Introduction
Gender is a set of unique character traits which create a clear distinction between male and female notions; in most cases, these two concepts are differentiated as man or woman, and boy or girl (Gender roles, 2011). Gender roles refer to a set of socially shared and behavioral patterns which are mostly considered to be acceptable for a person of a particular sex to perform a certain role that varies within different cultures (Gender roles, 2011). When each gender performs its role well, the issues of emotional imbalances, such as depression, among others, are completely eliminated.
Discussion
Gender is a very sensitive issue because in very many aspects, men and women are usually treated as two different entities in dissimilar ways, and this distinction is quiet clear from an early stage of adolescence when children can actually perform basic roles. In fact, children are given an identity mostly based on the observable differences in their biological nature or sex. As such, when a child is growing, he/she is expected to perform certain roles and responsibilities in the society that are consistent and connected with the community’s culture (Ivone, 2010).
To elaborate this point further, one needs to understand that when a particular gender performs a role, different from the one generally expected by the society, such actions are usually perceived as a deviation from the norm. In most conservative society, especially in many communities in Africa, each gender is usually assigned with responsibilities that are usually passed down in every family. These peculiarities are now accepted as the community’s culture.
These roles assigned are a part of the community culture, and hence failure of each gender to perform the culturally assigned role is a big problem because the community perceives such actions as a threat to their culture (Ivone, 2010).
In today’s society, equality is an issue that has not been fully achieved and integrated in the society, and hence gender roles are very distinguishable with man and woman performing his/her own role as a part of his/her commitment to culture of the society (The rights and role of women in the family and in society, 2000). The following discussion will clearly define different roles played by female and male in the society in order to elaborate the fact that gender is a certain role and not a biological nature.
The male gender is more masculine than female’s in nature. For these reasons, men usually discharge some physically difficult duties that usually involve use of energy, while the female gender, on the other hand, usually performs simple tasks like domestic work which generally requires less physical efforts than men’s work (Gender roles, 2011). Besides, women have maternal and family duties to perform in the society which are a part of the human nature regardless of the community’s culture (Gender roles, 2011).
Additionally, the male gender is usually perceived to be authoritative, while females are usually very emotional. Therefore, men usually have dominate women in almost all the issues, especially in a family setting, while women also influence males in one way or another (Gender roles, 2011). These roles are respected and performed by both genders. In family, men, for instance, prefer to play a role of leaders because of their authoritative nature, whilst women use cognitive behavioral therapy to control the male gender that sometimes has emotional malfunction at some point.
Conclusion
Until equality is fully achieved in the society, the notion of gender will always be treated as two different concepts with diverse abilities, and hence female and male will have different expected roles to play in every society. However, with the current trend towards increase in globalization, both genders will have equal responsibilities in the society, at least to a certain extent (The rights and role of women in the family and in society, 2000).
References
Gender roles. (2011). Web.
Ivone, G. (n.d.). Role of women in today’s society. Polish Marriage. Web.
The rights and role of women in the family and in society. (2000). In Catholic Perspective on: Women in Society and in the Church. Web.