Gender Roles And Society's Role In Society

Who’s to say that just because you are male you have to act manly and if you are female you must be girly? Over the years, gender roles have had a dominant place in society, different families emphasizing different roles. Society places certain expectations on men and women, designating particular responsibilities to each.Throughout the years, society 's rules and expectations for men and women have changed, therefore, it 's important to know where gender roles come from and how they affect people because they play an important role in shaping the way we think about others in society.
Gender roles are known as specific behaviors and attitudes expected of males and females by society and are imposed through a variety of social influences. Different

Now society expects women to not only be gentle, emotional and nurturing, but also competent, assertive and ambitious and have male “roles”. Women are now more independent. Many have children and are single moms so they are expected to be tough. In the past 40 years or so, women have claimed a wider range of roles, for instance, working. They must balance work and running the household. Obviously, women 's roles have changed, but men roles have not changed very much. In the recent years working mothers have become ordinary, however, stay-at-home fathers exist in only 1% of married couples with kids under age 15, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.(Los Angeles Times, 'Men are stuck ' in gender roles) Although, the number of stay at home fathers did increase in recent years. Jake, a stay at home father picks his daughter 's outfits, fixes her hair, takes her to and from activities and changes her diapers. “While he tells everyone he is very proud to be a stay-at-home dad, Jake said people will give him mixed reactions, some of which seem dismissive.”(ABC, Is Dad the New Mom? The Rise of Stay-At-Home Fathers). Even though it is more common for fathers to stay at home with the kids, they still face traditional stereotypes. People find it strange and not “normal” for dads not to work and not be the dominant one who supports the family. It’s still not acceptable for a man to be “kind,

It can an affect people on the relationship level. Men and women who follow the traditional gender roles may have trouble relating. It can also affect people on the personal level. For instance, girls who enjoyed sports often avoided them at school because they assumed it wouldn’t be a feminine thing to do, they were afraid they might look “unattractive while running”, or that “they will get mocked by their male peers for not being good enough.” (Think Progress, Forcing Kids To Stick To Gender Roles Can Actually Be Harmful To Their Health.) Or there 's girls who go on strict diets or starve themselves, even though they are within healthy weights because they are not skinny enough, like “pretty” girls are expected to be. It affects males health as well because men cope with life and emotions differently. It is not ok for men to cry and release emotion, therefore, they will try to cope with their emotions on their own. This leads to withdrawing from family and friends, consuming more alcohol, and behaving violently. (Talk it over Men 's Line, Men and emotions.) Gender expectations have an impact on all of us and it is something that is practically unavoidable in our