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Essay on women empowerment through education
Gender bias in education
Essay on women empowerment through education
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Micro Level (Family)
At this level, I have had gender issues with my brothers and cousins when we were children. We used to be my two brothers, two cousins. One of my cousin was woman. We used to take advantage of our cousin because she was a woman. We did not want her to play with us or share things with her for the fact of being a woman. Now I realize that we were wrong, there was a great inequality of gender and a lack of education from our parents to us. Furthermore, when my brothers and I were children, we used to fight for insignificant things. There was a lot of competition between us on whom do things better. On the other hand, I have not gotten married yet, but I’m planning to get married next year and have children with my future
Even though our country supports equality in gender, differences still exist. This issue of gender and sexuality of our society has had one of the biggest impacts in my life since I was raised with five brothers. Since birth, I was immediately perceived by my parents as my gender role of girl and daughter. My brothers were given action figures, cars, and guns to play with. I was given the traditional girl toys Barbies, baby dolls and kitchen sets. Of course, I enjoyed my traditional girl toys but it might have been nice to have a choice and be able to have the same toys as my brothers to play with. I eventually concluded that I should be satisfied with whatever toys were given to me by my parents.
Gender may be a universal concept, but the meaning of gender differs between societies. The way humans behave, speak, experience, think, and view the world is the final product of socialization. From the moment the sex of a fetus is known, humans are being molded into the person society wants them to be. Different parts of society have different functions in the gender-socialization process. The familial relationships and interactions one has with their immediate surroundings—peers, school, religion, and neighborhood—are the most influential aspects of gender development. Loosely connected societal influences like mass media, politics, and culture are influential as well. Throughout childhood, one’s family and interactions with their immediate surroundings teach and reinforce gender, while the rest of society acts as a reinforcer. During adolescence, the broader society begins to take on a minor instructor role in relation to the family in the further development of gender. Essentially, family always acts as the main gender instructor and reinforcer, while society acts as the secondary gender instructor and reinforcer.
One noticeable cultural difference between the society pictured in this chapter and our American society seems to be a collectivist ideology. In America we value the individual and place emphasis on distinction from the group. This causes a strong sense of competition, and leads people to take actions that would benefit themselves in spite of negative effects that may trickle to other members of the community. The culture pictured in our reading, however, seems to place greater value on family and community goals rather than the needs or wants of specific individuals.
Historically, the model family involved couples marrying and starting a family young and absolutely no divorces. However, as time has progressed, the family structure has become increasingly complex, and less “traditional.” The typical and “traditional” family of the 1950s included the breadwinner father, housewife/mother and 2.5 happy and well-adjusted children (Kimmel and Aronson 181). Gender roles have always played a significant role in the root of the “traditional” family and marriage. Some individuals believe that we are born with these innate instincts to assume these gender-specific roles, while others believe these roles have been socially constructed over time. Gender roles allow men to assume superiority over women and unfortunately,
As a young woman growing up in a misogynistic environment, it has shaped me to be a determined to show that I may be a woman, yet I have the ability to do things that a man can do. I grew up with four male cousins, who were around my age, so whenever family get-togethers would happen, I would often wrestle with them or play Mario Kart with them, although I was brought up to play with Barbies and play ‘dress up’ but those things really didn’t click with me. I was never forced to play with Barbies, I usually felt obligated to do so, because I was a girl.
The process of teaching gender roles begins almost instantly after birth. For instance, female infants are generally held more gently and treated with more care than male infants. This treatment continues as the child grows, with both parents typically playing more roughly with their male children than with their female children. Not only that, but boys grow up being told that “boys should not cry” and are encouraged to control certain emotions that society believes to not be masculine, while girls are taught not to fight and not to show anger or aggression. The teaching of gender roles does not only come through obvious verbal teachings from parents and others in society, it also occurs in other social forces, such as literature (“Gender and
Within the modern feminist movement much effort has been made to find the likeness between men and women. Liberal feminism has taken the stand that little or no significant differences separate genders (Maltin 6). The goal of this reasoning in feminism is equal rights the and thus the destination, gender equality. (Maltin 5) Impassioned women have take up resourceful actions to further their cause and secure these rights. However, by concentrating on the similitude women have constrained their own identity. Through recognizing differences between genders women have the opportunity to achieve not only greater equality but also create the environment to embrace their unique and exceptional undertaking with humanity.
When defining family, the U.S. Census Bureau defines it as "a family is a group of two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption, and residing together". Essentially, this definition pulls a broad pool of people together. In Jack's case, he considers his mother, father, two siblings, both of his grandfathers, his aunt, his wife, and almost newborn baby to be in his family. A household, on the other hand, is anyone that lives together in a particular space (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). Jack explained that his household consists of himself and his wife. Soon, it was also consist of his newborn child.
Gender is a means of separation that also creates a dichotomy between the two which develops into inequality and, therefore, conflict. The dichotomy in modern western culture goes a little like this: baby boy is born, placed in blue, in shirts that say “little slugger”, grows up playing with legos and warriors, cartoons with superheroes advertised to him, and as he grows older, he is called a wimp if he cries, or shows sensitivity to the world around him. He is taught to be strong and stoic. In contrast, the baby girl is placed in pink, a “little princess” shirt, grows up cooking and dressing dolls, encouraged to wait around for someone to help her, expected to cry and be more complacent than her male counterpart. It is a dichotomy because a sensitive girl who is also a businessperson and a tough as nails stay-at-home dad are not thought to exist. Through
“Gender schema theory proposes that children develop a gender schema as a means of organizing their perceptions of the world. Once children acquire a gender schema, they begin to judge themselves according to traits considered appropriate to their sex.” (Rathus, Jeffrey, & Fichner-Rathus, 2014) The children who are successful in developing self-concepts that in line with the assigned gender will generally have higher self-esteem and are happier and healthier, mentally and emotionally speaking, when they are living in accordance with their assigned gender norms. Reversely, when children are raised in households that do not recognize gender norms, then children are at a deficit for learning how to be masculine men and feminine women and are at great risk of being mentally and emotionally unhappy and
In Barbara J. Risman Article Gender as a Social Structure theory wrestling with activism, Risman argues the importance of recognizing and developing gender as a social structure. The author outlines the dimensions of society and argues how defining the social structure can help understand how gender relates to each. The dimension of society includes institutional,interactional and individual. Risman in the article also discusses the roles and norms the social structure has created in society for men and women and the idea that these roles and norms have created categories. “A theory of gender as a social structure must integrate this notion of causality as recursive with attention to gender
From birth I have been taught morals and values which have gotten me to where I am presently. My mom stressed the importance of doing well in school while developing positive social skills, whereas my dad continually urged me to be an individual and stand up for myself. Due to their guidance, I have carried and practiced these values as I grew up and continue to do so. Within my small family, we are very comfortable with one another and it can be said that we have a smaller power distance than other households. Even though the power distance in my home may be small, my parents taught me to respect authorities and elders by demonstrating a larger power distance towards them. My parents also raised me into a family which has fluid gender roles. My mother and father both have full-time careers and have made it clear that I am expected to do the same when I have a family of my own. They, especially my mom, believe a husband and wife should be equals and take care of household duties as well as earning money to support the family. There are no set male and female roles in my house, instead everyone is expected to help out and work toward the common goal of the betterment of the family as a
There are a lot of ways for us to learn about gender roles and expectation. Family has the most important influence on how we learn about gender roles. There are some reasons why we figure out this. First, family is the initial socialization place. We contact to family when we were born. Because of this, family has a vital role in the stage of how we think about gender roles. Secondary, we will mimic the gender roles that parents unknowingly perform to us. We focus on parents’ behaviors, for instance, mother dose the house chores and father goes outside for work. And our thinking will be inserted with the idea which gender role should do what. Lastly, parents’ thinking about
Since the dawn of time, men and women have held very distinct places in society. For example, in regards to family life, men have traditionally served as the hunters, gatherers, and providers. Conversely, women have historically served as cooks, cleaners, and caretakers to their husbands and children. For centuries, these family roles were the cultural norm, especially in the typical American household. However, in recent years, society has seen a gradual shift away from this family dynamic. Many married women are no longer just caretakers, but are major contributors to the family income. In fact, there are many households in which the husband stays at home and the wife works. This change reflects a shift in societal attitudes and expectations
Gender roles are extremely important to the functioning of families. The family is one of the most important institutions. It can be nurturing, empowering, and strong. Some families are still very traditional. The woman or mother of the family stays at home to take care of the children and household duties. The man or father figure goes to work so that he can provide for his family. Many people believe that this is the way that things should be. Gender determines the expectations for the family. This review will explain those expectations and how it affects the family.