Society in the U.S. has evolved immensely over the past century. With this evolution there has been a redefinition of what gender and gender roles are and this redefinition has influenced a change in the common structure of families and marriages in the U.S.
Among the many social changes that have occurred in the U.S. there have been many changes for Women. Women in today’s society are more independent and have more authority than previously. Men and women have become much more equal and these changes in society had a lot to do with the World Wars. As soldiers went off to war, women took over the jobs that they left behind. Women could now support themselves independently. As divorce became more acceptable and more common there were more female led households. This has changed the gender roles for women in the U.S., now not only are women domestic but they can be the breadwinners of their households. It is clearly evident that the change in the gender roles for women has influenced a change in families and marriage through the way women have more independence from their counter parts and how they have more authority within the family.
Along with a change in gender role for women over the past century there has been a change in the idea of gender and sexuality. The acceptance of sexual orientations besides heterosexuality has led to a major change in marriages and family. A factor in this acceptance has been the media. There have been quite a few shows with homosexual and transgender characters. The media has influenced many people to fight for certain legal rights for homosexual people. This has led to same-sex marriages being legalized in some states. Now there are many marriages in the U.S. comprised of homosexual people. Alon...
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... because now there are many same-sex marriages as it has been legalized in some states and also the way families are made up now, whether it is a single mother leading the household or a gay couple who has adopted children. It is crazy how fast the U.S. has changed over the past century.
Works Cited
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“!!HOLLYWOOD'S GAY PARENTING DEBATE!!” YouTube. YouTube, 5 June
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Kottak, Conrad Phillip. Cultural Anthropology: Appreciating Cultural Diversity. 14th ed.
New York. McGraw Hill, 2011. Print.
“TEDxKA: Gender Roles and Stereotypes by Serene Akkawi.” YouTube. Kings
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“Tony Porte A Call to Men. “ Ted Talks. Ted, December 2010. Web. 31 March 2013
There appears to be widespread agreement that family and home life have been changing dramatically over the last 40 years or so. According to Talcott Parsons, the change in family structure is due to industrialization. The concept that had emerged is a new version of the domestic ideal that encapsulates changed expectations of family relations and housing conditions. The family life in the postwar period was highly affected. The concept of companionate marriage emerged in the post war era just to build a better life and build a future in which marriage would be the foundation of better life. Equality of sexes came into being after...
For over centuries, society had established the societal standard of the women. This societal standard pictured the ideal American woman running the household and taking care of the children while her husband provided for the family. However, between 1770 and 1860, this societal standard began to tear at the seams. Throughout this time period, women began to search for a new ideal of American womanhood by questioning and breaking the barriers society had placed upon them.
To understand the significant changes within the role of women, it’s important to look at the position women held in society prior to World War II. In a famously quoted ruling by the United States Supreme Court in a case denying a woman’s right to practice law, the following excerpt penned by the Honorable Joseph P. Bradley in 1873 sums up how women were perceived during that period of time by their male counterparts. Bradley declared, "The paramount destiny and mission of women are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother -- this is the law of the Creator" . While many women may agree that the role of wife and mother is a noble one, most would certainly not agree this position would define their destiny.
In contrast, men have been seen as more dominate than women because of their masculine abilities and other traits and most importantly their profound responsibility of being the provider and head of the household. Americans constantly uses theses two distinct stereotypes that in many cases present many biases regarding gender codes in America. Things have changed over time the women are no longer just house wives taking care of the house and children waiting for their husband to come home from his nine to five occupations. Andrea L. Miller explains in her article “The Separate Spheres Model of Gendered Inequality” that, “A common theme in the study of gender is the idea that men and women belong in distinct spheres of society, with men being particularly fit for the workplace and women being particularly fit for the domestic domain” (Miller 2). Miller gives two very specific examples on how gender is viewed in American
The primary issue is that throughout the years, LGBT people were looked down upon and not accepted for who they are. Religion was one of the primary sources for the anti-gay movement. Media wouldn’t show gays on television, books that feature LGBT characters would always be killed off for no reason except because of who they were. Marriage was seen as a bond between man and women and that boy must like girls or they’ll “burn in hell.” Now, LGBT characters are on most television shows, along with books. Gay marriage was finally legalized in 2015. The fight for LGBT is far from over. As many believe that once
As generations proceeded, institutions such as the American Psychiatric Society began to classify homosexuality as a disease, which was later retracted in the 1970’s and was no longer considered a mental disorder. At this time many homosexuals decided to start “coming out”, a process in which people talk freely about their sexual orientation to family and friends. Then in the1980’s new adversary for the gay community became the forefront of debates worldwide. The AIDS crisis, which seemed to be only contracted in the gay male population, paved the way for brutalizing words such as “queer” that was used to describe all sexual minorities. In the 1990’s where the gay rights movement saw more victories with the United States military instituting the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy.” This policy gave homosexuals the right to serve within the military. Then in the year 2000, Vermont became the first state to allow same sex civil unions (Pitas).
Society places ideas concerning proper behaviors regarding gender roles. Over the years, I noticed that society's rules and expectations for men and women are very different. Men have standards and specific career goals that we must live up to according to how others judge.
One of the biggest changes in American families has been divorce and the single-parent families. In the article “What is a Family?”, Pauline Irit Erera argues that after World War 11, is when the major changes in families begun. Women were already accustomed to having jobs and working while their men were away during the war, and when the men all came back is when things started to change. Erera says, “The movement for gender equality led to increased employment opportunities for women, while at the same time declining wage rates for unskilled male workers made them less desirable marriage partners.” (Ere...
When television first appeared back in the 1940's, times were very different. What we would consider completely normal today would have seemed quite taboo just a few decades ago. For example, in 1953, Lucille Ball was not allowed to say the word "pregnant" while she was expecting baby Ricky and it wasn't until the 1960's show Bewitched, that we saw a married couple actually sharing the same bed. Considering how conservative the television networks were back then, it is not hard to deduce that something as controversial as homosexuality would be far from discussed or portrayed at any level. It was only in 1973 that television premiered its first homosexual character. Over the next three decades the emergence of gay and lesbian characters in television has increased and decreased as the times have changed. Due to the resurgence of conservatism that came back in the early 1980's, homosexual topics were again reduced to a minimum. Since that time though, as many people can see, there has been a rise of gay and lesbian characters on television. One might think after a first glance at the previous sentence that there has been progress among gay and lesbian communities to have a fair representation in the media. However, if one looks hard at the circumstances surrounding their portrayal, many people may start to believe that if there has been any progress then it has been quite minimal.
The female gender role in society has created a torturous fate for those who have failed in their role as a woman, whether as a mother, a daughter, or a wife. The restrictive nature of the role that society imposes on women causes extreme repercussions for those women who cannot fulfill their purpose as designated by society. These repercussions can be as common as being reprimanded or as severe as being berated or beaten by a husband or father. The role that women were given by society entails being a submissive homemaker who dotes on her husband and many children. The wife keeps the home impeccably neat, tends to the children and ensures their education and well-being, and acts obsequiously to do everything possible to please her husband. She must be cheerful and sweet and pretty, like a dainty little doll. The perfect woman in the eyes of society is exactly like a doll: she always smiles, always looks her best and has no feelings or opinions that she can truly call her own. She responds only to the demands of her husband and does not act or speak out of turn. A woman who speaks her mind or challenges the word of any man, especially her husband, is undesirable because she is not the obedient little doll that men cherish. Women who do not conform to the rules that society has set for them are downgraded to the only feature that differentiates them from men; their sex. Society’s women do not speak or think of sex unless their husband requires it of them. But when a woman fails to be the doll that a man desires, she is worth nothing more than a cheap sex object and she is disposed of by society.
Throughout history, the roles of men and women in the home suggested that the husband would provide for his family, usually in a professional field, and be the head of his household, while the submissive wife remained at home. This wife’s only jobs included childcare, housekeeping, and placing dinner on the table in front of her family. The roles women and men played in earlier generations exemplify the way society limited men and women by placing them into gender specific molds; biology has never claimed that men were the sole survivors of American families, and that women were the only ones capable of making a pot roast. This depiction of the typical family has evolved. For example, in her observation of American families, author Judy Root Aulette noted that more families practice Egalitarian ideologies and are in favor of gender equality. “Women are more likely to participate in the workforce, while men are more likely to share in housework and childcare (apa…).” Today’s American families have broken the Ward and June Cleaver mold, and continue to become stronger and more sufficient. Single parent families currently become increasingly popular in America, with single men and women taking on the roles of both mother and father. This bend in the gender rules would have, previously, been unheard of, but in the evolution of gender in the family, it’s now socially acceptable, and very common.
Is there a difference between gender and sex? Yes, sex is the biological difference between males and females as in their genitalia. Gender is more often defined to be the role of a male or female in society or the perspective of themselves. Gender roles tend to vary from race to race but have the same basic denotation. Macbeth by William Shakespeare and Freedom Writers by Erin Gruwell both exploit stereotypes of gender roles. Society builds the idea of gender roles to be completely opposite of each other. Males are seen to be the protector, provider, and cold-blooded ones. While women are viewed to be the compassionate one, the supportive one, and the affectionate one.
The role of a man and a woman is an age-old question that many have tried to solve. Roles a lot of times are impacted by the way that the world has impacted the life that has been lived up to that moment in time. Throughout history, the roles of each sex have been heavily influenced by what society said they were meant to be. In the days of old, the man was seen as the alpha male or the head of the house, and the woman was treated as a lesser being and sometimes even as a possession. The modern-day roles of a man and woman can many times be seen as one in the same, both capable of leading as well as serving. But despite this fact society seems to always revert to the mindset that can be found in the olden days.
In the past, many people believed that women’s exclusive responsibilities were to serve their husband, to be great mothers and to be the perfect wives. Those people considered women to be more appropriate for homemaking rather than to be involved in business or politics. This meant that women were not allowed to have a job, to own property or to enjoy the same major rights as men. The world is changing and so is the role of women in society. In today’s society, women have rights that they never had before and higher opportunities to succeed.
Indisputably, roles and characteristics of opposite genders have been ubiquitous, since historical evidence proves so – dating back to when the practice of oral tradition was favored over written language. This historical evidence is especially apparent in literature from previous time periods. In these works of literature, men and women often have very different social and economic positions within society. Particular duties, or tasks, are practiced depending on the gender of these individuals. However, in the advancing world we are currently living in, these duties are beginning to intertwine in an effort to allow equal rights amongst opposite genders. This effort to break the sexist barrier, which encompasses our world, has already begun rattling the chains of politicians and the like. However, with the progressions made thus far in retaliation to sexism and unequal gender privileges, the United States of America is heading in a positive direction towards gender equality. Nonetheless, the female gender is perceived as a lesser entity in society while the male gender is dominant and controlling. The masculine individuals in literary works usually govern, or direct the feminine individuals. These characteristics are often evident in various literary works – including “Hills Like White Elephants,” and “A&P” written by Ernest Hemingway and John Updike, respectively. The slow and steady transformation from a sexist society to one that allows inferior genders to perform similar tasks, if not the same as their superior counterparts, may disturb the ideological mindset of figures with authority; however, it provides inferior genders with the opportunity to branch out socially, economically, and politically.