Gender Roles

Gender roles are something that has been constant for thousands of years. Women are supposed to stay at home, clean the house, cook the food, and care for the children. Men are supposed to do yard work and go to work. From the moment you are born, you begin learning what gender role you fit into. This is a concept known as gender typing, where a child finds out what their gender is and what they’re values and attributes their gender holds. Most if not all children get assigned to a gender role. It’s a practice that has never been questioned until the past 10 years. Because gender has nothing to do with the physical anatomy of an individual people are starting to question why someone has to be put into girl or boy. There is a wide array of gender roles, which are being brought to the nation’s attention. There are people who are transgender, woman, or man. Then there are androgynous men and women, and ambiguous men and women.  Challenging norms, like gender roles, is something humans seem to love to do.

In the past 150 years, gender roles have changed dramatically. In 1850, it was the woman’s job to stay home and make a thousand babies with her husband. Her role is to please her husband and keep up with the housework. It was odd to have a woman work outside of the home and it wasn’t just odd but it was a rare sight to see. Men were the breadwinners of the family in every household. The only women who were the head of their household were single mothers, even then they would go and live with their parents if they were alive or they would remarry immediately. Slowly but surely, the gender roles in the family changed. More and more women were attending colleges and focusing on their careers instead of focusing on raising a family. “On a national scale, public universities had the most even division between male and female students, with a male-female ratio of 43.6–56.4.” (Borzelleca). Women are now becoming equally matched with men when it comes to what roles they take. Instead of the women being solely responsible for housework, its become known among my peers and me that men should share the responsibilities. In my household, my husband helps me when I ask and shares the chores with me. My husband does work a lot more than I do so I make sure that the amount of chores he has doesn’t overwhelm him. In my head, I think whoever works more hours and has longer days shouldn’t have the same amount of chores that a homemaker does. It wouldn’t be fair for my husband to come home from an 8-hour workday and see the house a mess while I didn’t have school or work that day. Some people believe that no matter what, the chores should be divided equally with their partner. I believe that whatever works for you and your partner are acceptable.

Gender roles don’t only pertain to adults and their personal lives but it also pertains to children. When a child is born with a penis he is considered a boy and when a child is born with a vagina she is a girl. Girl and boy are genders, which are related, but it doesn’t determine your sex. Your sex is determined by the anatomical genitalia that you are born with. Many argue that just because you’re born with a penis doesn’t mean that you have to be a boy. One could be androgynous which means that you have both male and female characteristics. There are parents who don’t want their children to feel pressured into falling into a specific gender role so they allow their children to play with “boy” and “girl” toys. They feel like there is no such thing as a “girl” toy and a “boy” toy because a toy is just a toy. It’s an item that a child can play with whether it be a Lego set or a Barbie doll. Target, one of the largest and most successful retailers in America, “has announced that that it will remove gendered labeling from many of its aisles.” (Cunha). It’s a bold move for Target because they are removing gender labels that have existed for hundreds of years. It’s a great decision because now children don’t have to be pressured into something that is so very important to them. One of the biggest influencers in what kind of toys a child plays with isn’t a toy label in a Target store but it has more to do with the environment that they grew up in and who they’re being raised by. There are many “traditional” parents who believe that boys are boys and can only play with “boy” toys like Legos, cars, and guns. It’s a strict doctrine that is enforced upon that child so he or she has no choice but to do as told. Although, our world is becoming more and more tolerant it doesn’t mean that every single individual will be tolerant of different gender roles. It’s an institution that will take decades to change.

 Borzecella, Daniel. "The Male-Female Ratio In College." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 16 Feb. 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.

Cunha, Darlena. "Target's Decision to Remove Gender-Based Signs Is Just the Start." Time. Time, 10 Aug. 2015. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.