Učiteljski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu

Gender roles

(seminar paper)

Cultural studies

Lecturer: Dr. sc. Marija Andraka

Student: Ana-Marija Milošević

January,2015

Introduction

Even today,in 21st century this is considered to be a very interesting but yet extremely

demanding topic. In history,women were often discriminated and were not supposed to vote

until pretty recently. Today men and women are considered to be equal in all rights. Those

rights are protected by many laws. Still, even today, we are aware that not everything is equal

for men or women. We are witnesses of sexual discrimination on daily basis. The main

problem is that children from very young age are taught to discriminate. There are thaught to

think that some jobs or occupations are exclusively boys or girls oriented. The only way to

prevent gender inequality is to start working on that at very young age,with simple things.

Gender and roles

First of all we need to define gender roles as a theoretical construct in the social

sciences and humanities that refers to a set of social and behavioral norms that,

within a specific culture, are widely considered to be socially appropriate for

individuals of a specific sex. In addition to that we need to outline the fact that

gender roles are strictly socially determained. That means that sex that we are born

in,has particular norms and expectations within our community. Those roles are the

ones that are considered to be unfair,to say the least. Roles that are given to us by

being born in particular gender, are often crossed with ones personality. Then we

have“ cases “ like,girls playing football or guys dancing balet. The problem is that

society does not approve of behaving outbox. In other words, social standards

within society are required to be respected and lived by. At very young age, children

are being prepared for their“ role“. Girls are playing with dolls and cooking,while boys are

constructing and saving the world as super heros. Boys are wearing“boys coloures“ and girls

wear dresses and have long hair. Although those are pretty inocent examples, that is how

everything starts, that is how prejudices are born and carried on through generations.

It is men's world

Growing up boys are taught how to be men and how to be strong. They are supposed to be

breadwinners for their famillies. They are taught how to win a girl,but also how to fight for

one. On the other hand,girls are taught how to be ladys. As future mothers and wifes they are

supposed to be polite and obedient. Ofcourse,we are not in the middleage anymore,but still

expectations of society are pretty radical and primitive. When we live in the world where men

and women are not paid the same for the same position. Most of the company owners and

bosses are men. However,most of the chefs in the world are men. In todays world there is big

misconception about gender roles. Men and women are both equaly capable to do the same

things,to achive the same goals. Acorrding to that there is a powerful movement for women

called feminism. Although they are promoting the rights of women all around the globe in

some way we can also say that they are radical. This contovesial movement is very popular

today and their mission is to impower women. Through out history women were the weaker

sex and thet is what they are trying to change today.  Educate women. Educate

societies to accept women. Fight against obscuring the role of women or

limiting it to the household. Educate men to respect and validate women.

But most importantly, show men the many female role models and what

they have accomplished. Education is key. Apperently this would be the

unique solution. If somehow we can change negative trends that one sex

is being descriminated in any way,we have done much.

If we want to change something we need to start working with new

generations. There are numerous examples of workshops that could be

done with young children on preventing sexual discrimination as well as

poviding good knowladge about gender roles. Ofcourse we need to bare

in mind that tfose activities should be age appropriated. Very important

thing is cooperating wih parents. There should not be misunderstandings

between what they are taught at home and what they learn at school. Big

step in a right direction would surely be promoting tolerance and respect

for differences at young age.

Conclusion

To summ up I would like to say that discrimination of any kind is never a good thing. My topic was gender roles,but those roles are being strictly followed by society trying to put a children in a box. As a future teacher I do believe that every child,boy or a girl is more than just a boy or a girl. It is a unique person with endless possibilities if they are treated the right way. Every one of us has so much to offer outside of their gender role. If everyone of us is treated with respect and looked as equal to us,this would be a better world. Honesty and hard work should be paid the same for men or women. Discrimination on a workplace needs to be stopped by changing our ways of treating other people. We should honer and respect the other peoples good characteristics. At the very end,we do need each other to survive both mentaly and phisicly as a human kind on this world. It is just very contradictory that one should be better than the other. Men need women as well as women need men. We should bear that in mind .

References:

http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Gender_role.html

http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/gender-inequality-index-gii

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yasamin-beitollahi/men-embracing-gender-equality_b_6252302.html