Uiteljski fakultet Sveuilita u Zagrebu

Gender roles
(seminar paper)

Cultural studies

Lecturer: Dr. sc. Marija Andraka

Student: Ana-Marija Miloevi

January,2015

Introduction

Even today,in 21st century this is considered to be a very interesting but yet extremely
demanding topic. In history,women were often discriminated and were not supposed to vote
until pretty recently. Today men and women are considered to be equal in all rights. Those
rights are protected by many laws. Still, even today, we are aware that not everything is equal
for men or women. We are witnesses of sexual discrimination on daily basis. The main
problem is that children from very young age are taught to discriminate. There are thaught to
think that some jobs or occupations are exclusively boys or girls oriented. The only way to
prevent gender inequality is to start working on that at very young age,with simple things.

Gender and roles

First of all we need to define gender roles as a theoretical construct in the social

sciences and humanities that refers to a set of social and behavioral norms that,
within a specific culture, are widely considered to be socially appropriate for
individuals of a specific sex. In addition to that we need to outline the fact that
gender roles are strictly socially determained. That means that sex that we are born
in,has particular norms and expectations within our community. Those roles are the
ones that are considered to be unfair,to say the least. Roles that are given to us by
being born in particular gender, are often crossed with ones personality. Then we
have cases like,girls playing football or guys dancing balet. The problem is that
society does not approve of behaving outbox. In other words, social standards
within society are required to be respected and lived by. At very young age, children
are being prepared for their role. Girls are playing with dolls and cooking,while boys are
constructing and saving the world as super heros. Boys are wearingboys coloures and girls
wear dresses and have long hair. Although those are pretty inocent examples, that is how
everything starts, that is how prejudices are born and carried on through generations.

It is men's world
Growing up boys are taught how to be men and how to be strong. They are supposed to be
breadwinners for their famillies. They are taught how to win a girl,but also how to fight for
one. On the other hand,girls are taught how to be ladys. As future mothers and wifes they are
supposed to be polite and obedient. Ofcourse,we are not in the middleage anymore,but still
expectations of society are pretty radical and primitive. When we live in the world where men
and women are not paid the same for the same position. Most of the company owners and
bosses are men. However,most of the chefs in the world are men. In todays world there is big
misconception about gender roles. Men and women are both equaly capable to do the same
things,to achive the same goals. Acorrding to that there is a powerful movement for women
called feminism. Although they are promoting the rights of women all around the globe in
some way we can also say that they are radical. This contovesial movement is very popular
today and their mission is to impower women. Through out history women were the weaker
sex and thet is what they are trying to change today. Educate women. Educate societies to
accept women. Fight against obscuring the role of women or limiting it to the
household. Educate men to respect and validate women. But most importantly, show
men the many female role models and what they have accomplished. Education is
key. Apperently this would be the unique solution. If somehow we can change
negative trends that one sex is being descriminated in any way,we have done much.
If we want to change something we need to start working with new generations.
There are numerous examples of workshops that could be done with young children
on preventing sexual discrimination as well as poviding good knowladge about
gender roles. Ofcourse we need to bare in mind that tfose activities should be age
appropriated. Very important thing is cooperating wih parents. There should not be
misunderstandings between what they are taught at home and what they learn at
school. Big step in a right direction would surely be promoting tolerance and respect
for differences at young age.

Conclusion
To summ up I would like to say that discrimination of any kind is never a good thing. My
topic was gender roles,but those roles are being strictly followed by society trying to put a
children in a box. As a future teacher I do believe that every child,boy or a girl is more than
just a boy or a girl. It is a unique person with endless possibilities if they are treated the right
way. Every one of us has so much to offer outside of their gender role. If everyone of us is
treated with respect and looked as equal to us,this would be a better world. Honesty and hard
work should be paid the same for men or women. Discrimination on a workplace needs to be
stopped by changing our ways of treating other people. We should honer and respect the other
peoples good characteristics. At the very end,we do need each other to survive both mentaly
and phisicly as a human kind on this world. It is just very contradictory that one should be
better than the other. Men need women as well as women need men. We should bear that in
mind .

References:
http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Gender_role.html
http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/gender-inequality-index-gii
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yasamin-beitollahi/men-embracing-genderequality_b_6252302.html