Reflective Essay On Gender Roles

As a child, growing up in my household there were no “proper” roles fulfilled for a man and a woman. My parents did things that did not necessarily fall into one specific role. Both of my parents work full time jobs and split duties that are involved in taking care of home. There were several instances where my mother would take out the garbage or change a light bulb, and other cases where my father would wash dishes or wash clothes. In the same aspect, if I went to my grandparents’ house the elements were different. My grandfather was the bread winner and he is the head of our family, which meant that in a sense we did serve him. At dinner he would get the first plate, he was disciplinarian, and he was also the voice of reason and got the last say. Even though my grandmother did work, she did the traditional responsibility that you would see a housewife do such as: cook, wash dishes, do laundry, and clean the house. It was always instilled in my siblings and cousins and I that we could do any that we put or mind and dedication to because our options are limitless.

By seeing the jobs that the women and men in my family held, that would be the representation of gender roles to me. My mother is

Bem’s point in “In a Male-Centered World…” was validated by saying that girls are simply categorized because of their gender and not by their capabilities to perform a job. Walking into a lot of my classrooms, I noticed that out of 27 students, I was one of about 5 or 6 girls. When it came time to pick groups for projects, it was not hard to see that the girls always got picked last like the less athletic kid getting chosen last in gym game of dodgeball or kickball. Knowing that I could play better than the boys or solve a problem faster or simpler than a boy was how I was able to reassure myself that it did not matter if I was masculine or