The Dismissal Of Old Gender Roles

Gender roles and norms have been around in Society’s culture since human history has been made. It was always expected for a man to be and act a certain way – vice versa for women as well. Gender can be defined as attributes and societal norms that are ‘common’ for men and women in Society as a way of masculinity and femininity. The use of gender roles has been rebutted against in recent times, and is constantly being argued and changing.

In history, you can see how gender roles took place amongst American (and world) culture. For example; in the 1950s it was very common and actually practiced that women should aspire to be wives – and wish to stay at home and care for the children and the meals while the husband would go out and work. Most people raised in that era could very much differentiate the outlook of gender roles back then and now.

Houswife and Family In the 1950s

Today, it’s a big step from that sort of culture – each era looked at gender roles differently. With an upcoming generation, the way society looks at gender is changing before our eyes. Even though many people were opposed to past generation’s way of looking at Gender – many oppose today’s way of looking at gender roles as well.

As our society is becomes more and more prone to gender equality – different personalities and taboos are being discovered amongst the people. Men are able to freely show femininity, as they would like without the fear of much scrutiny compared to how they would react in early years. Feminism is a huge movement and something that is becoming a popular controversy that stands for gender equality. As where gender roles back in the day would say that housewives was a role a woman should aspire to pursue – nowadays men are being able to reverse the common role and be the major homemaker while the woman works – all in the aspect of fairness and a trouble-free lifestyle. Things have definitely changed when it comes to gender roles, and many things have influenced them. Media is a huge influential aspect of our society’s way of socialization. They influence the population on what is right and what is wrong, what’s “normal” and what’s “obscure.”

Gender Role Reversal

Even though gender roles are being adjusted and pushed, many subliminal old concepts are still being put on the population. Women are still looked inferior to the superior sex as being a man is looked at as being powerful. As well as income wages amongst a woman and a man of the same credentials (men would make more.) However, women aren’t the only ones affected by society’s gender roles; it’s a common theme that men are suppose to be the bread winner along with having “masculine” personality traits. With all this still in today’s society – we still have had a huge leap in our way of looking at gender roles and stepping out of stereotypes.