Gender has to do with everything unfortunately. The minute we're born, we're put into gender roles. Girls are supposed to wear pinks, reds, and purples. Boys are supposed to wear blues and greens. People automatically assume that girls have longer hair then boys, so they put bows in girls hair until it grows longer. Girls are supposed to wear dresses and skirts, if a boy says he wants to wear one it is frowned upon. People should be able to wear whatever they'd like without being put into gender stereotypes. In the workforce men are CEO's of companies more often then women. Even though in some cases women are able to break through the glass ceiling, in many cases they are not able to. While our society has come a long way in society to make men and women equal, there is still a long way to go.
Something to think about, What would you like to change to make gender roles equal?
Remember last year when we read that article about how women deal with being manager in a different way then men, and their bosses tend to take in a different way because they don't see it as "managing"? I find it ironic that women can do things a way that actually persuades people to do it/makes it seem as if they were asked rather than pushed to do something. Though, this is also stereotypical in itself because it is crowding a whole group into a single category, but the majority are this way. This is also something to think about. I also think it's interesting that there are scholarships available to women simply for being women, but none for men. Is this a pro, then? and are stereotypes always a con, then?
ReplyDeleteI think many of the gender stereotypes we witness for women are generally negative, such the frowning upon of a women CEO which is thought to be a male position. But I don't believe all stereotypes can be bad. For instance, it's a stereotype that many Asian people are very smart and could give an individual positive image right off the bat, even if an individual isn't actually like that. Though generally speaking, there are a lot of negative stereotypes out there. I do think Anna has a point about how when we are born everything is color coded and picked out and all, that is strange now that I think about it. It's also weird how little kids figure out quickly what toys are okay for them to play with. Remember that video in G's class? There was a study performed to see how a room full of kids would react to different toys. The boys stayed away from barbies and the girls stayed away from trucks. I wonder how these kids just know this stuff.
ReplyDeleteI also have to wonder at what point is it cultural/learned behavior, and at which point does it simply become biological? Although the fight for gender equality isn't 100% finished, I feel that we also need to embrace the difference between men and women. We're not the same! This doesn't mean that either gender should feel like they have to behave in a certain way, I just feel that wishing for completly similar behavior from both genders is just unrealistic. This is a perfect example of a knowledge issue - how far do we push for equal expectaions and opportunites, when the line between culural and biological factors distinguishing genders is so blurry?
ReplyDeleteFrom the perspective of a male:
ReplyDeleteI, personally, think that the two genders should not be equal-equal, as in being the same in everything, but they should both be granted freedom of choice and opportunity. There will always be people who judge one way or another if someone is defying long-held cultural expectations.
The genders are different to some point beyond physiology, but I wish there weren't such cultural stigmas against certain behaviors. For instance, I wish that women weren't always depicted as helpless. In movies, women are either helpless or otherwise overly adept at fighting; we have damsels in distress or warrior princesses. I wish we could settle our image somewhere in the middle.
On the flipside, I don't think it should be a bad thing if men cry. Again, in movies men only cry for comedic effect. Men can cry if they get emotional enough, either in tragedy or in moments of excitement. They don't have to be dramatic, but I demand the right to cry freely!
It's okay, Cody, you can cry on my shoulder in English when you're sitting next to me xD
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