Gender roles can be simply defined as tasks considered to be conducted by certain gender. Gender roles are changing, it is very common to find men and women in non-traditional gendered occupations. For example, a male midwife, women in the national police and women in construction work. Let’s dig in and find out more.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of the topic, you are expected to;
A gender role is also referred to as a sex role. It refers to a social role that encompasses a range of attitudes and behaviors that are generally considered appropriate, acceptable or desirable for people on the basis of their biological or perceived sex.
Gender roles are normally centered on conceptions of femininity and masculinity although there are variations and exceptions. The specifics regarding these gendered expectations may differ substantially among cultures, while other characteristics can be common throughout a range of cultures.
Several groups, mostly the feminist movements, have led efforts to change aspects of prevailing gender roles that they believe are inaccurate or oppressive.
THEORIES OF GENDER AS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT
Some theories collectively termed as social construction theories argue that gender behavior is mainly due to social conventions, although opposing theories disagree like theories in evolutionary psychology. A big number of children learn to categorize themselves on the basis of gender by the age of three. From birth, in the course of gender socialization, children learn gender stereotypes and roles from the environment and their parents. In a traditional view, males learn to manipulate their physical and social environment by physical strength or dexterity. Girls, on the other hand, learn to present themselves as objects to be viewed. Social constructionists state, for example, that children’s activities that are gender-segregated create the appearance that gender differences in behavior reflect an essential nature of female and male behavior.
As an aspect of role theory, gender role theory treats these differing distributions of men and women into roles as the primary origin of sex-differentiated social behavior, their impact on behavior is mediated by social processes and psychological processes.
Social constructionists consider gender roles to be hierarchical and they are characterized as a male advantaged gender hierarchy. According to researcher Andrew Cherlin, the term patriarchy refers to a social order that is based on the domination of women by men, especially in agricultural societies.
