Gender Roles in Society Today Paper Example

Introduction

Gender roles in society have a critical impact on how the society views and operates things. Gender roles are as a result of various assumptions on what an individual, group, and corporations expect from a particular individual according to their sex as well as the beliefs and values of the society (Lindsey, 2015). The roles are defined from a communication made between the person and the environments as a way to help individuals identify how they are supposed to act from the gender they possess. Notably, acceptable gender roles are those that the society has labelled convenient for either male or female gender. However, the society is experiencing a shift in gender roles where either gender can now engage in diverse characters that were not considered suitable. Therefore, the paper focuses on fundamental questions arising from gender roles as well as discussing various topics related to it.

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Research question

1. What are gender roles?

2. What are some of the issues being experienced in gender role development in the society?

3. What are some of the impacts of gender stereotypes in the society?

4. What is the best way to address the gender stereotypes in the society?

5. Gender Stereotype

A gender stereotype is a concept that assumes the roles a particular gender is supposed to undertake. The stereotypes are extremely dangerous since they can interfere with careers, decision making and the capability to develop personal interests and skills. The gender stereotypes can be seen where the society regards women to hold the responsibility of childcare, women are not entitled to advanced education and the prospect that women are sexual properties of men (Doka & Martin, 2014). For instance, when a woman is raped, the society will fault the woman for dressing and behaving suggestively to men thus the orchestrators may go unpunished. The impact affects a large population of women who get damaged mentally, physical and may develop depression issues.

On the other hand, the male gender is assumed to be emotionally strong. A man can be undergoing a lot of stress but they are trained to suppress their feelings. This is a major cause of alcoholism, rapists, violence, depression and suicide cases. Thus, the society as a whole should embark on eliminating stereotypes of both genders. The efforts can be achieved by awareness creation among societies and government involvement in the creation and implementation of laws that will protect and respects the rights and feelings of individuals.

Issues Associated with Gender Roles

Notably, Gender stereotyping has significantly reduced. However, the society is still experiencing issues resulting from it. Bond & Calvert (2015) state that, currently, there has been a rise in modern families where both parents are enjoying equal rights when it comes to working environments. Nonetheless, the children are raised with the notion of socio-cultural expectation established according to their genders. Thus, in the case where a male or a female child is born with the opposite gender preference, they will have to fight their inner-selves to meet what is socially accepted.

Furthermore, there many labels in society such as housewife, breadwinner, and transgender. For instance, women are regarded as housewives as they are supposed to take care of kids, cook and clean even if they are working like a man. This lives them stressed and depressed at the end of the day. The breadwinners of the family are mainly men. A man is given the obligation to provide everything thing in terms of finances. For example, a man's money is for the whole family while a woman's salary is hers alone. This interferes with the family progress concerning development. Lastly, the people with a different sexual orientation other than the biological one are labelled transgender. Typically, the people involved face a lot of discrimination due to existing stereotypes of expectations in society. Hence, the people must be educated on the dangers of gender stereotyping and the importance of respecting people's preference and personal abilities.

Gender Communication Differences

Communication is critical in the society thus, it must be conducted in a good manner for the without any gender bias. Nevertheless, there are significant differences in communication between the genders. First, women are believed to lean more towards building associations which help then determine how and who to ask or communicate with to achieve results (Victoria, 2018). Men, on the other hand, concentrate on their task first before they can determine who to relate with. Secondly, women express their thoughts openly when making decisions when men have been groomed and expected to internalize everything prior to giving solutions. Thus, women are often seen as weak by men while women accuse men of ignorance.

Furthermore, the women lead unanimously by engaging every person. However, men prefer to go step by step in a hierarchical while involving a few people in their affairs. A man who leads through consensus is regarded to possess women like behaviors. Lastly, women utilize a lot of non-verbal communication to pass messages, when a woman is mad her facial expression will show. Moreover, a woman talking a lot is considered normal while men are expected to speak less in all situations (Victoria, 2018). This forms major outlines that and identities on the characters of both male and female gender. The gender differences can be addressed by recognition of different approaches to life by people, avoid stereotyping people due to their gender and avoiding conversations before knowing communication preference of people.

Gender Roles in Parenting

Gender has been a key determinant in parenting. Often, before a child is born, parents go to hospitals to take scans of the baby's gender to prepare for its arrival. The preparation can be concerning clothes, beddings and the kind of toys to buy. If the gender of the baby is female, the clothes will be nothing less than pink while boys are associated with the blue color. Also, at a young age, girls are groomed by ensuring they are bought dolls like barbies and are groomed to play the House (Bond & Calvert, 2015). Contrary, parents would purchase toy trucks for their little boys as well as being taught how to familiarise with sports like football, wrestling, and exercises. As a result, the boy child is trained to be tough in life as opposed to girls.

According to Zarza (2018), when children hit the age of two years, their understanding of gender roles is partially formed. When parents realize their kids are not responding according to their gender requirements, they start speculating and labeling their children on the possibility of having sexual orientation problems. Also, most movies and books given to children by parents depict women to take the roles of taking care of their homes like cooking and cleaning while men will be the ones who go out to work. Thus, when the kids grow up, no boy is willing to do kitchen work as they presume it is the responsibility of women alone.

Women Fighting Gender Inequality

For the longest time, Socialization of gender has impacted the female gender negatively making many women miss out on achieving their goals. The society believes that it is okay for women to accept less by settling, taking professions which are typically feminine and be stay at home mums. However, women have risen to the occasion and are now fighting to achieve the same standards as men. One area in which women are focussing on is education (Ozurumba, 2012). Most women are enrolling to colleges as compared to men who help them get more opportunities in job placements.

In addition, women are campaigning for more positions for women in the society through feminism campaigns to help the girl child. This empowers women on their ability to deliver just like men. For instance, stay at home mums can be able to start a business to help them do something constructive instead of depending on their husbands. However, the struggle is just getting started for women as men still enjoy all the rights and privileges in the society.

Interdisciplinary Benefits on the Study of Gender Roles in the Society

Interdisciplinary is important when it comes to the study of gender roles in society. It helps us in understanding diverse trends that have occurred and are still occurring concerning gender roles in society. Interdisciplinary helps in understanding female gender, male gender, and transgender community as well as their perceived roles (McNeill, 2012). Moreover, it investigates how factors like nationality, disability, ethnicity, and location affect gender roles in societies. Besides, it is essential when it comes to highlighting the best ways to address gender roles issues and how awareness can be created in the society. Finally, it helps the researchers to identify areas of concentration when carrying out the study for efficiency.

Conclusion

In conclusion, gender role is a significant issue in the society that requires time and resources to manage it. Typically, both males and females have been judged and wrongfully identified due to gender stereotypes. The main gender stereotypes include classification of women as housewives and men as breadwinners who are supposed to work and provide for the family. Moreover, women are described as talkative, emotional outspoken while men are seen as reserved and suppress feeling. As a result, both women and men have been impacted negatively in the process calling for urgent redress of the situation.

References

Bond, B. J., & Calvert, S. L. (2014). A model and measure of US parents' perceptions of young children's parasocial relationships. Journal of Children and Media, 8(3), 286-304.

Doka, K. J., & Martin, T. L. (2014). Men don't cry, women do: Transcending gender stereotypes of grief. Routledge.

Lindsey, L. L. (2015). Gender roles: A sociological perspective. Routledge.

McNeill, F. (2012). Four forms of 'offender'rehabilitation: Towards an interdisciplinary perspective. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 17(1), 18-36.

Ozurumba, P. (2012). Girl Power: How Female Entrepreneurs Can Overcome Barriers to Successful Businesses. Women's Rts. L. Rep., 34, 24.

Van Rheenen, D. (2012). A century of historical change in the game preferences of American children. The Journal of American Folklore, 125(498), 411-443. (Rheenen, 2012)

Victoria, C. (2018). Gender Communication Differences and Strategies | Experience. [online] Experience. Available at: https://www.experience.com/advice/professional-development/gender-communication-differences-and-strategies/ [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

Zarza, J. A. (2018). Representations of Feminist Theory and Gender Issues in Introductory-Level Sociology Textbooks(Doctoral dissertation, Portland State University). (Zarza, 2018)