5 examples of gender roles (and their effects on society)

Examples of gender roles in which it is easy to appreciate the strength of these unwritten rules.

Gender roles are an element that has been talked about a lot in recent times and are becoming more and more prominent.

The tendency is to eliminate them so that there is no separation by gender in any type of task, but even so, many of them can still be observed, especially in certain societies.

In the following paragraphs we will have the opportunity to see some examples of gender roles and the way they have influenced human societies.

What are gender roles?

Before we begin to list different examples of gender roles, we must first pause for a moment to understand exactly what this concept means. Gender roles are unwritten rules in which a series of behaviors have historically been established as proper or appropriate for a certain gender, while they were less likely to be observed in the opposite gender.while they were less likely to be observed in the other gender.

As mentioned in the introduction, in recent years various sectors of society have made great efforts to identify many of these examples of gender roles and try to dilute them, so that the set of behaviors to which they refer would cease to be predefined for a single gender and would become plausible for either of them.

Likewise, some of them have also been identified that, instead of wanting to extend them to both genders, they prefer to suppress by referring to behaviors that are no longer accepted in today's society, so that they should disappear instead of being universalized between genders. Later on we will see different examples of gender roles.

One of the essential issues of gender roles is that they somehow mark what others expect from a person's behavior in a given situation depending on his or her gender. At least this was the case until some time ago, as we have already mentioned that the trend is towards the universalization or elimination of gender roles. the trend is towards the universalization or elimination of these behaviors..

The basis of gender roles, therefore, is the belief that, depending on whether a person is male or female, he or she will have certain behaviors. The explanation as to which part of the basis of these behaviors is innate and which part is merely a social construct is the subject of intense debate and could be the subject of endless research.

Therefore, we will not go any further and will go on to describe some of the examples of gender roles that will allow us to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon that concerns us in this article.

Some examples of gender roles

Once we have made a short tour about the concept of gender role, we can move on to see some examples in order to visualize the implications of this phenomenon.

It is important to remember that these examples of gender roles have been common in our society until a few years ago, but the trend suggests that we are on the way to eliminate or at least substantially modify some of them, making them become gender-independent roles.

1. Childcare

One of the most frequent examples of gender roles has to do with childcare. Traditionally, in our society, this task, within marriage, has tended to be assumed by the woman. On the contrary, men were expected to work and earn a salary to support the family. The woman was not only supposed to take care of the children, but also to take care of the household chores..

Of course, this picture is long gone. Trends towards gender equality, with policies especially active in the incorporation of women into the workforce, have brought about a major shift in this role.

Nowadays, it is common to find marriages in which both parents have their respective jobs and therefore also share the tasks related to the home and childcare. In such cases, they often turn to outside help to give the children the attention they need, either through caregivers, nursery schools or with the invaluable help of relatives, especially grandparents.

In any case, although this represents a change in trend, it does not mean that cases like the previous one do not continue to occur, or even the other way around, or with people of the same sex or being a single-parent family. It is evident that the family models have also expandedThis has also helped to reduce this first example of gender role.

2. Emotional expressiveness

Another of the behaviors that have traditionally been differentiated according to whether the person was male or female is that which has to do with the expression of emotions. Until some time ago, and even today, many people consider it correct for women to express their emotions openly, letting others know how they feel and even crying if they need to.

However, this same behavior, if coming from a man, has been less common. Traditional parenting styles have been very influential in teaching children that they should not cry, that they are strong and that such behavior does not belong to them.that they are strong and that this behavior does not belong to them. Of course, this trend is changing and today more and more parents are teaching their children that they should express what they feel and that it is okay to cry.

This is one of the most important examples of gender roles, as it is based on an apprenticeship that the child receives from his or her earliest childhood and that has tremendously relevant implications during adulthood, since in the case of a child who has been educated not to express anything related to his or her emotions, he or she will have fewer tools to know how to manage these emotions when they get the better of him or her.

3. Physical appearance

Of course, physical appearance is another example of gender roles that society has traditionally had and that have been changing for some time. Historically, many people expected women, just because they were women, to maintain an impeccable physical appearance, resorting to elements such as makeup, certain clothes, cosmetics, cosmetics, and so on.To do so, they resorted to elements such as make-up, certain items of clothing, cosmetics, hair removal, hairdressing, etc.

But it is precisely the physical appearance is a role that has quickly become universalized. More and more men are devoting the same means as women to taking care of their appearance. Both the sectors promoting equality and the commercial brands themselves have had a role to play in this field, as they have seen how they have been able to reach the other 50% of the population, who traditionally were left out of their campaigns.

This does not mean that nowadays everyone feels a social obligation to take care of their physical appearance to the extreme. It simply means that it is no longer a role assigned to women and therefore anyone can decide to maintain these behaviors, but they can also decide not to do so and therefore not worry too much about the physical image projected to others.

4. Dominant character and conciliatory character

The type of character traditionally assigned to men and women is another of the most common examples of gender roles. Historically the idea has been promoted that men had certain leadership and dominance tendencies, while women, on the other hand, were more empathetic and conciliatory.. In fact, we can already see the interconnection with examples we have seen above.

From this perspective, it was understood that it was easier for men to reach certain positions of responsibility, since their character implied a series of characteristics appropriate for these tasks. Women, on the other hand, were expected to remain in subordinate positions.

Furthermore, the first of the examples of gender roles we saw implied that women could not even consider reaching these positions of responsibility, since motherhood was incompatible with developing a prosperous working career. Today, equality policies, such as equal maternity and paternity leave, are gradually diluting this gender role.

5. Types of studies

Also a distinction was also made between the types of studies appropriate for a man and for a woman.The study, which was published by the University of California, stated that men were more likely to enroll in exact sciences and engineering, while women preferred the humanities, social sciences and caring disciplines (medicine, nursing or psychology).

Although the enrollment figures indicate that these trends are still continuing, the free choice of career is encouraged, so that no man or woman is currently prevented from pursuing the studies of his or her choice.

Bibliographical references:

• Chávez Carapia, Julia del Carmen (2004). Perspectiva de Género. Plaza y Valdés.
• Jayme, M., Sau, V. (1996). Psicología Diferencial Del Sexo y el Género: Fundamentos. Icaria Editorial.
• Puleo, A.H. (2007). Introduction to the concept of gender. Género y Comunicación. Editorial Fundamentos.
• Rubio, S.P. (2012). Transnational family and redefinition of gender roles. The case of Bolivian migration in Spain. Papers: Journal of Sociology.