Davyn Louis
13 December 2013
GWS/PHIL330
Final Paper: Gender Roles and Their Harm on Society
Gender roles can be defined as behavioral and social norms that are expected from males and females by society. Women are expected to be beautiful child bearers and housewives, while men are expected to be the strong bread winners of the household. What society does not realize, is that gender roles do more harm than good. Gender roles are harmful and damaging to both men and women, because they put unrealistic expectations on them that cannot be met.
The first topic I would like to discuss regards the work place’s continuous support of unfair gender roles. In Kate Millet’s Theory of Sexual Politics, she states, “In terms of activity, sex role assigns domestic service and attendance upon infants to the female, the rest of human achievement, interest, and ambition to the male” (Millet, 38). I believe this to be true because a large majority of women are stay at home mothers, while the father is expected to be the bread winner who works all day. Even if she is not yet a mother, I have seen women be constantly bombarded with questions about when she will quit her job and have children. No matter their career choice or personal desire, women are almost always expected to take on motherhood at some point in their life. Sandra Bartky criticizes society’s belief that “…women deny their femininity when they undertake action that is too self-regarding or independent” (107, Bartky). This opinion can be interpreted to say that it makes one less of a woman when she wants to be self-sufficient and free of having motherly duties. I do not believe that what a women chooses to do with her life should define whether or not she should be considered “wo...
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...s this idea, “Whatever power might be associated with dominant masculinities, they can also be the source of enormous pain” (Kaufman, 65). There are two conflicting sides to this power that men possess. They have a greater advantage over women in almost every aspect in life, but it comes at the price of hiding their true feelings and emotions. It may not seem as big of a disadvantage of the struggles women face with gender roles, but it still greatly affects the population and should be stopped. Men should be able to express themselves without the fear of being tormented and ridiculed.
We now see that gender roles can be harmful to women, and even men, because they put extreme pressures on each gender to act only one way. Both men and women should have the freedom to act and pursue any dream that they may have, without worrying about how they may be perceived.
Even Though women have revolutionized themselves in relation to the world many other aspects of society have not. This phenomenon, originally coined by Arielle Hochschild in her book The Second Shift, is known as the stalled revolution. In essence while female culture has shifted male culture has not. This has created an unequal, unfair and oppressive atmosphere for women across the nation. The title of Hochschild's book tells it all. The second shift refers to the second shift of work women are and have been burdened with at home. Although they have made enormous leaps within the economy and workforce their gender roles at home and within society remain the same. Male culture and their ideas of female gender roles have not progressed. As a result needs of females have not been met. Working mothers today work more than any other demographic, a rough estimate of this comes out to be a whole extra month of work consisting of twenty four hour work days.
Gender roles are how you act, say or do that shows if you 're a man or woman. According to society a man has to be strong, independent, a leader, and so. A woman has to be dependent, know how to cook, and submissive. These stereotypes seem unfair and sexist. A women can be strong, independent, and bring home the money and it wouldn’t make her man she would still be a woman.
“Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls”: few of our cultural mythologies seem as natural as this one. But in this exploration of the gender signals that traditionally tell what a “boy” or “girl” is supposed to look and act like, Aaron Devor shows how these signals are not “natural” at all but instead are cultural constructs. While the classic cues of masculinity—aggressive posture, self-confidence, a tough appearance—and the traditional signs of femininity—gentleness, passivity, strong nurturing instincts—are often considered “normal,” Devor explains that they are by no means biological or psychological necessities. Indeed, he suggests, they can be richly mixed and varied, or to paraphrase the old Kinks song “Lola,” “Boys can be girls and girls can be boys.” Devor is dean of social sciences at the University of Victoria and author of Gender Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality (1989), from which this selection is excerpted, and FTM: Female-to-Male Transsexuals in Society (1997).
Gender roles are often used in our own society to tie people to a certain representation for what is socially acceptable. These roles perpetuate gender inequalities because they often make the female end of the spectrum worth less than the male. One example is equating masculinity with strength and femininity with weakness. Because of this sayings such as “You run like a girl” become negative. Gender roles create a system where people are set to a different standard based off gender alone. In trying to follow what is socially acceptable based on gender people are forced into roles. There is a lower percentage of women in science than men because girls are taught at a young age that being smart isn’t feminine. These roles harm boys too, teaching them that they have to be hyper-masculine to be considered
Suggested roles of all types set the stage for how human beings perceive their life should be. Gender roles are one of the most dangerous roles that society faces today. With all of the controversy applied to male vs. female dominance in households, and in the workplace, there seems to be an argument either way. In the essay, “Men as Success Objects”, the author Warren Farrell explains this threat of society as a whole. Farrell explains the difference of men and women growing up and how they believe their role in society to be. He justifies that it doesn’t just appear in marriage, but in the earliest stages of life. Similarly, in the essay “Roles of Sexes”, real life applications are explored in two different novels. The synthesis between these two essays proves how prevalent roles are in even the smallest part of a concept and how it is relatively an inevitable subject.
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.
Traditional gender roles challenge people’s goals and aspirations by having a preset notion of what each gender is allowed to look and act like. Although this problem is still very relevant in today’s society, it would be a lie to say that steps aren’t being taken to correct this societal issue. “Let’s keep showing how we can all move beyond traditional gender roles and a culture where dads get high fives for taking their kids to the park but shame for taking parental leave or flex hours to care for a parent. Where women are shamed and guilted if they don’t solely fulfill the traditional role of wife and mother at home, whether they have children or not. Let’s keep doing the research that shows businesses are actually more profitable and higher functioning when they promote diversity, and all workers have time for life. If we keep talking, then maybe I...may live to see the day when true gender parity has finally arrived”(Schulte
Gender roles determine how men and women are expected to behave. They have a set of societal norms to follow. They are cultural and personal. They determine how males and females should think, speak, dress, and act within the views of society. Society has embedded an image into the minds of people and how the role of each gender should be played. There are two recognized types of gender, man and woman, however there are many types of gender
Gender roles are the roles an individual associates being, which is either male or female. An individual’s gender role is heavily influenced by the gender roles they were exposed to when growing up (Gender & Gender Identity). In some cultures, men portray a female gender role and vise versa. Gender roles are given to an individual because they start as early as childbirth. In modern society, those who display the opposite gender role are usually frowned upon as they do not “fit” into societies expected behaviour. In Cinderella’s society, men were expected to work while the women were expected to take care of children, cook and cl...
Since the beginning of time men have played the dominant role in nearly every culture around the world. If the men were not dominant, then the women and men in the culture were equal. Never has a culture been found where women have dominated. In “Society and Sex Roles” by Ernestine Friedl, Friedl supports the previous statement and suggests that “although the degree of masculine authority may vary from one group to the next, males always have more power” (261). Friedl discusses a variety of diverse conditions that determine different degrees of male dominance focusing mainly on the distribution of resources. In The Forest People by Colin Turnbull, Turnbull describes the culture of the BaMbuti while incorporating the evident sex roles among these “people of the forest”. I believe that the sex roles of the BaMbuti depicted by Turnbull definitely follow the pattern that is the basis of Freidl’s arguments about the conditions that determine variations of male dominance. Through examples of different accounts of sex roles of the BaMbuti and by direct quotations made by Turnbull as well as members of the BaMbuti tribe, I intend on describing exactly how the sex roles of the BaMbuti follow the patterns discussed by Freidl. I also aim to depict how although women are a vital part of the BaMbuti culture and attain equality in many areas of the culture, men still obtain a certain degree of dominance.
This is particularly palpable in the phenomenon of gender roles. “Oversimplified conceptions pertaining to our behavior as females or males,” gender roles boil down our gender and anatomical performance into categories of “boy” or “girl” (Basow 3). Patriarchy then builds systemic inequality off this simplistic binary foundation, attaching “male” to spheres of power and “female” to spheres of powerlessness. Gender roles are one of many patriarchal infrastructures that thrive off a concrete definition of gender and/or sex, and so modern feminism has found power in dismantling both constructions.
Gender roles are unavoidable at any stage of your life. They are taught to you by parents, conveyed in the media, practiced and honored in organizations and supported by our government. No matter how many feminist groups attempt to bring the two sets of gender roles for males and females together, there will always be the unwritten expectations that males and females are taught. Boys will always play with guns and girls will always play with dolls. As long as this occurs, the ambitions for boys and girls will be directly related to the stereotypical form we are taught. It is up to the families, media and peers to use the gender roles appropriately.
Gender Roles are expectations regarding proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females. Gender roles apparent in work and in how we react to others. Gender Roles determine how males and females should think, speak, dress, and interrelate within the perspective of society. Normally, a boy is thought how to fix and build things; while girls learn how to cook, and keep house. Children are applauded by their parents when they conform to gender expectations and adopt culturally accepted and conventional roles. All of this is reinforced by additional socializing representatives, such as the media. The Hiraj’s of Hindu religion are looked upon for their gender and sexual
Historically, the roles of men and women have evolved overtime. For thousands of years, static gender roles were the accepted norm. In the 18th century “the idea that women and men naturally possess distinct characteristics” was a view that many people had (Emsley). Women were believed to be controlled by their emotions whereas men were thought of as
Throughout history men and women have been put into the rigidly defined roles of feminism and masculism. This box that society has created has push back the true people and presented us with the societal image of what men and women should be. This is gender stereotyping. Through these stereotypes a feminist movement and a masculine movement have arisen to try to break those stereotypes.