based on masculine features and ambitions in order to be accepted as a manly male; Paul Theroux begs to differ in his formal essay, “Being a Man”, as he contests this norm by avidly stating that forcefully adopting manly attributes while growing up is “emotionally damaging and socially harmful” (Theroux). He strongly exemplifies his understanding to the reader through personal experiences and ridiculing the silly gestures that both men and women make, and remain faithful to, in order to substantiate their purported gender roles in society.

Puritan and Early American society separated the male and women gender roles into two categories; men owned and undertook all the responsibilities while women were not allowed to posses anything leaving them with the job of keeping the household in order . Gender roles helped establish family structures due to the fact that families in the 1800’s were essentially the basis for all the institutions. For instants, institutions like the government, church, and the community relied on the gender roles to keep their associations in routine. Women and men were almost always separated for day to day tasks or meetings arranged by their towns. Quaker meetings were just one of many communities that separated the men to discuss judicial

Gender socialization often begins early once parents are shown the sex of their child; from then on, baby showers are planned according to gender “appropriate” colors, which are often pink for girls and blue for boys. Even differences in how children are spoke to can be picked up easily in Western cultures. Girls are called pretty and sweet, whereas boys are handsome and strong. Ultimately, the way children learn to identify with their gender culture is in part due to not only family and friends, media, schools, and religion, but also from the toys that may inexplicitly advertise gender expectations. Gender-typed toys may be bought for children as a way for parents to encourage and reinforce gender-appropriate behaviors. However, recent debates have engulfed toy manufacturers and major retailers, which has brought about changes in toy design and marketing in an effort to make reflect more realistic and gender neutral options.

Women were expected to be teachers, nurses, etc., just because that 's the role they had in society