Gender roles determine what males and females think, interact, speak or dress within the society’s perspective. The commonly recognized gender in society is the male and female who are defined by the sex of an individual (Andersen & Witham, 2011). The reason why gender is a sensitive issue in society is because of the stratification and mobility aspects of the community that has to be fulfilled in life. For instance, women are perceived to be a delicate gender while men are taken as strong and withstanding (Saini,2021). There have been issues of gender inequality that are witnessed in the roles played by individuals. There are distinct ways in which society expects people to behave when it comes to social responsibilities. This paper analyzes the impacts of gender in society by examining ways in which gender has affected the lives of people in the world.
An Analysis of the Ways that my Gender Impacts my Everyday Life
The society that I live in has many definitions of what gender involves. There are some issues that I may agree with while opposing some perceptions about gender. For instance, the disciplined forces have employed more men than women (Alp Yilmaz, 2019). Therefore, it is an indicator that women have been disregarded in security matters as more potential is given to men. Being a male, I know that even females have the same capability to apply what they are taught in terms of roles that one has to do. As long as there is military and police training, anyone can apply the skills equipped during the period of education and other induction programs. However, as society leaves most of the duties to men, I do not see any problem with that since men are supposed to be the head.
As per the religious approach on the gender roles, men are supposed to sweat while working for their families. On the other side, women are seen straining during child delivery, a pain that would equal the struggles that men may go through (Andersen & Witham, 2011). For instance, in a family setting, it is okay to vest expenses to be paid by the husband as their wives assist in giving a conducive environment that would enable more expansion to resources in the family. Therefore, in my society, the roles for men and women are defined by the degree of engagement that jobs involve specific individuals.
There are various theories on gender that play a key role in examining the distinct expectations of theory. For instance, feminist theory is common in society because of the inequalities that exist in matters of social responsibilities (Andersen & Witham, 2011). Radical feminism has been evident because the role of the family is assumed to be male-dominated. In patriarchal communities, the participation of men in communal matters is valued more than that of women. As a result, the contribution of women in society tends to be disregarded and silenced because of the notion that men are more important than their female counterparts (Alp Yilmaz, 2019). However, in some Indonesian cultures, men and women have been working cooperatively as opposed to competitively in cases where jobs are perceived to be feminine or masculine as per the US standards. Most US women encounter bifurcated consciousness in the social structure because men have been regarded as the key movers and enablers of many incidents.
The gender and social constructs have relatively impacted my life choices. As an individual, I tend to be more charismatic when handling issues with female friends. The reason why I must compose myself because I want to be seen as a critical person who can technically solve issues (Saini,2021). The other way in which my life choices have been impacted is through the careers that I want to pursue. In the future, I want to indulge myself in social matters that make me interactive in society.
An Example of Gender Influencing My Interactions with Others
Due to the stereotype that men have variety of skills in major issues, I tend to associate myself with fellow males, which may be wrong but the notion is difficult to forgo. I usually yearn to get most of my assistance when I am stuck while doing my normal duties. For instance, due to the cognitive functioning that is required in social life, I have formed close bonds with male friends in classwork because I believe they can sort most of the challenges. I interact with both men and women in critical matters that require technical decisions such as the solution towards the environmental misconducts evident in the society today.
Being a man has made me an outbound person who likes to explore more on gender matters. Most of the people that I would like to associate with during everyday life are women. The reason is that women have special aspects of kindness, generosity, mothering ability that make them courteous every time. Therefore, I am more comfortable with female counterparts as they enlighten me on how to be polite, focuse on driving positive change to others among other life goals (Alp Yilmaz, 2019). The appearance and body image are also influential on how I see gender, for instance, men have higher heights compared to women. Being tall and hard like a man makes me believe I can carry out the most difficult situations. I usually like crediting both men and women regardless of their racial affiliations because I appreciate the appealing color orientation that is evident in the world.
When it comes to race, class, and sexuality, my gender makes me think of how I can be a neutral person who does not segregate people based on their racial affiliations. I believe that the world has equal opportunities for anyone regardless of their sexuality (Andersen & Witham, 2011). I am rewarded for the way I perceive gender every day because most people expect me to solve challenges such as repair of broken furniture, electricity since most people believe men have the potential (Saini,2021). That encourages me mostly and it raises my self-esteem and increases mobility levels in my life.
One of the commercial advertisements that portrayed the gender stereotyping was the ‘Like a Girl’ challenge. The advert by Always was created to advertise sanitary towel products and several people demonstrated what it means to be a girl. The source of information is from a website titled Always Like a Girl that was written by Karali (2018). The respondents in the question would exaggerate how girls are weak and not focused to perform various tasks.
The activities for the ‘Like a Girl’ challenge included running and fighting and the content creators sought to reveal how women are perceived on taking tough tasks. When girls were asked how to fight or run like a girl, they acted in a powerful way that showed how women are strong (Kamali, 2018). The advert indicated that society takes women as weak while the female gender has taken the challenge to prove to the community that they can do tough matters..
References
Alp Yilmaz, F. (2019). Attitudes to health personnel to gender roles and factors affecting their gender roles. Journal of Academic Research in Nursing, 4(2), 12-24. Web.
Andersen, M., & Witham, D. (2011). Thinking about women (9th ed.). Allyn & Bacon/Pearson.
Kamali, D. (2018). ALWAYS #LIKEAGIRL. Medium. Web.
Saini, A. (2021). How different are women and men? Feminist Dissent, 4(5), 311-314. Web.