Gender Roles Sociology

Beginning in the twentieth century, and still thriving today, the study of gender roles has emerged as one of the most important trends in the discipline of sociology. The research and theories that have been associated with studying gender role matters have driven the sociology of gender from the bottom to the top, becoming a main feature of the discipline (Lindsey, 2015, p. 5). According to Lindsey (2015), sociologists describe gender roles according to many theoretical perspectives, a way of observing and understanding social reality that will guide the research process. These theories consist of propositions that explain events, such as women being more likely to be separated in lower-paying jobs, offering fewer opportunities to expand
Early sociological perspectives related to gender roles began from the sociology of families and this is why men and women contain different roles in the family that have in turn influenced the roles they preform outside the household as well
These gender roles are the results of the interactions between individuals and their environment, and from this, they give individuals signs as to what is, and is not, appropriate behavior for each sex. According to Blackstone (2003), gender is a concept that humans create socially, through their interactions with each other and their environment, yet it still relies on the biological differentiation of males and females. Due to humans creating the concept of gender socially, gender is considered to be a social construction. The social construction is apparent with gender roles because the individuals, groups and societies determine and assign specific traits, statuses and values to individuals based on what their sex is. As an example of gender roles, many Western societies believe that women are significantly more nurturing than men are. This traditional view of women illustrates the gender roles clearly because the women of that society are then supposed to act in a more nurturing way towards people, such as a woman spending her time nurturing her family and working full-time within the home rather than getting an actual job outside the house (Blackstone, p.