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Jacqueline Valore
Professor Kovic
Cultural and Contemporary Anthropology
October 30, 2011

Anthropologists note that gender is a cultural construction and observe great

variation cross-culturally on what it means to be male and female.
What variations in gender roles are evident in the readings?

There are many variations of gender roles across our planet and throughout
every culture there is always a difference when comparing one cultures gender
roles to another culture. One must also understand the difference between sex and
gender. Sex often refers to the biological differences between a man and a woman
whereas gender refers to culturally constructed differences between men and
women. Culture greatly decides what is considered feminine and what is considered
masculine. And gender roles are roles defined as the actions and behaviors
expected of men and women. Gender roles also vary. Different cultures expect
different actions to be taken by the men and women who live within that culture.
These roles have now changed throughout time. These changes have now brought
on greater opportunities for women. And all gender roles change in different
scenarios throughout the culture such as: school, home, and the workplace, (even
though these women are still expected to take care of the home and family).
Cultures construct what is to be a mans role and what is to be a womens
role within the cultures communities. In many cases, patriarchy is often followed,

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that is, it is assumed women are inferior to men and men rule over women. In this
system women perform traditional tasks, tasks men believe to be unfit for them to
do. Oddly enough, many mens tasks are sporadic only needing to be done every
other week or once a month, a womans tasks are often needed to be done
repeatedly and done daily.
We read that throughout Egypts history women had made many changes
throughout their timeline. We also read that many women, who were often brought
up to become housewives and be a structured foundation for their husbands and
male relatives are now needed to take up an occupation because of recent
economic events. This also involves many needing to go to school to receive
degrees and higher education.
Much of Egypts population has had to accept and adjust this new definition
of gender role for an Egyptian woman. There is now an increased number of women
throughout the workplace and this has prompted another change within the
womens gender role.
Gender role also includes the way women and men should dress, and many
Egyptian women were brought up in westernized world with Islam being their
religion. And where they once wore a veil to hide their faces, they now wore western
dresses, wore no veil, and it is now accepted to dress this way. This was in the early
1930s when this change slowly began. But what we are now finding, is that many
Egyptian women are choosing to place the veil back upon their faces because of the
sudden change in their role within the workplace and school.
Although western wear is still accepted, more and more Egyptian women are
placing a veil upon their head as a representation of what kind of women they are.
By dressing so modestly, they are telling their culture, their community, and their

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society that they are respectable, modest women often following the expectations
also expected from women by the Quran. It is written there that the prophet
Mohammad was told by Allah that all women following the Islamic religion should
dress modestly and appropriately.
The variations found throughout our readings were brought on through time;
Egypts change in its culture and through its economic challenges has turned full
circle through its female population. Where they were once oppressed into wearing
a veil to cover themselves, they willfully decided to remove it exposing their sudden
independence, and now many women are choosing to place the veil back on in
order to prove that they, in fact, are still in control of themselves as a whole.