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Yang Cox

English 115

Professor Rodrick

November 05, 2018

Women and Society

Culture and society play a prominent role in the way that Womens’ identities are shaped.

Women are forced to conform and exhibit certain traits and characteristics to fit the ideal image

of what a “real” woman should be. In these cases that these expectations are not met then they

are no longer respected and seen as a woman. This then leads to women conforming to society's

image and stereotypes placed on them. Culture is another reason why women feel the need to

conform and accept to these paradigms that are forced upon them. It is difficult to reject these

paradigms because it is how women are taught to grow up and are enclosed into a realm which

they must live up to. As opposed to viewing the reason as factors they are built within each other

to make up the paradigm. Society is the realm which controls the culture then which the culture

creates these gender roles and sexual conventions. Gender roles, Society, and Culture are built

within each other like a Russian doll to force women to conform to rules and expectations due to

constant pressure.

Society is made up of the whole population including people in politics. Just recently for

the last 98 years women were given the right to vote. On August 18, 1820, was when the 19th

amendment was adopted and this right to vote was granted to women. Not only has society

placed social restrictions on women but in fact politics too. Shortly after this amendment this was

the start of the women’s revolution. By 1850 was the first National Woman's Rights Convention.

Now seen today women are changing but still society is opposed to this. This is proven by the
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wage gap between genders. According to “The Gender Wage Gap: 2017; Earnings Differences

by Gender, Race, and Ethnicity” by Ariane Hegewisch, M.Phil., in 2017 the median annual

earning for men was $52,146 as opposed to women's wage was $41,977. This shines the light

upon the gender unbalance in our society.

Another unbalance seen in the work force is the gender stereotype job. Nurses are more

women prominent and Doctors are more men prominent jobs. Due to these views men are least

likely to be nurses and creates the gender roles in jobs. Societies fundamentals came from the

great Aristotle, “The relationship between male and female is superior to inferior.”

(Chinchankar) This established the thought process as how women should be perceived and their

role. The speaker, Ria Chinchankar, from the TedxYouth, “Gender Roles in Society”, stated

multiple studies done in Chicago, Washington, and even here in California which proved how

society impacts women. A certain stereotype believed women perform poorly in math as

opposed to men was put to the test. When asked to state gender women scored a 12 ½ compared

to the same exact test given, the difference being to disregard any gender stereotypes women

scored a 15. This proved the stereotype threat which causes women to feel and perform less due

to how society’s perception on women. The stereotype threat affects women in all aspects. This

creates unbalance to work forces as seen in construction work, computer programming, and other

jobs where it is a men dominant environment. In addition, Chinchankar mentioned the process

during the 1600 when the witch burnings occurred. Women either conformed to the society or

were condemned of witchcraft and burned. This created fear that caused women to stay in their

role. In today’s society it is similar to the social media shame which if a female wears short, skin

exposing clothes or posts a video acting in a provocating way, they are blasted with negative

comments and are put to shame. All these actions, ideas, and images are what subdue women in

our society.
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Gender roles have placed specific criteria for men and women to follow over the years.

Without a surprise these criteria are followed and seen in an everyday life. Women are supposed

to play a caregiver role, dress feminine, act polite, and accommodating. While on the other hand

men are supposed to play the “macho” role, show strongness, be aggressive, and bold. These

traits have led to strict views on women and creating stereotypical sexism. There are 4 types of

gender stereotypes according to Planned Parenthood. “1) Personality traits — For example,

women are often expected to be accommodating and emotional, while men are usually expected

to be self-confident and aggressive. 2) Domestic behaviors — For example, some people expect

that women will take care of the children, cook, and clean the home, while men take care of

finances, work on the car, and do the home repairs. 3) Occupations — Some people are quick to

assume that teachers and nurses are women, and that pilots, doctors, and engineers are men. 4)

Physical appearance — For example, women are expected to be thin and graceful, while men are

expected to be tall and muscular.”(What are Gender Roles and Stereotypes?) Certain acts are

required from each side of the gender roles to fit into their realm. For which ever reason these

criteria's are not met then the individual is criticized and creates the gender role stereotypes.

“Men and women are also expected to dress and groom in ways that are stereotypical to

their gender (men wearing pants and short hairstyles, women wearing dresses and make-up.”

(What are Gender Roles and Stereotypes?) If for any reason women do not conform and

accommodate these set of rules, they are not the ideal women and even called derogatory terms.

There is also such case when these stereotypes are overwhelming. For women this is called,

hyper femininity. “Hyper femininity is the exaggeration of stereotyped behavior that’s believed

to be feminine.” (What are Gender Roles and Stereotypes?) This not only forces women but

gives them no other choice to conform and not rebel against it. Women are enclosed, trapped

within this so-called feminine figure.

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Every culture has different set of fundamentals. For the most part women in these

cultures are set to be submissive. In marriage women are submissive to their husbands. This is

seen in Hispanic, Muslim, Asian, and other cultures. Stated by Addeel Khan, from his article,

“Muslim and Asian Women Submissive or Society Submitting to Stereotypes?”, “As a Muslim

and an Asian I am disappointed at the perception among some sections of society that women in

Islam, or in Asian households, do not have a voice and are submissive. There are certainly

cultural practices in a number of communities - Muslim and non-Muslim, Asian and non-Asian -

around the world, which coupled with media stereotypes and unfortunate public statements from

those who should know better, help fuel the inaccuracies.” Women clean, care for children, stay

at home to please their husband. At the start of their childhood girls are taught to follow these

roles and no more. This is what makes it difficult to change or know something different. It

becomes an instinct to pursue what was taught and seen when growing up.

Not only ethnic cultures play a role but not we have developed a westernized culture

which has structured the way women are viewed. This westernized culture has taught women to

constantly compare themselves with top models and look for that size 0 shape, have a thigh gap,

be proana which means pro anorexia as stated by Ramsey. Meaghan Ramsey brought out to light

many keys points in her presentation about both women and men performance due to this

culture. Women and teens value themselves to the number of likes and views. Not only women

but teens are under this constant pressure by culture. This is the base of the problem. Young girls

are brought into this culture at an early age which they are beginning to develop and yet already

being exposed to this pressure. Image-Obsessed culture is what drives women's self-esteem

down along with their performance when given a task. It is proven 17% of women do not show

up for a job interview due to lack of confidence or lack of self-beauty. Every judgement is taken
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heavily and seriously. Ethnic cultures along with our westernized culture has kept and even

expanded the oppression to women.

Women throughout the years have been taught to be submissive, dress accordingly, act a

certain way, and conform. Cultures have shaped these girls to grow up to fit the women roles

right when they are born. Society constantly presses these issues and gives them no other choice

to choose from. When a female decides to go against these rules placed upon them, they are not

lady like and are put to shame. Now gender roles just add on to this case. This reason is why

women have been forced on and keep in the role. From personal experience I am Ecuadorian and

Chinese. Both cultures involve women to be submissive and taught to be a house wife from an

early age. My mom was always in the kitchen providing food to the table. Whenever anyone was

sick, she was immediately there caring for us making sure we recovered. When it was time for

school, she got us all ready, dressed us, combed our hair, and made sure we ate breakfast. When

it came to decision making around the house it was surely my dad calling the shots. All the

financial situations my dad would handle it. I first hand experienced how women were brought

up and the effect of culture, gender role, and society correlate on women.
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Work Cited
Addeel Khan. “Muslim and Asian Women Submissive or Society Submitting to Stereotypes?”
Leadership Magazine, March 08, 2016. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/muslim-asian-
women-submissive-society-submitting-stereotypes-khan. Accessed 24 Oct. 2018.
Ariane Hegewisch, M.Phil. “The Gender Wage Gap: 2017; Earnings Differences by Gender,
Race, and Ethnicity.” Institute for Women's Policy Research, September 13, 2018.
https://iwpr.org/publications/gender-wage-gap-2017/. Accessed 05 Nov. 2018.
“What are Gender Roles and Stereotypes?” Planned Parenthood,
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/sexual-orientation-gender/gender-gender-
identity/what-are-gender-roles-and-stereotypes. Accessed 24 Oct. 2018.
Kasende Glorious. “Women’s Role in Society”. Linkedin, March 02, 2017.
http://leadershipmagazine.org/?p=12214. Accessed 24 Oct. 2018.
Meaghan Ramsey. “Why Thinking You’re Ugly is Bad for You”. TedTalk, September 2014.
https://www.ted.com/talks/meaghan_ramsey_why_thinking_you_re_ugly_is_bad_for_yo
u?language=en#t-554199. Accessed 24 Oct. 2018.
“Gender Roles in Society”. YouTube, Speaker Ria Chinchankar, June 22, 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz-hlV8o3y8. Accessed 24 Oct. 2018.