Preview

What Does It Mean to Be a Male or Female in Today's Society?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
680 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Does It Mean to Be a Male or Female in Today's Society?
What Does It Mean to Be a Male or Female in Today's Society?

What Does It Mean to Be a Male or Female in Today's Society? In my opinion, the media has a big influence on the way that we see men and women in today's society. We are being confronted with advertisements, television programs, magazines, and movies that depict how we as humans should act. For years the media has depicted women as the housewives who usually stay home and take care of the house and her family. You rarely, nowadays, see a woman out working earning the living for her family and the man at home with the children. Women are sex symbols; they sell advertisements for clothing, cars, cigarettes, and household items. Just about everywhere that you turn you will see a woman selling some type of product. In today's society boys become men when they hit puberty or lose their virginity. But women on the other hand become women when they get married and have children. It was commonly known that men earn more money in the workplace, and hold higher positions. Since years ago women have been able to do nothing, they had no say nor, could they vote. Women were expected to keep quiet when a problem occurred and not speak up for what they believed in. It was the stereotype that "a woman's place was in the home". The men were out making the money for the family so it was like what could you possibly have to say when I make the money and, I take care of the family. Women were treated like underclassmen; they had no power. "The strength of a woman lies in her own hands", and it is up to the woman to speak up for herself and let everyone know where she stands. It is the 21th century and it is not like it used to be, where the women stayed home with the children and did the housework but, now you have dads that stay home and the wife is out making a living for the family. Women are becoming more independent; you have single moms who do not need a man to take care of her and her child or children.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Women held few rights and had few choices in life. Most of them just served the men in their lives including fathers, brothers, and husbands.…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Apush Chapter 7 Summary

    • 4437 Words
    • 18 Pages

    Growing distinction between workplace and home led to distinction in societal roles of men and women. Women had long been denied legal and political rights, little access to business, less access to education at high…

    • 4437 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    A little boy sits in protest as his father puts his son’s selected toy back on the shelf. The reason for his objection is due to the color of the toy: pink, a girl’s color. The little boy is told to pick out another toy from a different aisle.…

    • 1679 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Regardless of cultures, era and time, women have always been receiving fewer rights than men do. Despite they have a lot of moral obligations and duties at home, church and in the community, they however had very limited or almost no political and legal rights in the country. Their main role would be for be married for political purpose, productive, social status and reproductive. Most of the time men do not appreciate what women do, they were also seen as a merchandise to enhance their own social status. Their situation has not been improved until the mid 19th century, where a several brave, outspoken women sparked the fight for social reform, justice, prostitution, and slavery. The force of Feminist then rose to fight for the equality for the oppressed.…

    • 1388 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Even since the beginning women have been a vital asset to the world. God made women, because no other creature was suitable or capable of the great works God had planned for women. Women are not perfect, but neither are men and we see this exhibited in the fall of man. No matter what, women are the back bone of society. With the work they do that’s unseen, as mothers, teachers, and caregivers. God put an incredible design and purpose for them. God created men to be leaders, and women to be helpers, but because of the fall men aren’t always the best leaders sometimes unjust. Also because of the fall women want to control men. We have this imbalance of bad leaders, and bad servants which causes God’s perfect plan to be hindered and Wars like WW1 and women’s fight for suffrage to happen. Before the war women had an ongoing fight for justice, during the war this continued, and after the war women got a taste of what they wanted, and wanted more.…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women back then were treated like subordinates. Traditionally, their only role was to marry, bare children, stay home and take care of the family. They had no say to political views. Women raise their sons to be a future leader. However, since the Second Great Awakening and after the American Civil War, women became more outspoken, opinionated and even took some of the men’s role at their home since most men never returned home from the war. Women started to see other possibilities. They worked outside their homes; they became great workers and teachers. Most of these women created a movement for women’s rights and they spurred a great wave of social reform. The potential for religious, political and social influence in women was…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The media plays a major role in the way we perceive certain things. When the discussion of gender arises, we already have an idea of what is deemed as normal. Gender is something that controls our everyday lives, whether we realize it or not. Gender is a very interesting term that is determined when the sex of the human is known. The sex of a person is found due to a number of factors, which are psychological and biological. Gender is achieved through cultural and societal influences. With that being said, gender can be viewed as a mass idea that is acceptable by society. In each country, the meaning of gender has its’ unique differences. Men are expected to live a masculine lifestyle while women are expected to be feminine. These acts are the final determination of society’s view of a real male or female. The United States contains strong values when discussing the topic of gender. Before human life begins, gender is already being ascribed. For example, if a male child is being born into the world, the parents will obviously buy clothes related to male gender roles. What does a boy wear? What color is suitable for a boy? These are questions that many people have based on societal views. There are expectations that must be…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Society has shaped us many different ways. If you were to look at society 50 years ago you would see that it was believed that a woman belonged at home, in the kitchen, or taking care of the kids. Most people think we have changed but if you watch T.V. or listened to most people (Male or Female) talk you would realize we haven’t changed all that much. In today’s world you still hear things like “he’s the man of the house” or “That’s a man’s job”. You may even hear “It’s the woman’s fault”. This is just one way society has shaped us since the beginning of time. Even Adam blamed Eve when he ate the fruit from the forbidden tree.…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Additionally, men were taught to aspire, be anything they could imagine while on the other hand, women were limited and restricted from the same exact things that men had the opportunity to grasp and utilize. Moreover, true womanhood has a certain stigma marked by definite characteristics that should be displayed by women as deemed appropriate by their sexuality. Domesticity, piety, purity, and submissiveness were amongst those requirements. Ladies were presumed to be domestic, work and clean around the house, and raise the children. Young girls would be raised to takeover the jobs of their mothers, while young boys should be taught to aspire and become actively involved with government and politics.…

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “There should be no distinction between typical masculine and feminine occupations, and the traits of character should not be ascribed once and for all one gender.” said Malgarzata Walsh of krytyka.org. Stereotyping and gender roles have played a prevalent role not only in our modern society but throughout history. Webster’s dictionary defines gender or sex roles as “the behaviors, attitudes, and activities expected or common for males and females”. Gender roles have been defining societal norms for both males and females since the beginning of civilization. We view the “normal” to be submissive, emotional women who are useful for nothing more than cooking, cleaning, and staying home to care for the children; while men are looked upon as the proud, strong, manly, and sole provider for the family. While in recent years, certain people and organizations have been working hard to cease the use of these stereotypical roles, they are still very common throughout television, film, literature, and advertisement.…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Men have attempted in any and every form “to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect”. Women were expected to depend on males such as their father or husband to provide for their household. The best way to describe a woman was an old adage, woman should know her place in…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women today in 2016 couldn’t last two minutes living the life of a woman in the 1900s. 100 years ago, females were known as the weaker gender but more virtuous and were not allowed to do anything unless they had a husband. They didn’t have any rights, authority, or opinion about ANYTHING! It was illegal for women to do a lot of things, and here we are 100 years later, we can do whatever we want, when we want, however we want without anyone’s permission. To sum things up, a woman is her own boss and controls everything in her life. She can follow her dreams without anyone stopping her and a woman can make her own decisions. Everything…

    • 1527 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Soc/110 Gender Roles

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Male and female roles have changed dramatically since the beginning of the 21st century. Men were known as the bread-winners. Their responsibility was to go to work and bring home money to take care of their family. While women stayed at home and took care of all the cooking and cleaning. The female role also consisted of bearing and taking care of all the children. Things have changed women can also get good jobs and bring home as much money as men and sometimes even more money than men. In a major step forward, women demanded and were granted the right to vote in the United States in 1920s.Women should not have to stay at home and take…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout most of history, women had fewer legal rights and career opportunities than men did. Women mostly had jobs as a seamstress or kept boarding houses, some of the women had the same jobs as men. For an example, according to “Women’s History in America” in 1890 a slim amount of the women were doctors, but 95% of doctors were men in the United States. Another example of what women were not allowed to do is vote, married women were not allowed to obtain property rights, if a couple happen to get a divorce woman had no parental rights, and women had to obey laws even though they had no say in the law in the first place. This is just a few of the many unequal things that happened to women. It is a turning point in women’s history…

    • 904 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays