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Gender as a social construct gender roles
Society's impact on gender roles
Gender as a social construct gender roles
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Gender equality is about equal opportunity for men and women to identify their individual potential. One must be able to benefit from their participation in society and contribute to the economic and social development of their country (Australian Government. 2009). Through multiple reviewed literature on gender inequality, the overall concept within many sociological readings was the way gender inequality socially relates to employment and careers. There are three separate themes that intersect within the written literature that will be discussed. First, gender differences in historical social roles have created stereotypes on the contemporary outlooks of the social attitude. Secondly, through beliefs and values, career pathways and choices have become gendered from factors of culture and society. Lastly, occupational segregation within the workforce is still dominant, but more equality is breaking through for the future. In this research, I will identify the factors that inter-link gender within different parts of society Social stereotypes of male and female roles in society are a predominant aspect of modern day culture. The male-female distinction is one of societies primary cultural categories (Ridgeway, 2009). Through these stereotypes, people categorize males and females instantly on first interaction. Any subsequent interaction is slightly swayed as it depends on prior understanding of the other person as male or female (Ridgeway, 2009). There is growing evidence in research that gender differences rely greatly on the cultural system of interaction (Ridgeway, 1997). “Biological gender, activities and interests, personal-social attributes, gender-based social relationships, stylistic and symbolic content, and... ... middle of paper ... ... pp. 191-216 Published by: Annual Reviews • Glick, Peter, and Susan T. Fiske. 1999. Gender, power dynamics, and social inter- action. In Revisioning gender, edited by M. M. Ferree, J. Lorber, and B. B. Hess. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage • Ridgeway, Cecilia L., and Shelley J. Correll. 2004. Unpacking the gender system: A theoretical perspective on gender beliefs and social relations. Gender & Society 18 (4): 510-31. • Ridgeway, Cecilia L., and Paula England. 2007. Sociological approaches to sex discrimination in employment. In Sex discrimination in the workplace: Multidisciplinary perspectives, edited by F. J. Crosby, M. S. Stockdale, and A. S. Ropp. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. • Steinberg, Ronnie J. 1995. Gendered instructions: Cultural lag and gender bias in the hay system of job evaluation. In Gender inequality at work, edited by J. A. Jacobs. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
The author explores some stereotypes based on what types of jobs are more women’s type of jobs or more manly jobs. Careers such as carpenters and truck drivers are all almost exclusively male jobs, whereas careers in nursing or secretary work are all almost exclusively a woman’s type of work. Since the 1970’s, women have made head way into male dominated jobs. However, the author states that even though women have made it into male dominated jobs, this is not true for the reverse situation. The woman type jobs are still almost exclusively women’s jobs with men making little entry into them.
Brannon, Linda. "Chapter 7 Gender Stereotypes: Masculinity and Femininity." Gender: Psychological Perspectives. 4th ed. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2005. 159-83. Print.
Sex Discrimination in the American Workplace: Still a Fact of Life. (2000, July 01). Retrieved from National Women's Law Center : www.nwlc.org
Gender roles and stereotypes exist for all genders. These roles are expectations on how a certain individual is supposed to behave based on what a particular culture defines as appropriate for men and women. The traditional views of gender roles are indeed quite different from the modern views. The men in society are the money earners, while the women take care of th...
1. Finn, Lisa. "Female Discrimination in the Workplace." Editorial. Global Post-America's World News Site. N.p., 2005. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. .
Parcheta, N., Kaifi, B., & Khanfar, N. (2013). Gender Inequality in the Workforce: A Human Resource Management Quandary. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 4(3), 240-248.
Sex and Gender are seen as inseparable elements of socialization since society believes that they are reliant on each other. Sex and gender, in society as a whole are long established topics for research. There are many perspectives that focused on gender roles and their definitions . These perspectives are namely; the Biological theory, the psychodynamic theory, the external theories, which will include Socialisation, gender schema and situational theories. Other perspectives include the Identity-construction theory, which emphasizes the person’s commitment to self image, and the Enculturated-Lens theory, developed by Sandra Behms. This paper will focus on two types of
“Women have talent and intelligence but, due to social constraints and prejudices, it is still a long distance away from the goal of gender equality” (Pratibha Patil). A common misconception that is prominent in many modern day ideologies, is that gender does not have as much of an effect on workplace experience as it did several decades ago. This is untrue. “Most occupations remain skewed toward either men or women” (Jacobs 32). This occupational gap is an unmistakable reason for men and women being treated so vastly differently. Many people tend to believe that after women gained the right to vote and became eligible for many workforce positions,
Female inequality in workplace is one of the harmful aspect that is afflicting the entire
West, Candace, and Sarah Fenstermaker. Doing Gender, Doing Difference: Social Inequality, Power and Resistance. New York; London: Routledge, 2002.
Gender stratification is the cuts across all aspects of social life and social classes. It refers to the inequality distribution of wealth, power and privilege between men and women at the basis of their sex. The world has been divided and organized by gender, which are the behavioural differences between men and women that are culturally learnt (Appelbaum & Chambliss, 1997:218). The society is in fact historically shaped by males and the issue regarding the fact has been publicly reverberating through society for decades and now is still a debatably hot topic. Men and women have different roles and these sex roles, defined to be the set of behaviour’s and characteristics that are standard for each gender in a society (Singleton, 1987) are deemed to be proper in the eyes of the society. They are as a matter of fact proper but as time move on, the mind-set of women changes as well, women also want to move on. However the institutional stratification by the society has become more insidious that the stereotypical roles have created a huge barrier between men and women. These barriers has affected women in many aspects such as minimizing their access on a more superior position in workforce organization, limits their ownership of property and discriminates them from receiving better attention and care.
It is, therefore, natural for most companies to think that women cannot be as capable as men in terms of assuming strenuous or challenging positions because women, by default, become less participatory and more vulnerable when they start to have family and children. Apparently, this situation has led to various gender discriminations in the labor market. In conclusion, although the roles of men and women have radically changed over the turn of the century, it is still inevitable to have various gender-related occupational differences because the social and biological roles of women and men do not really change. Society still perceives women as the home makers and men as the earners, and this perception alone defines the differing roles of men and women in the labor market.
Gender is an important aspect of our social life; it comprises of power relations, the division of labour, symbolic forms and emotional relations (Connel, 2000).
Rhode, D. (2000). Culture Establishes Gender Roles.Male/female roles: opposing viewpoints (pp. 22-24). San Diego, Calif.: Greenhaven Press
Gender bias has a long history and continues to occur in the workplace today. Research indicates that women remain significantly disadvantaged and mistreated compared to men in the workforce. How do the disparities of hiring, promotion, and salaries affect women in the workplace?