Gender Roles in the Twenty-First Century
Gender Roles in the Twenty-First Century
Endrinal, Jose Francisco G.
IV – Brooklyn Bridge
Marriage and Family Life
Gender roles exist primarily as a representation of the kind of culture a group of people have. The roles of man and woman are defined by the positions that they take in society that is in accordance with the traditions passed down from their elders. The relevance of gender roles in our society today is increasingly diminishing. It is difficult now to separate roles specific to men and to women, simply because the twenty-first century has seen the benefits of having both men and women in the family, in the workplace, and in the community. In the past, gender roles were strictly defined. Men were often sent to work or to practice a trade. Women were in charge of managing the household and to take care and educate children. This existed primarily during the ancient and agricultural ages, where men worked in trade, commerce and politics, while women laboured in the fields (Kottak, 1991). Men commonly sought a formal education, while women were taught to cook and clean. These are drawn from what is known as “masculine behaviour” and what is “feminine behaviour.” In childhood, human beings are flexible with these social norms, but after the adolescence, the child is to conform to these norms, or risk being socially isolated (Goodman &Marx, 1978). It is now found that the assumptions about men and women held in the past are no longer true. The stereotypes have now become elusive, simply because science cannot confirm them. It is found that the stereotypes of women being social than men, of women being more auditory, of men being more visual and of men being better at cognitive processing, are not true (Goodman & Marx, 1978 qtd Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974). Women have increasingly been autonomous during the dawn of the twenty first century. Seeds of this phenomenon were already prevalent during the late 1900’s.
Endrinal, Jose Francisco G.
IV – Brooklyn Bridge
Marriage and Family Life
Gender roles exist primarily as a representation of the kind of culture a group of people have. The roles of man and woman are defined by the positions that they take in society that is in accordance with the traditions passed down from their elders. The relevance of gender roles in our society today is increasingly diminishing. It is difficult now to separate roles specific to men and to women, simply because the twenty-first century has seen the benefits of having both men and women in the family, in the workplace, and in the community. In the past, gender roles were strictly defined. Men were often sent to work or to practice a trade. Women were in charge of managing the household and to take care and educate children. This existed primarily during the ancient and agricultural ages, where men worked in trade, commerce and politics, while women laboured in the fields (Kottak, 1991). Men commonly sought a formal education, while women were taught to cook and clean. These are drawn from what is known as “masculine behaviour” and what is “feminine behaviour.” In childhood, human beings are flexible with these social norms, but after the adolescence, the child is to conform to these norms, or risk being socially isolated (Goodman &Marx, 1978). It is now found that the assumptions about men and women held in the past are no longer true. The stereotypes have now become elusive, simply because science cannot confirm them. It is found that the stereotypes of women being social than men, of women being more auditory, of men being more visual and of men being better at cognitive processing, are not true (Goodman & Marx, 1978 qtd Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974). Women have increasingly been autonomous during the dawn of the twenty first century. Seeds of this phenomenon were already prevalent during the late 1900’s.
References: Goodman, Norman, & Marx, Gary T. (1978) Society Today (3rd ed.). New York, New York: Random House Inc. Kottak, Conrad Phillip (1991) Anthropology; The Exploration of Human Diversity (5th ed.).United States of America: McGraw-Hill, Inc. Scott, Jacqueline (2006) Family and Gender Roles: How Attitudes are Changing. International Conference on Family Relationships. Cambridge: University of Cambridge