Are Gender Norms Ever Going To Change?
Hello All,
In society, people are now more open to equality about what males and females are naturally seen to do. Stereotypes: an image of what genders allowed to do that is held by society. Stereotypes are what society makes normal but nowadays stereotypes are often broken because of the new generation and how people think if anyone does an act that's not normal for a guy or girl it is deemed weird. The traditional roles and responsibilities of each gender are no longer what they use to be.
In the past men and women had a completely different set of responsibilities. For example in the early 20th century men were expected to provide for the family financially. They were expected to go out and work and make a salary. Whereas the women in the family were responsible for the household duties such as cooking and cleaning and taking care of the children. The wives or mothers were expected to do the laundry, prepare the meals for the family and provide emotional support to all of the family members.why was this the normal thing? Do you care about the change or would you just ignore it, and why?
Although cultural values and traditions do play a big role in the stereotypes of what men and women should or shouldn't do these were the generally the roles of each gender in the beginning of the century. Gender roles have a massive influence on how people live their lives in different societies around the world. In many parts of the globe women's only function is to take care of the household and produce children. These women do not get an education or jobs because from a young age they are taught that only men get an education. These traditional roles are slowly changing in most societies around the world. Do you believe that women are able to do you the same or even more than men in the workforce?
Many more women are getting educations and are entering the workforce because people are realizing that lives improve when women are educated. Also, the roles of men are changing because there are more men staying at home and raising their kids. They are no longer the sole breadwinners. Men contribute to household duties more and there are more shared responsibilities than ever. Gender roles are changing a lot because acts that were seemed weird in the past are now fading away. Where do you believe society will in the next 20 years?
Reversed Gender Roles Watch from (0:00 to 3:17)
This video portrays some of the reversed genders stereotypes. Some of these reversed scenarios have been changed over the years but some did not. For example, if you think pink, do you think girl or boy? and if you see a toy truck do you see a young girl playing with it or a young boy playing with it?
Published by Abdillahi Elmi
First of all I want to say that at the hunters and gatherers time period both men and women worked full time outside of the house. I believe women are not just entering the workforce today but in fact they are coming back because people are realizing that lives improve when there is a balance between a man and women. I also believe that women are growing stronger and they would soon be treated with equality if they keep staying in the workforce but nevertheless what a man could do a women could do just as good.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHey Miske, i see where your coming from as women did work in the past even during WW2 when working in factories while men fought the war. However after the war during the 70's and on that is when working women lowered, life got easy and women became house wives. Statistically women are coming back to the work force more recently and its a change that is beneficial.
DeleteMiske I disagree with you, during the hunters and gatherers time period, the men a long with some of the male kids would go out and hunt for food, while the mother and female kids stayed at home cooking, and getting things ready for when the boys came back. In my opinion there is more of a balance when the jobs are split, for example, if both the man and the woman went out to hunt, who would cook at home and get everything ready? By the time they both got home nothing would be ready, and they would fall behind and start rushing to get things done. But if they split the jobs, and the males went out hunting while the females got everything ready at home or vice versa, then the day would flow on smoothly.
DeleteHey Miske i agree with Ahmed and Safwaan because the hunters and gatherers is one point in time but there are many other times where women stayed at home to clean and take care of the kids while the men work. also i believe that back in those days everything was easier when the men went out hunting and the women stayed and took care of the cooking for the hungry men when they arrive home.
DeleteI believe these gender norms carry over from tradition, which is how things have been done for generations of time.These gender norms could change drastically, especially with it being proven today. This can be seen with women joining the military, being allowed to drive, working full time, etc. I believe the tradition of women being the house keeper has something to do with males being dominant over women for a period of time, also with the idea that the males do the "hard work" while the females do the "easy" house work. The severity of these gender norms range depending on where we're talking about. Nowadays, women are seen being independent in North America, whereas they may be following the housewife role in a different region. Yes, of course women could do just as much in the workforce as what men could do, maybe even better. Once again, the example of women in the military is an example of this. I could see society being more "equal" or free of strict roles within the next few centuries. The provided video was quite eye-opening, we usually never see gender roles being flipped to that extent. Yes, it was an odd sight, but I'd assume it would be normal at some point.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, traditional values have played a huge role in stereotypes of what boys and girls like, dislike, the does, and don'ts. These traditions go far beyond 50 years ago and generally structured what society was. Gender influences massively how people live their lives in different societies around the world. Traditionally a women would be the housewife, for men would be a breadwinner for the family. Since there are homosexual families which are being accepted around Canada what needs to change? Men and women should be given an equal opportunity when given a job at any workplace regardless of attraction/gender. The fact of the matter is if they are able to do the same job or not depends solely on their individual performance, dedication, and availability.
DeleteRugshan i understand what you are saying and agree with you. I believe that even to this days that their are jobs mainly men and to the point you barley see women in there. But don`t forget there are also jobs that you rarely see men in, for example dental assistants are mainly females and also receptionist are mostly females.
DeleteIn my opinion, I don't think gender norms and roles will eve fully go away. Although they are starting to fade, and we are starting to see people step out of their supposed "roles" I don't it will full go away. The reason for this is religion and culture. Some religions and cultures have such a strong impact on gender norms and roles, and people like following their culture and obeying their religion. So if someone is taught and raised being told that they should follow these gender roles, then they will most likely grow up and follow them, and even pass on the culture to their kids. So although many people are starting to voice their own opinions, and become more independent, I believe there will always be some sort of gender norms and roles. It may not be in our country, but many other places in the world, and many religions and cultures will always believe in these roles.
ReplyDeleteHey Ahmed, I completely agree with your opinion. I also believe that culture and religion is a very significant portion contributing to these norms. Like yourself, I agree that this may not be the case in our country, but yes, this is still very real in other countries around the world.
DeleteHi Rugshan, as you said that it is possible for gender norms to go away in non-religious countries. I don't think that they will go away( not that I don't want them to go away). The reason being that in countries like America and Canada, they have tried to do that but no one succeeded. Many celebrities and famous people have used their popularity power to eliminate these gender norms, but gender norms still exists.
DeleteHi Abdullahi, nice article. I think gender norms are going to change and have changed in the past few years. One particular gender norm that I have seen change is the norm that women are never leading and always followers of men. For the past few years new movies and tv shows have shown more women take a leading role. For example, The Hunger Games Series, SuperGirl, Wonderwomen, and Molly's Game. This forward thinking in hollywood, is showing their is progress in how women are being portrayed in the media. Girls growing up will watch these movies and Tv shows where women have power and will be inspired to take on similar roles of strength and resilience in their everyday lives. This just shows that gender norms normally seen in movies can be changed and are being changed, we probably wont change all gender norms, but in time alot will be changed.
ReplyDelete