Culture and History: Gender Roles Over the Past 50 or So Years

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Table of Contents

Change in American gender roles
Shift in perception of the male gender roles
Achievement-based and not ascribed
Changing the corporate and political world
Conclusion
Bibliography

Change in American gender roles

Among humans there is a general tendency to pass on the information and how things are done from one generation to another and thus, resulting in what is known as culture. However, due to the flexibility of man, the desired culture does not remain rigid and with the constant changing of the environment, this culture also finds itself being modernized with some aspects lost. Reflective of such a culture change is best exemplified by the changing of assumed gender roles over the past 50 or so years (Christie-Mizell pp.46-126). There has been a significant change in the traditional roles ascribed to the two genders.

Shift in perception of the male gender roles

Working Couple

Traditionally, the male is viewed as the breadwinner of the house, having searched for a mate to bring into the house to look after it and provide him with children. This perception has shifted in the sense that today it is not uncommon to have both spouses holding full-time jobs, something that had been a male preserve (Christie-Mizell 46-126).

Sharing of domestic duties

In the homes themselves, husbands are becoming more involved in household chores, whereas in the past they were content just to read the paper while the wife cooked, they are now also occasionally cooking and doing things like laundry. This new aspect of sharing responsibility arises from the fact that both parties are equally tired from work, although most of these working couples have opted to employ house helps to aid in the domestic duties (Tergesen para. 1-5).

Male entry into traditional gender roles

Another sign of assumptions being shelved is the fact that men are increasingly taking careers thought to be exclusively the preserve of women. There continues to be a significant rise in the numbers of male nurses and models. It is nowadays not surprising to see a household with completely reversed roles where the husband stays at home while the wife has a full-time job (Fisher pp.1-5).

Achievement-based and not ascribed

Ascribed roles for women

During the mid-1900s, a majority of women at that time had grown up aspiring to settle down with a husband and build a home. It was always assumed that once one was lucky enough and she got married, she could no longer continue working. Although education for women had been growing in earnest since the nineteenth century, (Christie-Mizell 46-126) most of the jobs that the majority of women held were in the fashion industry primarily as models and the secretarial and clerical fields. These gender roles had been nurtured from a very young age where the girls mostly played with dolls to nurture their caregiving skills which would gain prominence when they had their own children.

Family over career

In a way, these roles were brought about by traditional assumptions that a woman’s place was in the home looking after the kids and the house and tending to her husband’s needs while he was out there securing the family a living. It is not that there were no women in the workforce; it was just that she had to choose one over the other, juggling the two was quite rare and unheard of. Such a thing today is the norm. Those who choose to actively pursue a career were sometimes spoken about in disdain among social circles. In this way, the women were not independent and they relied upon their husbands for virtually every provision

A more aggressive woman

At the time, women were rather timid while their male compatriots had an aggressiveness in them that was a sort of a requirement. In various aspects this was quite visible, women rarely approached a guy they were interested in and most of them were not involved in mainstream sports activities nor were they interested. This is very different from what we have now where the ladies are somehow bolder and will flirt openly; sending stronger hints and even asking men out. The women are also being increasingly involved in sports with women professional leagues and sports associations.

Changing the corporate and political world

Women in competition with men

As earlier ascribed to, many women were involved in jobs that were somehow regarded as exclusive to them like nursing and in showbiz. Most of these jobs, particularly in the showbiz area required good looks and very little training to be considered, an example being modeling. Over time women have taken up careers that require expertise through learning and where beauty is not a requirement. This drive has facilitated women’s entry into the corporate world with an increasing number of female executives heading multinational companies.

Gender equality

This forward-thinking has also seen a significant increase in the number of women with political aspirations (Belkin para. 1-4). The above two fields have served to showcase a changing attitude towards women from one of discrimination against to a gender equality approach. Through gender equality, firms and public institutions can not by law be exclusively dominated by either gender.

New role models for young girls

Where in the past aspirations for young girls involved working with dolls and striving toward becoming a good wife and mother ultimately, the women executives and politicians have added a more achievement-based goal the girls can desire. These women are shaping society by becoming representatives of a changing culture. They are sort of trendsetters and role models; something young girls can aspire to become. This change can be viewed as a realization of the American ideology of fairness and equality for all where people are free to pursue whatever career they want regardless of gender among other classifications (Steinem para 2-5). It goes a long way to show the strides and gains of women over the past 50 or so years. Many of these women have succeeded in balancing between a career and a family with cooperation with their spouses.

Conclusion

Modern culture has become the detriment of many traditional beliefs and assumptions. While men in the past may have benefited from the lopsided view on women and what they could do, they are now finding themselves in direct competition with women in what were traditionally their fields. The line that divides the gender roles is continually thinning and becoming blurred with women the main beneficiaries of this change. The women have sort of been set free to pursue personal goals and not simply become part of someone else’s achievement. This has also sadly come at a price where the family unit is in danger due to an increase in divorces due to the pressures of working and sustaining a family (Morin and Rosenfield p. A1 ).

Bibliography

Belkin, Lisa. “One Step Closer to Equality.” New York Times. 2009. Web.

Christie-Mizell, André. “The Effects of Traditional Family and Gender Ideology on Earnings: Race and Gender Differences.” Journal of Family and Economic Issues 27.1(2006): 46-126.

Fisher, Woods Suzanne. “The Stay-at-Home Dad.” Kyria. 2000.

Morin, Richard and Rosenfield, Megan. “With More Equity, More Stress.”The Washington Post. 1998.

Steinem, Gloria. “Women are Never Front-Runners.”Time. 2008.

Tergesen, Anne. “The Elusive 50/50 Division of Labor.” Bloomberg Businessweek. 2007. Web.

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