How Gender Is Impacted in Society in Which It Is Present? - Paper Example

Introduction

Gender is a social construction that occurs at the individual, interactional, and structural levels. Gender roles are determined by the different expectations that individuals, groups, and societies have of other individuals based on their sex, societal values, and beliefs in gender (Blackstone 335). Society much affects gender because humans create the concept of gender socially. The interactions of humans in a community bring about social stratification and valuation concerning masculinity and femininity. The social construction of gender in a society occurs when individuals, groups, and societies ascribe particular characteristics, statuses, and values based on sex. Furthermore, social relational contexts evoke hegemonic cultural beliefs about gender. These beliefs end up becoming background frames that under specifiable circumstances bias the behavior and evaluation of self and others in gender-consistent directions (Ridgeway and Correll 512).

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The existence of cultural beliefs in a society influences gender and results in the creation of stereotypes. An example of a stereotype is that women are more communal and men are agentic and instrumental (513). Such stereotypes end up viewing men as more status worthy and competent than their female counterparts. Such beliefs end up developing gender inequalities in society. Equally important, the presence of traditional views such as women are nurturing than men expects women to nurture their families and avoid taking other opportunities outside their homes such as employment (Blackstone 337). Such cultural beliefs affect the society and the aspect of gender such that when an individual takes up a particular position in the community, there is always the automatic belief that others will treat them according to hegemonic gender beliefs.

For this case, if a society maintains a traditional gender role orientation, individuals are likely to be influenced by the rules and rituals of the generations that come before them. On the other hand, individuals with nontraditional gender role orientations are inclined to believe that sex should not determine behavior. It is therefore evident that the cultural beliefs and values impact gender in a society that is constructed by the individuals present in that community.

How does Gender Norms Affect Sexuality

Social influences around sexuality affect all human beings. Gender is one of those influences (Ilkkaracan and Jolly 4). Sexuality is influenced by the expectation that women and men, boys and girls should behave differently from each other, and the expectation that will be either female or male and not transgender. Individuals who go against these expectations, for instance, girls who undergo female genital mutilation, are likely to face unequal chances to fit their sexualities. In Pakistan and Brazil, fathers and older brothers take boys at a younger age to brothels without their full consent. The whole experience is traumatizing. Individuals are likely to face violence and discrimination if they do not conform to the gender expectations and choose their paths such as being single mothers, macho-men, and transgender. Social stigma and state laws discourage other types of sexualities such as gay, lesbian, and bisexuals. For an individual to be regarded a proper man or a proper woman, each of them has to stick to the stereotypes and have relations only with people of the opposite sex. Women and girl's mobility, education, and economic participation are controlled to protect their innocence. In Turkey, parents fear to send their girls to school because of the fear that mixed-setting instruction will increase potential sexual encounters between boys and girls (5). Equally important, structural factors like social norms shape the perception of individuals regarding appropriate sexual behaviors for men and women. The social norms set up double standards that allow men more sexual freedom than women (Lefkowitz, Shearer, Gillen and Hernandez 2). A significant number of cultures place more value on masculine than feminine behaviors; thus, creating a power differential between men and women, which could translate into sexual relationships. The role that the society sets for both men and women and the cultural beliefs of a community influence the sexuality of both men and women.

How do Gender Norms affect Spirituality?

The relationship between gender and spirituality attracts considerable interest. Spirituality was traditionally viewed as a male-focused activity that involved maturation. Recent spiritual emphasis has involved coming into contact with God. Biology, emotionality, gender roles, and socialization are some of the factors that differentiate women and men regarding spirituality (Rich 4). The author describes two types of religious thinking, which are connected knowing and separated knowing. The first type of religious thought focuses on relationships, feelings, and understanding individuals. Separated knowers take the position of moral objectivity and restrict their emotions. The difference in spirituality arises because men are in the category of separated knowing while women tend to be inclined more as connected knowers (6). Although not all men and women can be categorized using such criteria, it is an aspect that cannot be ignored. A study of men and women who attended church service two times per month in the past year revealed that women displayed more feelings of devotion and reverence than men. The findings further indicated that women would sense God's activity and presence in their lives (7). For this case, it is evident that gender orientation brings about differences in spirituality between men and women. The relationship between gender and spirituality is also affected by emotionality. Emotionality is a type of stereotype that exists in various ethnic communities. For instance, a particular idea may be acceptable for both men and women from a specific ethnic group and may be a taboo for a male and female from another community. The differences between the populations affect how individuals view each other's actions. Stereotyping women as expressionists who show more love than men has led to the existence of gender differences, which affect the spirituality levels of both men and women (13). The differences result in the assumption that women are more spiritual than men. Equally important, physiological factors also play a part in influencing the spirituality between men and women. Men are regarded to engage in more impulse criminal activity than women. The impetuous behavior form men are due to their high testosterone levels (14). Moreover, expectations from the society also result in spirituality differences between men and women. The modeling of gender roles from a significant number of communities predisposes women to be more religious (14). From this point, it is evident that gender norms that are socially constructed and some, which are biological, affect spirituality between men and women. The differences have led to the belief that women are more spiritual than men.

How Gender Norms Affect Family Structure

Over the past years, there have been significant trends in family structures ranging from the decline in fertility rate, child-bearing occurring at a much later date, child bearing outside marriage, fragility in couple relationships. These changes in the family structure have led to the formation of complex family structures that have increasingly diversified among various communities. All these changes in family structures culminate from the changing gender roles (Olah, Richter, and Kotowska 2). The expanding of women roles to participate in the economic development of the family and the extension of men's responsibilities to focus more on family matters have transformed the family structure. Gender relations, attitudes, and values have recently become more fluid thus blurring the boundaries of family and work life. Studies of families and the division of work within them illustrate that members of a household do gender as they do other activities such as house chores and childcare. Acts in a particular home are performative meaning they construct, corroborate, and reconstruct identities based on agreed upon definitions (16). The aspect of performativity in a family setting makes it possible to create and maintain an illusion of tow gender identities. The doing gender approach in the family makes individuals to e assessed and held accountable based on gender. Such accountability influences the social constructions of mothers and fathers, and husbands and wives. Traditionally, society viewed women as housekeepers who would dwell only on doing house chores while men were expected to be the breadwinners and the decision makers of the family. Education and the labor market have now transformed the traditional family set up. In the contemporary society, both men and women have higher educational qualifications. In such a scenario, research has indicated that a woman with higher educational status will likely marry a man with higher levels of education. On the other hand, men with higher educational levels prefer marrying women who are less educated, and who will focus on house chores. Additional results have indicated that men with higher levels of education, for instance, in the Netherlands, prefer to stay single rather than marry (18). For this case, the changing gender roles where women can now focus on career and become breadwinners for their families, and fathers have taken up the additional part of taking care of their children, which is a contrast of the traditional family structure, has influenced the formation of various family structures. A man with a lower socio-economic status who marries a woman with higher educational attainment is forced to stay at home and cater for the children. When a woman with higher educational level fails to find the right partner to marry, she ends up being single. The changing of gender roles has led to the creation of various family structures.

Works Cited

Blackstone, Amy. 2003. "Gender Roles and Society." Pp 335-338 in Human Ecology: An Encyclopedia of Children, Families, Communities, and Environments, edited by Julia R. Miller, Richard M. Lerner, and Lawrence B. Schiamberg. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. ISBN I-57607-852-3

Ilkkaracan, Pinar, and Susie Jolly. Gender and sexuality: Overview report. Bridge, Institute of Development Studies, 2007.Lefkowitz, Eva S., et al. "How gendered attitudes relate to women's and men's sexual behaviors and beliefs." Sexuality & culture 18.4 (2014): 833-846.

Olah, Livia Sz, Richter Rudolf, and Kotowska Irena E. "The new roles of men and women and implications for families and societies." Family and Health from a Gender perspective in Europe. Springer (2014).Rich, Alvin II, "Gender and Spirituality: Are Women Really More Spiritual?" (2012). Senior Honors Theses. 281.

Ridgeway, Cecilia L., and Shelley J. Correll. "Unpacking the gender system: A theoretical perspective on gender beliefs and social relations." Gender & society 18.4 (2004): 510-531.