Gender and Class in Society

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‘‘The family, in Ireland, as elsewhere, has been identified as ‘an important symbol of collective identity, unity and security’ (O'Connor, Emergingvoices: Women in contemprary Irish society, 1998, p. 89). It is seen by many as the ‘natural’ basis for society. Gender and class play a huge role in shaping family life for both the parents and for the children.
Gender refers to the meanings that arise of sexual classification and to the socially constructed experiences and identities that arise from assumed sexual differences. (Share, Corcoran, & Conway, 2012, p. 180). Gender gives rise to two categories; feminine and masculine which are continuously being formed, questioned and altered (O'Connor, Emergingvoices: Women in contemprary Irish society, 1998). Gender is extremely important in terms of self-definition and family life experience. Gender roles are defined by the socio-cultural norms in any society. In most societies the family systems are based on the gender roles and it is these pre-designed gender roles that help to run the family with bound responsibilities. Any flaw in the gender role aspect may affect the smooth running of the easy-going family life. For children, girls are more likely to experience and indulgent or permissive parenting style from both parents, whereas fathers are more likely to adopt an authoritarian style with boys than girls. Girls in general tend to be more positive about themselves although girls tended to report more about their feelings than boys. The modern social structure sees both men and women as equal parents in society with equal rights, status and responsibility. In the families, people who have observed authoritarian fathers and submissive mothers may expect the same when they setup thei...

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... think from reading this essay it is understandable that it is not the sex of the parent that shapes the child’s development but the atmosphere that the family creates. Class can determine the life you will live before you are even born, depending on the class that your parents belong to. Both upper and lower class have their own advantages and disadvantages of how they shape the family experience. It is hard to determine if one class experiences better family life than the other as it may not depend on the class to which they belong but the love and tenderness that is givin within the family. Gender and class help to frame the experience of family life in an extremely powerful way. The circumstances into which we are born form the person that we become. Nurture is a definitive indicator that an enriched enviroment determines a healthier experience of family life.

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