Jessica D Rawls-Stewart

Gender Roles
University of Memphis

We can all think of someone we know personally, someone weve come in contact
with, or just a person we have walked past whose gender role doesnt quite go along with
society norms. Gender is your biological sex. Which is being born a male or female.
People dont always agree with society norms. Like what society thinks a persons gender
role should be. Most of society believes women bare the children and take care of home.
Men are supposed to work and be the sole breadwinners. In todays society, things have
taken a turn.
Now lets speak more on gender. Again, gender is the sex you were born. Either
you were born a male or you were born a female. I agree with this definition. Gender is
not what you choose to be. For example, Bruce Jenner was born a male. He was married
and had kids. He has now had a sex change and is a female. He even changed his name.
To me, he was born a male and is still a male. Your gender is your gender and thats your
biological make up no matter what you change about it. However, his gender identity is
female.
Gender roles are what are believed that we can and cannot due based on our sex.
What we should and shouldnt do also have to do with gender roles. Back in the day, men
did the working, hunting, and made the money. Women stayed home and took care of the
kids. Many of us still want to take on those society norms. We believe women need to
stay home, keep the house clean, cook, and raise the children. Men are to get out and
work and bring home the money to pay the bills and put food on the table. A lot of that
has changed with our growing and changing society. All women dont want to be
housewives and all men dont want to exhaust themselves working so much. Today many
women take on male roles, they are the sole bread winners in their home, they work with

heavy machinery, work on cars, and do other jobs that society thinks are for men. Just
like men are becoming stay at home dads while their wives go out and work. Our society
is ever changing. We choose to go our own way because we are capable of making our
own decisions and knowing our limits. There is nothing wrong with wanting something
else and challenging ourselves to change things.
According to Sandra Lipsitz Bem (1998), we are engulfed by gender the moment
we come into the world and gender flavors the development that any girl or boy may
develop as they grow. (p. 107). Her gender schema included a girl/boy knowing their
biological sex, a stimulus being introduced, the way in which the girl or boy reacts, and
their response according to gender. Also according to Bems gender roles, people who are
androgynous, meaning having high male and feminine qualities, are the ones who are
more successful and adaptive throughout life.
Behaviorists believe that gender roles are based on reinforcement and reward.
Gender role and identity comes from being rewarded and punished.
In the article Gender Roles and Humor in Advertising, Gender role
stereotyping has been a prominent topic in the advertising literature since the 1950s.
(Venkatesan and Losco 1975). Another interesting topic I found in this article is that
stereotyping of gender roles can provide useful information but when it comes to a person
doing a job application, a job may be strongly based on stereotyping and men are
favored over the women for jobs they have traditionally had. (Tosi and Einbender 1985).
Transgender is a great topic to bring up in the midst of talking about gender and
gender roles. In todays society, many people are choosing to become transgender more
than back then. For example, like I spoke about Bruce Jenner previously. Transgender is a

person who identifies with a different gender from what they were born. People choose to
become transgender for many reasons. Some men feel they were not suppose to be born a
male, they are too feminine, they want to be a female and have female qualities. Women
choose to become a male for many of the same reasons and many other reasons we may
not know of without knowing a person personally. Being transgendered is like a new
trend in todays society. Many people are coming out and changing things about their
body that they feel need to be changed. We may not agree to what people do, but thats
one thing we have to live with and not judge people just because of their gender identity.
Effects on gender roles come from many different places and the people around
of. Some include our parents, housework, jobs we have, and societys views. We grow up
with our parents, they teach us right from wrong and pass down their beliefs to us. For
example, if our parents are against homosexuality they will make it known and not want
their child to be any way besides the way they were born. Parents can be hard on children
growing up. Housework goes along with parenting. Our parents give us chores to do
around the house. Some parents are easier on the girls and give them the light work and
the harder work for the boys. Some parents just give chores and they need to be done. For
example, a mother may have her daughter helping out in the kitchen cooking and
cleaning. She may have her son doing yard work with dad. Not all girls want to be in the
kitchen and not all boys want to be outside cutting grass. Certain jobs still favor men over
women, especially with pay. There are employers who believe certain jobs are for men
and women should not be allowed to take on a certain job. Some women are just as
strong as men, if not stronger and more capable. Last but not least, societys views effect
gender roles as well because we may believe what society thinks and follow just because.

In the second article I read, The Role of Cultural Competence in Serving

Transgender Populations, they speak a lot on the transgender community. One girl was
going through changing her sex while in high school and she had to be home schooled
due to a teacher at her school bullying her. Transgender people face a lot of bullying,
teasing, and downing on an everyday basis because of society norms. Many of them are
even turned down for health care. According to Turner et. als, (2006) model of
competency model, a person can begin by increasing knowledge about the TG culture
and improving attitudes to serving these populations appropriately. (Turner, 2006)
In conclusion, I would like to speak on the importance of gender roles. According
to the etext, Lifespan Development, reasons to study gender roles include, self-awareness,
stereotypes, and to impact how you teach, parent and treat others. (Windsor, D.L.,
Murrell, V.S., & Magun-Jackson, S. 2015) Self-awareness is good to study so a person
can become more familiar with self and learn more about them and how they feel.
Stereotyping has been around for years and may always be around. We need to know that
stereotyping is not good. You cannot place judgement on a person just because of the way
in which you view them or the things they do. How we parent and raise our children is
also important. Children have their own thoughts and feelings just as parents do. Feel free
to allow them to use them. Last but not least, we have to treat people as we want to be
treated, That is the golden rule.

References

Windsor, D.L., Murrell, V.S., & Magun- Jackson, S. (2015) Lifespan

development: An educational psychology perspective. Boston, MA: Pearson
Learning Solutions.
Eisend, M., Plagemann, J., & Sollwedel, J. (2014). Gender Roles and Humor
in Advertising: The Occurrence of Stereotyping in Humorous and
Nonhumorous Advertising and Its Consequences for Advertising
Effectiveness. Journal Of Advertising, 43(3), 256-273.
doi:10.1080/00913367.2013.857621
Hancock, A. B. (2015). The Role of Cultural Competence in Serving
Transgender Populations. Perspectives On Voice & Voice Disorders, 25(1),
37-42 6p. doi:10.1044/vvd25.1.37
Annotated Bibliography
Windsor, D.L., Murrell, V.S., & Magun- Jackson, S. (2015) Lifespan
development: An educational psychology perspective. Boston, MA: Pearson
Learning Solutions.
In chapter 8 of this textbook, multiple theorists give their views and
insight on the roles of gender and its importance. The textbook first
helped me layout my outline by choosing important topics to talk about.
Also, great quotes and information I think will be very important and
helpful to go in my paper.
Eisend, M., Plagemann, J., & Sollwedel, J. (2014). Gender Roles and Humor
in Advertising: The Occurrence of Stereotyping in Humorous and
Nonhumorous Advertising and Its Consequences for Advertising
Effectiveness. Journal Of Advertising, 43(3), 256-273.
doi:10.1080/00913367.2013.857621
This peer reviewed article speaks on the advertising of gender roles and
the humor behind it all. It also talks about how woman and men are
stereotyped day to day based on gender roles and how society thinks men
and women should act and do. This article will help with my paper
because stereotyping and the views of our society on how man and women
should be has a lot to with gender roles and the way we go about facing
society norms.
Hancock, A. B. (2015). The Role of Cultural Competence in Serving Transgender
Populations. Perspectives On Voice & Voice Disorders, 25(1), 37-42 6p.
doi:10.1044/vvd25.1.37

This second peer reviewed article talks about transgender. Why people may choose
to go that route, how people grow up and face bullying, their education and other
life experiences we face. This is important for my paper because societys views on
gender roles have people wanting to be different. For example, society thinks this
way, but I want to be this way or act this way.