The Way We Never Were

                                     The Way We Never Were

Thesis statement

There are no roles that are typically defined for men or for women; gender roles are a creation of the society.

Introduction

Gender is the identity that one experiences with regard to their individuality as male or female.  Gender is not basically based on biological sex. There are two genders, the masculine and the feminine.  This normally begins when one is an infant and is normally reinforced during adolescence. Gender role can be regarded as the overt expression of attitude that indicates to others the degree of one’s maleness or femaleness. This is usually the public expression of one’s gender identity. It can also be a set of norms that is acceptable for men or women by the society. Since time in memorial, people have developed gender roles that divide men and women in cultural, religious, economic and even philosophical contexts. These gender roles have overly resulted in various negative attributions. According to Coontz, gender role divisions have resulted in violence, ignorance, alcoholism, dependency, poverty and even abuse (4).

Origin

The origin of gender roles can be attributed to the nurturing environment for any individual. From ones infancy through teenage to adulthood, one is nurtures with certain beliefs of their gender roles. Different communities have a set of traditional values that every individual member should withhold. These traditional values are coated with myths and even half-truths which eventually burden the society (Coontz, 1992). The myths majorly were developed by men who envisaged growing competition for power and control from their womenfolk.  Men assigned themselves roles that enabled them to have more control and ability in decision making (Eagly et al., 2002). The gender role theory holds that both boys and girls learnt their genders through socialization. It is through division of labor that that gender roles emerged. These were thereafter followed by certain social behavior between boys and girls. Traditionally, gender roles were guided by physical features for example, since men were more muscular they were assigned duties that required dexterity and more energy for example hunting while women were assigned labor roles that required less energy and dexterity like sweeping and cooking. These jobs and their characteristics were later perceived as gender roles. Division of labor resulted in gender roles (Herdt, 1998).

Functions

Gender roles, were aimed at guiding societal concerns such as privacy, parenting, love, division of labor, feminism and even sexuality.  The traditional society defined gender roles for various reasons. There believed that some roles required more masculinity than others. For example digging and hunting required more energy and dexterity hence was assigned to men who were more muscular. On the other hand household chores like milking, cooking and taking care of the children was left for the women since it required lesser energy. Since men also wanted control and power, they assigned themselves gender roles that gave them avenues of power and control. For example, they hunted to provide for the family and they provided security for their own homes and the society. Gender roles were also formulated to allow for participation of every member of the society in building the community. Roles were assigned with certain considerations. The young men were tasked with security provision roles, while young girls were tasked with household chores. This made the society complete.

Gender role training was another consideration. The girls could only be trained by women on how to do certain activities and even how to behave around their male counterparts. Boys were trained by elder men on how to carry out their duties and even play their roles as men. Gender role that was majorly defined through division of labor was also targeted at separating boys and girls. Since sexuality was much respected in the society, boys and girls were not supposed to integrate during work. This reduced their contact time hence reduced incidences of sexual misconducts. Girls and boys could only meet and mix in the presence of an adult who monitored their moves. Virginity and sexual purity were also highly valued in the society. For example, the amount and quality of bride price was tagged on whether the girl was a virgin or not. Cases of single mothers were minimal. A girl that conceived while still at her mother’s house was only allowed to marry an old as a second wife. Due to privacy of the parents and their daughters, boys were not to sleep in their mother’s house after puberty. Boys were separated to their own rooms or small houses that trained them to be independent both physically and emotionally.

In today’s society gender roles are to a great extent violated. The society has few roles that are basically for men or women. There are women mechanics and even drivers, roles that were stereotyped as men’s. However, since men still feel that they are the dominant gender they continue to assign themselves certain jobs for example senior administration jobs. The society has also not completely accepted the fact that gender roles are biased. Therefore, the society continues to adore the man more than the counterpart woman who is still perceived as inferior and that she should take lower candor roles (Connel & Robert, 1987). The contradictions that exist in regard to gender role is that, whereas gender roles were defined to combat problems like alcoholism and poverty, they have been greatly associated with it. According to (Coontz, 1992) gender roles create appalling burdens such as poverty, alcoholism and abuse. Gender roles are attributed to the same problems they were supposedly meant to prevent. It is a great source of unhappiness to women.

In conclusion, gender roles can be attributed to culture and socialization. Division of labor led to gender roles. Although gender roles were meant to make a harmonious society for both men and women and to prevent conflicts and evil behavior like alcoholism and abuse, they have supposedly supported these vices. Men have favored themselves in gender roles in order to have power and control. However, the society today has widely upheld gender balancing abolishing gender roles. Any job can be done by any gender in today’s society.

Works cited

Coontz, Stephanie. The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap.

New York: Basic Book (1992) 4

Connell, & Robert William: Gender and Power, Cambridge: University Press (1987).

Eagly .A. H., Beall, A., & Sternberg, R. S. (Eds.).The psychology of gender (2nd ed.). New

York: Guilford press (2002)

Herdt, Gilbert. In Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History.

New York: Zone (MIT) (1998).

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