Discuss On Gender Roles And Their Stereotypes And Their Effect In The Society (Essay Sample)

GENDER ROLES AND STERIOTYPES
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Introduction
Gender is a state of being female or male, cultural and social differences are typically used to reference gender rather than biological differences. Hence the differences of culture and social aspects are greatly used to define the role that should be performed by males and females in the society rather the biological aspects that describes males and females.
Stereotypes are ideas commonly held by people on specific groups. In one occasion you have come across people saying that people from Ireland are all drunk, the black Americans are always late, people from Asia are good in school and women are generally bad drivers, all this are stereotypes.
How does gender affect ones identity?
Gender identity is simply ones perception and sense of his or her gender. This sense is often influenced by socialization, culture and the biological basis of the individuals. The sense can be male, female or even the third gender perspective. One may have his gender perception align with the sex orientation or have mixed identity. However, gender identity is a social construct and goes beyond perception to the way the person exhibits the gender publicly. Societal expectations on gender are biased and some behaviors are perceived to be only linked to men or women. For instance, dress code in the cultural perspective gives an impression of one’s gender. The western culture would nail down a man wearing a skirt rather than a girl on a trouser. The music one listens defines ones gender and identity. The status quo where the gender identity is dictated by the society based on the norms is the most common. This defines the influence of culture on ones identity (Eccles, Jacobs, & Harold, 2011). The duties and obligations one is assigned as a man depend on the social perception of whether a man or a woman. In the 1990s playing video games was reserved for boys and the girls who did this were seemed as tomboys. The
As said earlier, gender is gender is basically a sexual construction rather than the biological appearance of being male or female. However, there are instances when there are transgender issues. If ones identity matches with his or her sex organs then that will be described as cisgender whereas in situations where there is mismatch it’s described as transgender. Transgender issues are increasingly explicit where people are increasingly embracing what was initially perceived to be of the opposite sex such as dress code. Scientists explain the transgender issues as hormonal based and genetically linked unlike the sociologists who associate it with the environmental influence. The feeling about ones make up will influence the identity he or she assumes (Ward, & Harrison, 2014). Binary gender identity is a case where people don’t identify themselves as either male or female. The law may create a conflict where it confines people to certain tasks based on the sexual orientation. Ones interests, preferences and behaviors especially puberty may as well influence the identity.
How gender plays a role in society
Gender roles are historically and culturally dependent. This is according to cultural and historical spans. Most people or researchers address gender roles basing their arguments on the environmental and biological development of gender roles. When the children are born, they get to be assigned a gender and socialized so that they conform to a certain gender roles accepted in the society based on their biological sex (Ward, & Harrison, 2014).
As the children grow, they learn on how to behave from those people who are around then. In this socialization process, they are initiated to some roles that are linked to their biological sex. In the society, gender roles are based on the standard or the norms of that particular society. For instance, the male roles have been associated with strength, dominance and aggression. While female roles are associated with nurturing, subordinating and passivity,
Gender roles help in shaping the behavior of an individual by dictating how people of different gender are supposed to behave and the penalties of each person based on gender that don’t conform to the agreed norms. Stepping outside of the gender norms is punishable and especially applied to those who are not identified as men and female, these are the transgender, gender queer and other gender – nonconforming people.
In relationship, gender plays a big role; traditionally it was a man who ensured the financial safety and stability of the family. In the modern era the roles have shifted in that more women now engage themselves in some career and they are able to fulfill the needs of their families financially.
Despite the fact that people have freedom of doing what they want, there will be always a gender difference that will determine the gender role. This will help in defining the role that is or should be carried out by individuals based on the gender and help in doing away with gender role discrimination
Gender stereotype in workplace
This section will focus on the stereotypes caused by gender. To be specific, negative effects stereotype have on women in the working environment.
Wage discrimination due to gender stereotype
Statistics have shown that the wages of men compared to that of women is high. In the society men are considered to be the breadwinners of the family and so they are needed to be paid heavily than women (Eccles, Jacobs, & Harold, 2011). This stereotype have made the women to be paid less wages with the argument that they are married and their salaries are just supplements to their husband’s salary. These stereotype that men are the breadwinners of the family results to wage discrimination in the workplace because women.
Discrimination in hiring, firing and promotion
Men are stereotyped as the people who take charge while women are stereotyped as the ones taking care in the family. This makes those in power to avoid promoting them, hiring them or even firing them from top level management positions.
Sexual harassment from gender stereotyping
Women are regarded as sexual objects in the community, this stereotype results to unwelcome sexual conduct in the working place. This behavior creates a work place to be intimidating, offensive and hostile to women. In addition to that, stereotyping against mothers and pregnant women makes them long to becoming mothers a factor that make them not search for a long term jobs.
Sexism
Sexism is the belief based on sex that states that a certain sex, mostly male is naturally strong or superior to the other that is female, and it is supposed to dominate the most important areas of social life, political and economic life (Ward, 2013). Sexism includes the beliefs, stereotypes, attitudes and other types of bias that bring about the idea that men are greater than women. Being a mental attitude, sexism attitudes are deeply ingrained by socialization that is not deeply explored.
Examples of sexism
Hostile sexism
This is where or includes a situation where an individual makes an openly sexual move on a female or saying nasty things about the female.
Accidental or unintentional sexism
This is where people say they recognize or believe in gender equality, but they perpetuate or undermine sexist culture by saying or doing things which undermine gender equality. Such as acting as if sexism is inevitable and saying that sexism does not exist.
Everyday sexism
This captures the idea that in every day social exchanges that occur or happen, whether unintentionally or accidentally, they are connected to broader sexist culture including institutional discrimination and sexual.
Feminism
Feminism is the advocacy of female or women’s rights on the political, economic and social equalities to that of male or men. Feminism is based on the social, ideologies and political movements that are dedicated to a common goal (Broverman, Vogel, Broverman, Clarkson, & Rosenkrantz, 2011). These goals are to establish, define and achievement of the personal, economic, political and the social rights that are particularly for women. They right they seek to establish are the equal opportunities in employment and education for women.
Example of roles of women and how they have been mistreated
Women are nurses not doctors
According to history, women are to be nurses but not doctors. The role of a nurse is to take care of the patient making her duty to be fully connected to the patient progress and reporting to the doctor in charge. This means that they should only take instruction from the doctor and hence subjective to him at all time.
Women sing and dance
Another role of women in the society is to sing and dance. This role has resulted to mistreat because men expect to be entertained during meetings and ceremonies by women as the whole society enjoy no matter the circumstance.
Doing household chores
Women role as per history is to perform household chores such as cooking and raising children. This role is said to exclude men from all household chores because they are regarded as the work of the women. This makes men have a lot of free time to perform other duties such as engaging to activities like politics and leadership leaving out women in those sectors.
Women are there to be seen not to speak
Another role of a woman is to become submissive to men, spoke less and supposed to look pretty and to be looked at by men. This is a total mistreat because they are entitled to performing a lot of family chores without question because those who question may be regarded as rude in the society. At the same time they are assumed as pet to men because they not given room to make their own decision in life. All these roles are truly explaining hoe ge...