"Men and Women Say They’re More Different Than Similar" Muhammad Abdullah

 

Gender Roles --- "Men and Women Say They’re More Different Than Similar" 

 

Author Muhammad, for Ms. Walling’s grade 12 class, Posted: December 14, 2018 3: 15 pm  

 

 

World is still reinforcing traditional gender roles. 

 

 

Gender roles in our society is defined as overgeneralization of traits, differences and aspects of a certain group based on their gender. Gender roles create a widely accepted judgment about certain characteristics or traits that apply to each gender.  

The four main gender roles that our society expects are Personality Traits, Domestic Behaviors, Occupations, Physical Appearance: 

Women are supposed to be shy, passive and submissive. Women are organized and clean. Men are expected to be tough, aggressive, dominant and self-confident.  

Women are supposed to cook and do housework. Women are better at raising children. Stay-at-home mothers are better than working mothers. On the other hand: Men are better at household repairs. Men cannot cook, or care for their children. Men always have more control over their wives than wives have over husband. 

Women are supposed to have “clean” jobs such as teachers, nurses, secretaries and librarians. Women are not good at math. Women are supposed to make less money than men. Women are not politicians.  

Generally speaking, women are expected to be short and slender, small and delicate while men are supposed to be tall with broad shoulders. Women who smoke, drink, and swear often are considered masculine. 

Gender is an understanding that it is permanent, it cannot be changed by appearance. The researchers at North America has investigated that, between 9 – 12 months, child is able to correctly label himself and others as male female. By age 4, a child is able to understand that person’s gender remains the same throughout life. And by age 5, a child is able to understand that gender cannot be changed simply because changing one’s outward appearance. 

 It is very common for gender roles to develop quite early. As early as 2 years old, a child can connect to specific tasks and material items with gender roles. As the child start relating certain traits with men or women, begins the stereotyping between 3 – 4 years of age. 

 The media has significant impact towards of sex role stereotypes. The commercials shown of the TV are mostly often show women as homemakers and men are working with tools, workplace, or playing sports.  

Parents are also are a big part in this gender role stereotypes by encouraging girls to play with cute toys such as dolls, as on the other hand, boys to with more strong looking toys such as monster trucks. These perceptions of gender roles are greatly shaped by a person’s environment, such as parents, social media, and where the person grow up.  

It creates unequal or unfair treatments to a certain person who chooses to defy people believes about his/her gender, simplistic generalizations about the gender attributes, differences, and roles of individuals and/or groups.  

Stereotypes can be positive or negative, but they rarely communicate accurate information about others Gender are generalizations about the roles of each gender. Gender roles are generally neither positive or negative they are simply incorrect generalizations of the male and female characteristics. 

 

Work Cited: 

"Gender Identity & Roles | Feminine Traits & Stereotypes". Plannedparenthood.Org, 2018, https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/sexual-orientation-gender/gender-gender-identity/what-are-gender-roles-and-stereotypes. Accessed 14 Dec 2018. 

"Gender Roles". EIGE, 2018, https://eige.europa.eu/rdc/thesaurus/terms/1209. Accessed 14 Dec 2018. 

"Men And Women Say They’Re More Different Than Similar". Nytimes.Com, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/05/upshot/men-women-gender-bias-poll.html. Accessed 14 Dec 2018. 

"SAGE Journals: Your Gateway To World-Class Journal Research". Journals.Sagepub.Com, 2018, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2158244013506446. Accessed 14 Dec 2018.