What Are Gender Roles Sample – Term Paper

Gender roles in society

Over the years, a lot has changed on the roles of males and females. It has dawned that both men and women can exchange roles and there are no specific roles known for either gender. In the beginning of the twentieth century, there were tasks that were only done by a specific gender. For example, it was very hard to find a man in the kitchen cooking like it was to find a woman hunting. With the high rate of civilization however, it has come to the worlds’ attention that anything can be done by anyone. Though some roles are still regarded as fit for a specific gender, most have been centralized. In the religious domain for example, only men are allowed to be priests and sheikhs whereas only women can becomes nuns.;

Fifty years ago, women were considered as the weak gender and were given lighter tasks compared to their male counterparts. Men were idolized and they symbolized great power. It is quite impossible to find a legendary ruler of female gender in the history books. Women were more submissive and always agreed to the man’s instructions without question. Until women came to realize that they also can perform the tasks that were only deemed for men, we now have even female presidents. Amazing however how a lot has changed in the gender roles over the last fifty years. Children born in this age are taught they can be whatever they want to despite their gender and well enough they grow with that mentality passing it to the future generations. Gender equality has become a major topic we can’t ignore and both males and females are insisting on their rights day in day out.

With the much campaigns on gender equality, feminism has been on the rise ever as women want to be heard more and recognized that their abilities are just as their male counterparts adding that they can even perform better at some of the roles. This has led to more concentration on the girl child and less on the boy child. Although still both genders are not very equal, a lot of laws have been put in place to protect women rights as compared to men’s. It is however prudent to recognize that men and women have very different biological and emotional qualities. This makes it very difficult to harmonize their roles as one gender might perform a role better than the other due to those differences. Women tend to be more emotional and partaking in roles that tend to embrace more empathy, a woman is likely to be considered more than a man. A good example is nursing. On the other hand men are naturally more muscular than women thus a role that needs more energy such as construction work, the man is more likely to fit in the job.

It is evident that the world is changing at a very rapid pace looking at what has occurred in the last fifty years. Women are fast becoming leaders of industry and defining their roles to be as similar to their male counterparts.