Will men and women ever truly be equal? What would our founding fathers think of women’s role in today’s society? Can women be elevated to prestigious roles including President of the United States of America? Women’s roles today have evolved but will they ever truly be equal to men? The dictionary defines gender as “The state of being male or female, typically used with reference to social and cultural differences, rather than biological ones,” (Merriam-Webster Learner’s Dictionary.) In today’s society, women hold high-paying jobs such as CEO’s of major corporations, doctors, scientist, lawyers, politicians and many more. Women contribute so much to the world today, but it wasn’t always that way. In Colonial America, a woman's role was governed by men; it was not acceptable for women to have any interests outside of the home. Their life was focussed on the traditional roles of running the home and raising the children. Men not only…
In the essay, “The Men We Carry in Our Minds”, Scott Russell Sanders discusses his perspective on men in comparison to the impression that women carry in their minds. Sanders uses a unique way of writing through narration and life experiences to truly illustrate his point that the impressions of men or women are based on ones own life experiences. As a young boy knowing only of the hardships of workingmen, Sanders later experiences drastic social differences when he receives a scholarship to attend a university “meant for the children of the rich”. His use of men and women in his personal experiences depict an un-stereotypical approach to convey his message to his audience. This analysis of Sanders’ essay will observe the organization of the author’s ideas, the essays’ purpose and audience, and the effectiveness to illustrate his views of men and women.…
In the passage of “The Men We Carry in Our Minds” by Scott Russell Sanders, the author discusses about his view on men and women. “When the women I met at college thought about the joys and privileges of men, they did not carry in their minds the sort of men I had known in my childhood” (172), the meaning is the way one believes women and men are about, along with their experiences with women and men throughout their lives. The author’s perception on men is the absolute opposite of what the women in his class think. When the women thought of men,, they thought of men like their fathers, “who were bankers, physicians, architects, stockbrokers, and the big wheels of the big cities” (172).…
Sanders wrote the essay ‘The Men We Carry in Our Minds’ as a comparison of social class and gender equality during his youth and as a young adult. He explains that the men worked harder and had strenuous lives; and that there where two types, the labors such as farmers and factory workers and the bosses in shirts. His perception of men during his childhood was that they where physically damaged both visibly and invisibly from getting ulcers working in factories to hands tattooed with scars. His father however, was able to move up the social ladder from working on farms to factories and eventually working in the front office.…
In “The Men We Carry in Our Minds” by Scott Russell Sanders, Sanders described how men worked hard all day and the health issues they later on in life. Sanders also show the comments and reactions of women he knew or came across throughout his childhood life. As he got older, his opinion changed tremendously. He realized women had it much harder.…
Scott Sanders’ The Men We Carry in Our Minds is an assessment of the oppression and common themes experienced by individuals as a result of encultured social constructs. Scott uses a series of imagery heavy narratives to isolate a repeating pattern of “destiny” observed throughout the narrator’s life. While the first series of reflections introduce the subjection of men based on the social implications of one’s skin color, the second series of reflections reflect on the ideas on gender equality by considering the destinies assigned through societal expectations.…
"Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation,” said by Abigail Adams, First Lady and advocate of women’s rights (Abigail Adams Quotes). In the past hundred years, women have accomplished more than anyone could imagine - from joining men in the work force to building multi-million dollar fashion industries.…
Women today have the right to get a higher education if they want; they are in high ranking positions within our government and military. Women today are not looked at as just a house wife, in today’s trend we are seeing more and more men staying home to run the household. Women today also do not just have jobs in a so called “women’s job”, for example if a women wants to be a welder, or a mechanic she can be. Those are two jobs that when people picture that worker it is usually a man but not anymore. Even though women have made a lot of changes the biggest thing that they are fighting for now is equal pay. A lot of the jobs tend to pay women less money than men. Female business majors, for example, earned a little over $38,000, while men earned more than $45,000 (Ellis, 2012).You see a lot of concepts or constructions of masculinity and femininity in media but not so much in society. The media has a lot for commercials that can be focused on gender related products. Even though the product is mad for a man you will not see a woman as the character in the advertising and the same for women. Now society on the other hand has evolved so that there are not gender specific roles, as a large amount of women have what was once a man’s job such as an engineer or a firefighter. When we refer to what society has deemed gender specific that is hard as the lines are somewhat blurred because gender does not play as much…
A women’s life is centered around her reproductiveness and ability to be a caregiver. For example, there are significantly more women in elementary education than there are in higher education. In contrast, since men are unable to bare children, they have time after time been responsible for providing the necessary for the his family, while “their” women stay at home carrying over the children, maintaining a clean household, and being responsible for all their needs. Since men tend to be stronger and bigger than women, this ultimately has lead society to believe that men are more dominant than women; hence, women are often portrayed as weak and vulnerable. These biological characteristics translate to cultural myths about what a man or women can or cannot do; therefore, discriminating gender. This male dominance and privilege has contributed to the notion that men hold more power roles than women. In addition, being naturally more violent and at higher rates than women has contributed to the myth that men are better leaders. Today, men are in charge of significantly close to most if not all of the largest corporations. If a women happens to be part of the leading group of one of these corporations, it leads to question whether she has the position in order to increase diversity or because she deserves and worked hard to be there. It is is unfortunate that society promotes that women are simply not good enough for the…
If you ask someone from the early 50’s to compare the gender roles from the past with the gender roles today, they would probably come up with a lot of differences, which is because a lot has changed since then. During the early 50’s, gender roles were simpler, men goes to work and women stays at home. Today, both genders are equal when it comes to their own rights and choices. In the essay “The Men We Carry in Our Minds”, by Scott Russell Sanders, he discusses his own view on the gender roles. Sanders grew up in a lower class environment where men worked hard and labored with their bodies. He states that “The bodies of the men I knew were twisted and maimed” (p.1). He also states how men worked hard and physically suffered from all the responsibilities that had to be done for their families. On the other hand, Sanders shares his view on how women lived easier lives than the men he grew up with.…
All men are created equal; this includes women as well. Over a decade of years, women certainly have come a long way to gain the same kind of equal equality as men, such as being able to vote and being able to join the armed forces and fight alongside men. As growing up I was always told that playing dolls is a girl’s toy and playing a car is a boy’s toy. In my cultural, I was taught that girl couldn’t work in a male job, and I was taught to do housework while the men did nothing around the house. In my house/culture, the men are the provider while the women in my opinion are the servant in which caters to every male in the household. If people were to think about combat in the army many just picture a male behind the military ACU (advanced…
First, I am a mother and a wife, a woman. As of right now I am what society sees as the norm for a mother and wife role. My Husband goes to work and I stay home and take care of our two small children. I cook, clean, and make sure everything is overall always in order at home. While I feel like this is expected because my husband works, I do still think that if I did too, or only, or if he did not, that I would still typically be expected to maintain the household and the children. While some can see this as an advantage, there are also cons. Such as, woman are seen as weaker, and/or easier targets. Also, there are somethings that are so much easier for men, like being uneducated and still being able to get and rise statuses within a job.…
In his essay “The Men We Carry In Our Minds” Scott Russell Sanders explores the relationship between gender roles and social classes in both men and women. Sanders disputes that, the personal experiences of individuals within our society, lead to conflicting perspectives about the gender roles for men and women. The varied social classifications of both male and female citizens allows for different opinions and prejudices’ to arise.…
Lots of people all over the world believe that men are always better at everything. Just not when it comes to staying home, cooking, and cleaning. The problem with this is not enough people support gender equality and it is a very important key to a healthy community. Instead of supporting the situation people just continue to come up with more stereotypes.…
Ever since the beginning of time, men have been the ones who were faced with heavy responsibilities of going to war, working on the railroad...etc. Women have also suffered a great amount of difficulty and hardship, but not to the extent that men (such as toilers) have. In "The Men We Carry in Our Mind" Sanders explains why men's lives are often harder or why their lives have been considered harder than the lives of women.…