Evolution of Gender Roles

Gender roles have changed immensely in the United States throughout the last century, especially within society. Men and women were viewed differently back in the 1900s as two separate genders and having two separate roles to live by as compared to men and women in the 21st century. Women in the early 1900s were expected to stay home to cater for her husband’s needs while they went to work, or in most homes, were away to serve at war. Men had all the privileges women could not have or do. Women did not have the right to vote, limited rights to property and divorce; it was as if men and women were living segregated lives as black and white people lived. Living in a home of double standards, I disagree with the idea of patriarchy, I find it unjust for the woman being unable to have a say in matrimonial decisions or in any relationship. The evolution of marriage has made the relationship between husband and wife more unified than it has before. Spouses have learned to make decisions together and become more understanding of each other. Marriage would not become like this if women had not taken action and joined the labor force or learned to defend for themselves.
How exactly did the roles of genders begin to exist? Some claim that the roles men and women play date back to biblical times. Everyone knows the story of Adam and Eve, but how did Adam become the person between the two to have such a dominant personality? The biblical story of Eve eating the forbidden fruit has caused her to carry the burdens and consequences of a woman for performing such a sin. The consequences she and the rest of the women in the world must bear her own child and be under male authority. It saddens me to see how degraded women used to be and how little they were perceived to be. Church Father St. Clement of Alexandria made a statement I found extremely offensive and degrading by saying, “Every woman should be filled with shame with the thought of being a woman,”