Traditional Gender Roles

There are many things that seperate a man from a woman and the roles they are influenced to play in society. For instance, it is not an ordinary sight to see women working in a construction zone or on a professional football field. However, you typically don't see a man working as a stay at home parent or a receptionist. Society generally associates certain gender roles depending on one's sex as being acceptable and appropriate. They are based on past traditions occurring throughout history. Gender roles have impacted people to expect certain sexes to speak, act, dress, groom, and conduct themselves a certain way. Men are supposed to rugged providers and defenders,while women are seen as the sensible caretakers. This is why men generally work more and harder hours then woman, but this doesn't mean men are more important, because women get just as much done by working smarter rather than physically like traditional men. Women usually are the ones behind planning organization and spending, whereas on the other hand men are used to work and get the job done without much thought. Growing up men usually have more freedom and given more slack in school, while girls often have strict rules and where they go, who they hangout with, and what they wear. Girls are expected to be the top of their class and never get in trouble.

Men generally have easier childhoods but grow up to do extreme physical work and long hours while women have harder younger lives but then grow up to work much less than men, even though they work less they often have more stressful jobs that involves math and writing and thinking, compared to the men brute physicality. These guidelines are how many people live and it's completely normal and never question it, but there is an expectation to the female athlete that believes she has what it takes to be a professional football player or that little boy that finds dancing a passion and wishes to take ballet. Society generally doesn't react well because it is different and not traditional. The article my six year old son takes ballet talks about how this mans sons is fascinated by ballet and faces bullying and his father does his best to protect his sons. He actually encourages his son's ballet stating,awesome it will make him strong and limber. This shows how men don't have to stick to their gender roles even though it is not generally accepted in society, but is present. In another article Pink think the author talks about how women do not have sugar and spice and everything nice, rather they can act however they want even if that is doing things outside of their gender roles or manlythings. So both men and women are breaking down the boundaries that have been set for so long, and are shaping a world were people believe they can be whatever they want to be even if its something as absurd as toaster oven. So now there is the question of what if men are tired of working hard jobs and start looking for less back breaking jobs such as desk jobs which are mainly operated by women. Who would be left to build houses and maintain cities or drive across the country just to deliver produce to a city that is unable to produce.

The same is said for women, who will be left to organize business information or dispatch drivers to loads, or simply just stay home and care for their children. This is why evolving gender roles may cause a problem, simply because we have no experience yet and we don't know how things will work out compared to the endless tradition of men doing their part and women doing theirs and not questioning or trying to change the tradition. Besides work there is other gender roles such as the man on a date is required to pay for the women, or that a woman is supposed to clean her own house and cook for her man. Some people do not agree with gender roles and think that it is unfair to assign jobs to each gender. After extensive research it is apparent that females are the ones the unhappy with gender roles and the ones that are changing the tradition. If anything men are actually became more like the past men they even they were. According to the NPR podcast, men are hard workers but aren't doing as well in schooling. More women than men are going to college, but the economy is moving farther away from jobs that favor men, thus leaving men to have to work harder just to keep their jobs.Women are starting to venture from their jobs and want to to get into the fields were men have been the only ones in these careers. The lines that separate men and women are seeming to disappear and there is nothing stop men and women from doing whatever they want. In the past people have had a very clear idea about what is appropriate to each gender and what is not, as for today we accept a lot more diversity and see gender as a continuum rather than two categories.

Scott Russell Sanders brings forth to his male point of view concerning the feelings of guilt and shame over their persecution of women in ""The Men We Carry in Our Minds and How They Differ from the Real Lives of Most Men."" He says to a friend of his ""This must be a hard time for women, they have so many paths to choose from, and so many voices calling them."" He also says growing up he really envied women because they got to do things like: shop, visit neighbors, and run errands. Sanders proceeds to explain "" I didn't see, then, what a prison a house could because I did not realize, because such things were never spoken of how women suffered from men's bullying."" This text shows why women should be changing the assumed gender roles and doing what they want instead of what they are expected to do. If women still continued on with tradition then the workforce would be completely men and the women would be home with the children cleaning the house but the thing is we as a society rely on women. In world war 2 when all able bodied american men were at war, women were left with the country to run by themselves. Women had to get jobs in factories to produce war supplies and according to the webpage klan academy more than 350,000 women actually joined the military as nurses, equipment operators, and pilots. Meaning the war could not have been fought without women. This is the same as everyday life, men rely on women for simple things that they don't have time or simply don't know how to do.

Although, these traditional gender roles have been around for many years with little change; they are now being confronted and challenged by the people within society. Gender roles should not exist and the expectations behind them should disappear because they interfere with people's freedom of self-expression and being true to themselves. There, also, is still a bad attitude towards people who go against gender roles. Gender roles create restrictions on people's expression of themselves and do not allow people to be themselves without receiving judgment from others. Gender roles have come a long way from the time where a man has to go to work for 14 hours and then come home to his wife preparing dinner after tending to the children all day and having cleaned the house. Now men and women both work long hours even though typically men still work longer hours. But women have equal opportunities and have the challenges in their own jobs, which are just usually different than mens. Women are able to do what they want and don't have to worry about someone dictating their life. Men also can do what they desire even if it strays away from their masculinity. Gender roles soon will be nonexistent and men and women will work in most of the same jobs and do most of the same things simply because society is evolving and people have more freedom than ever. Many women have struggled for their whole lives trying to get the chance to have equal opportunities as men. Many families remain together because of the work the woman puts in. However, the woman are just starting to get the credit they deserve for their commitment, effort, and devotion just like men in the past.

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