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All around the world society has created an ideological perspective for the basis of gender roles. Gender and sex are often times misused and believed to be interchangeable. This is not the case. There are two broad generalization of sexes; female and male, yet there is a vast number of gender roles that each sex should more or less abide by. The routinely cycle of socially acceptable behaviors and practices is what forms the framework of femininity and masculinity. The assigned sex categories given at birth have little to do with the roles that a person takes on. Biological differences within females and males should not be used to construe stereotypes or discriminate within different groups. Social variables such as playing with dolls or playing with balls helps to influence the behaviors and norms that coincide with gender identities. Gender roles are a learned and taught behavior. People tend to conform to groups that engage in discriminatory behaviors if it gives them a feeling of normalcy. These conventions play a predominant role all around the world and thus influence people into accepting the terms of same and opposite gender roles. Society constructs a set of unwritten cultural laws that defines the way people should be characterized and idealized, thus giving rise to gender inequalities.
The differences that arises between socially constructed gender roles, lay out the path for unfair treatment and prejudice on an individual and structural level. Gender inequalities are implanted in the very center of every society. Even in the confinement of one’s own mind, gender roles still play a key part in how we choose to act, think, and dress. At an early age, boys and girls learn to dress and behave according to their gender roles. In a social experiment conducted involving 112 adolescent students, one of the earliest forms of gender identity was brought about through the expression of their attire. 61% of girls tend to express themselves in the color pink while boys tend to dress in primary colors. Girls also tended to wear dresses more often (Martin 298). Pink is a delicate color that symbolizes romance, femininity, and tenderness. Whereas primary colors tend to symbolize strength, authority, and confidence. By wearing dresses, girls are given a physical constraint, having to always pull down their dresses and sit a certain way (Martin 299). Wearing dresses limits their abilities and desires to take on certain roles that may involve ruining their attire. Kids become consciously aware of their physical differences that binds them to dress and act a certain way. Boys cannot wear dresses or be seen in the color pink, and girls should not dress in ways that may seem too “masculine.” According to feminist psychoanalyst Nancy Chodorow, the unequal involvement of a child’s upbringing is “a partial cause for the universal oppression of women (Conley 290).” Girls and boys emulate the roles of their mother and father respectively as a way of identifying themselves as their parental figure. Little girls identify themselves with their mothers by imitating their mother’s style of attire. This is the first step to a never ending cycle of unequal role socialization. As girls and boys grow older, they realize that life in the working world only emphasizes the inequalities implemented by their gender roles. Gender inequalities exist as an effective way to produce a division of labor. Women wanted to work alongside men for “better schools, better pay, and decent benefits.” Yet they were victimized by “historical and systematic denial of rights and privileges” based on their gender roles (Anderson 168). They are given low end jobs with less pay than men. Seen as unfit or unqualified for jobs that require more intelligence or strength. This inequality leads women to working as assistants in home health, office jobs, and teaching jobs. If a woman was to obtain the same career as a man, she would only make $0.77 for every $1.00 the man makes (Goodfriend, 2012)). This is unfair seeing as though both women and men are filling the same title with the same amount of work. According to the Goodfriend, there is an institutional sexism known as “the glass ceiling” that explains how there is an invisible glass barrier in which women can only reach a certain level of promotion while men are able to reach the highest position in their career (2012). This inequality in the workforce is brought about by gender roles, women not being considered a suitable candidate or capable of excelling across a certain limit. Whereas men presume the masculinity and authoritative figure needed in society.
The embodiment of men and women are used to construct meaning in their lives. The way individuals discipline their body is analogous to how they act towards the idea of power and status. How bodies are trained to emit gender distinctions is similar to how people tend to clothe their bodies. The way people tend to “sit, stand, gesture, walk, and throw” are different depending on their performance of masculinity or femininity (Martin 297). Women’s bodies tend to be more “confined, their movements restricted (Martin 297).” The term “femininity” defines the idea that the female sex is perceived with specific traits and characteristics. Crossing their legs, sitting up straight, having a softer voice and light footsteps are all ways in which women become naturally embedded to the gender norms. She is ascribed to be more gentle, nurturing, and emotional, and weak. These traits she attains are given by society the moment she is born, creating an idealized sexually more inferior identity than that of a male. By analyzing the socially constructed gender profile of men, it is easy to see how society creates a more dominant and powerful facade. They are stereotyped to being more aggressive, highly sexual, strong, competitive, emotionless, and in control. These socially constructed differences confines males and females to particular character profiles that limit their equality as a whole. The bodies are gendered “as a product of social doing; constituted through interaction (West and Zimmerman 175).” The way male and female establish their gender order in society correlates to their mentality as a whole. Overall masculinity is more valued than femininity in society. Masculinity correlates to gender privilege. An inequality that gives males the access to more power, resources and positions due to the traditional notions of gender roles. Men are given a greater advantage because he is deemed more capable to fend for himself. He is given greater power in the working field and at home, being able to portray a dominant and assertive leadership while still being seen as a fatherly and protective figure. Femininity is not seen eye to eye with masculinity, because society views those as more weak, helpless, and incapable of fending for themselves. Even though this may not be the case, society has created a false image that has been maintained and added on throughout time.
Inequality pertains to exist. People tend to act in ways that only heightens the superiority of masculinity in an assumption that men are competently greater. In the article, Gender and Sexism, Zinn speaks of the 3 themes in a man’s life. First of all, masculinity is a socially constructed concept, second, masculinity expresses difference and dominance over feminine qualities, and lastly there is “no singular masculinity (170).” Men of all ages are pressured to live up to a certain expectation; to be powerful, dominating, aggressive, and much more. These messages come from family, friends, news, media, and peers telling them how they should feel, behave, and interact with the world. Boys and men are told what who they should personify themselves as in society. All these expectations males have to live by have short and long-term consequences. What is not understood by many is that sexism not only affects females but it ha
s a very large and impacting effect on the male culture as well. Under patriarchal norms that operate within society, femininity is subordinate to masculinity. Although patriarchy is created to benefit men, it also scrutinizes men under the norms implemented by this system. Parson’s sex role theory seems to justify the systematic approach of patriarchy; explaining how men and women have a distinct role to play; men being the provider, and women being the housewives. By producing these types of workers, the arrangement of the nuclear family has been implemented (Conley, 289). These distinct roles place a stress upon both males and females to live up to a certain expectation society has played out. Yet the inequality that is systematically drawn by patriarchy upholds a higher stress on males. Although masculinity may seem almighty for all the advantages that are seemingly brought forth, there is actually a lot of stress and conflicts that arises with it. Men are relied more on to work, provide a shelter, and carry out tasks. There is so much on their plate that it is difficult for them to juggle.
Society’s construction of written cultural laws places a stress towards the sexes to live up to certain gender roles that overall binds them to a life of inequality. The socially accepted behaviors are different from society to society, but overall they lay out a roadmap of rules that each person should more or less live by. Gender roles are not given at birth, rather they are taught through socialization with others. The way people’s body perform, the way they behave and interact with others are all categories subjected to the inequality of power distribution within society.