Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The assignment in which I presented an argument was in my research paper called, “How
Have Gender Roles Changed Over Time.” This assignment was completed in 11th grade for my
AP English Language class. I began this gender research paper over my winter vacation in 2017.
In this assignment I was asked to create a gender research paper with an unlimited amount of
pages to write. My main focus was to give in depth details of how gender roles have evolved
over time and in what way it has impacted our society. I was also asked to provide evidence from
the resources I utilized in order to back up my point of view. This assignment is an
argumentative piece because I argued the fact that although gender roles have been modified and
have impacted parenting, education, and jobs the genders are not equal yet. In my research paper
I referenced the article , “Gender Roles and Gender Role Conflicts,” by Pearlstein, which stated
that, “women across the developed world earn approximately 16% less than men employed and
similar full-time jobs and with similar skills and experiences levels,”(para.4 ,Pearlstein). This
evidence was utilized to prove that although women perform the same jobs that men do, they are
still not receiving equal pay. This shows that although gender roles have changed, women are
still getting paid unequally. Another piece of evidence I utilized was from, “Biography.com,”
which stated that, Hillary Clinton was the first American lady to ever win a public office seat.
She also became the 67th U.S secretary of state in 2009 serving until 2013.This quote is referring
to Hillary Clinton, Clinton was the first female to win a public seat. For many years she has been
trying obtain the position to become the President of the United States. However, this country
has not given the opportunity for a women to lead this country. One possible reason why this
hasn’t occurred is because many men still have the mentality that a woman is not capable of
doing so, and are very stereotypical. This shows that gender roles have evolved and have made
great advancements towards equality, but not to a full extent. This meets the argumentative
category because I stated my claim and was capable of backing it with multiple pieces of
evidence.
During this assignment I demonstrated the student learning outcomes (SLOs)of being a
critical thinker and an effective communicator. I was a critical thinker by comparing gender roles
from the 19th century to now. Before, a woman's role was to be fully dedicated to doing house
work and taking care of the family, while men provided income by working. Now, many women
work outside the home and are still responsible for taking care of their family. I also connected
my culture’s gender roles to what I learned in my AP World History class. I was also a critical
thinker by understanding and making connections with my research and the stereotypes I
witnessed growing up. “Stereotypes take a big part in jobs too. If you would say I have someone
in my family that's an engineer. What would come to mind to some people is that an engineer
would be a man.” In this quote, I provided a common example and made the connection to why
stereotypes can affect the decisions about which jobs each of the genders apply to. Lastly, I was
a critical thinker by analyzing detailed research from the article , “Male Nurses Becoming More
Commonplace, Census Bureau Reports,” which stated that, “The nursing profession remains
overwhelmingly female, but the representation of men has increased as the demand for nurses
has grown over the last several decades…” I used this quote when I analyzed the fact that men’s
views about a “female” profession have changed. I argued the fact that men have decided to try
other careers that were not traditionally male but still aren’t equally represented in the field. I
was an effective communicator by providing key points and summarizing at the end of my
research paper my overall opinion as well as my reflection so that my audience can easily
comprehend the main points. I was an effective communicator by summarizing the main key
points. I did this in order to ensure that the reader understood my perspective and the whole
purpose of writing the gender research paper. Utilizing persuasive language was another skill I
used in order for the reader to be convinced about the argument I was stating. Lastly, I utilized
language as well as vocabulary that was appropriate for educated adults.
Through this assignment I improved my skills of being able to find appropriate data as
well as evidence and being able to connect it to my claim. What I still need to improve on in
being able to effectively communicate in a clear and concise manner. Critical thinking, being an
effective communicator and effectively arguing are skills that can be utilized in my future career,
if I become a teacher. Being able to argue for my students’ rights, communicate with their
parents and thinking critically about how I can develop creative lessons for kindergarteners, are
just some examples of how these skills will be applied in my future job.
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Briana Sanchez
AP English
Ms. Vanhill
Block 1
15 January 2018
Gender Roles have been modified overtime, which have affected stereotypes and the way
people acknowledge roles. Females have become powerful leaders in this world and in the eyes
of many people they are no longer “weak.” Every culture, society and ethnic groups have certain
expectations for gender roles. Before the 19th century, women’s roles were very restricted, this
consisted of being dedicated in doing housework and taking care of their family. Getting an
education or a job did not correspond for a female. On the contrary, men were eligible to receive
an education, get a job as well as taking care of any finances. Men and women have impacted
many changes specifically in parenting, jobs and education, but they are not equal yet.
Parenting has changed to the point where in the 21st century a father can assist mom's daily
duties. We now see certain cases where the dad stays at home watching the children and cooking
for them, while the mom works. Females can now provide any finances that are needed.
According to the article of, “ The States With The Most Stay At Home Fathers,” they state that, “
Last year, by contrast, an estimated 1.9 million fathers remained home with the kids —
accounting for 16 percent of the stay-at-home parent population…” This shows, that males are
taking a huge step in being more involved in parenting roles instead of moms having full
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responsibility. Dads felt that there only duty was to be a true “man,” and work to provide any
needs for the family. Men and women help each other out in this century, by collaborating
together in order to ensure that their child is being raised properly. Although Parenting Gender
Roles have changed, they are still not equal, due to the fact that many still follow the stigma that,
“women should do the housework.” We have seen great advancements of the acceptance that
men and women should participate equally in parenting or take turns but there is still a lot of
Gender Roles in Parenting has been promoted through multiple ways throughout many
years. Such as T.V commercials specifically Pampers. According to the article, “ Getting Dad to
do Diaper Duty,” by “The New York Times,” they stated, “In a recent survey, by Pampers 69%
of men responded that they change diapers as often as their wives,” said Newman. In this quote,
we can see that based on the percentage of dad's that change diapers, we have made a huge
improvement in dad's taking part of mom’s duties with their baby. Changing a baby's diaper was
definitely not a man's duty back then. Men would think, “a man shouldn't have to change a
baby's diaper that's why they have a wife to be in charge of that.” Eventually, things have
completely changed in the 21 century! Males, now are capable of participating in babies duties.
“A Families and Work Institute report found that the baby’s duties. “The average amount of time
fathers spent with children younger than 13 during a workday in 2008 was three hours, up from
two hours in 1977,” stated NewMan. This quote is showing us, that not only fathers are taking
dad's duties but also spend time with their children something that fathers back then didn't mind
doing. Anyhow, this survey shows how gender roles have been modified in parenting. Yet, these
roles are still not equal, we can infer from the percentages that the other 31% are still not
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Another way that they have promoted parenting roles, is in the movie, “Instructions Not
Included,” by Eugenio Derbez. This movie shows how Valentin, one of the main characters, is
left as a single dad with his daughter Maggie. Maggie's mom left to Los Angeles leaving
Valentin with the responsibility of taking care of his daughter. Eventually, Valentin really
struggled at the beginning because he didn't know how to take care of baby at all, he couldn't
even change a diaper! Overtime, his role of being a dad and a mom to Maggie began to develop
well. This movie shows that Valentin was capable of assuming the responsibility and educating
Maggie properly. We are used to seeing movies where the mom sometimes struggles, but today's
reality is that, dads also take the role of being a mom to their children as well. Back then men
wouldn't do that they felt they weren't capable of doing such thing. “And the second one taught
me to face life without being ready,” said Valentin. This quote, expresses how Valentin Gender
roles have changed in parenting by showing the world that sometimes men need to have that
confidence in being an actual parent to their children. Having a male and a female getting
involved as parents in a family has made a good impact in order for their children to know that
they can count on either one of them. Males gaining confidence in being more involved in
parenting roles has made a great impact but still men haven't fully adapted and accepted the
sadly to the eyes of many men they were weak. Little by little women began to develop enough
strength to ask for their rights. They felt that they shouldn't be discriminated because of their
gender. Gender shouldn't be the reason why women were not granted with certain rights
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specifically with the right to work. When men and women began to work there was a period of
time where men wouldn't do females jobs nor females would do male jobs. Eventually, studies
show that a big percentage of men and women are moving in opposite sex roles. Stereotypes take
a big part in jobs too. If you would say I have someone in my family that's an engineer. What
would come to mind to some people is that an engineer would be a man. Eventually, today we
have a plethora female engineers and a lot of male engineers, which has proven this stereotype
wrong. As the years go by there would be equality in the working fields but for now they are not
100% equal.
According to the article, “Gender Roles and Gender Role Conflicts,” by Pearlstein, they
stated that, “women across the developed world earn approximately 16% less than men
employed and similar full-time jobs and with similar skills and experiences levels,”(para.4
,Pearlstein). We can infer from this quote that women are still getting paid less than men. Which
in this modern world is not fair if men and women are doing the same tasks and duties. Women
have received an increase in their wage, but still don’t meet the wage that men are receiving.
This means that gender roles is affecting the wages and woman today are claiming that they
receive what they deserve. Yet, what this quote proves is that women are taking part in manly
jobs or vise versa, which is really important in order for society to accept the opposite sex
equally.
According to the article “Gender In the Workplace,” they state that, “men and women are as
equally strong in the environment of mechanics (Henderson para 2).” Equality and jobs have
become worldwide this gives an opportunity for both sexes to be able to collaborate and work
together in the same working environment. Women have made a great advancement in the
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working field, today we have really inspirational woman that Inspire other woman to follow their
dream and reach any goals that they have. One of the most inspirational woman today is Hillary
Clinton. We always have had a man lead the country of the United States. Hillary Clinton has
been so close to being the first woman to lead a country, she might not have won the recent
election but, she was really close to winning and sooner or later we are going to have a female
leading the U.S. Clinton has been working very hard her entire life, she has accomplished many
things. “ She became the first American first lady to ever win a public office seat. She later
became the 67th U.S secretary of state in 2009 serving until 2013” (Biography.com). This quote
shows that Hillary Clinton is a role model for many women, she achieved what men thought,
women would never achieve. Change in Gender roles is very present in this occasion, from men
being the only ones to speak up in the Senate to a powerful woman that was close to leading this
country.
Education is the key to success, getting an education is a way to reach all your goals you have
set. Gender has made a big impact on education. As mentioned before women could not receive
an education until the 18 century. Men thought that women weren’t capable of educating
themselves because they were too weak. Males were the only ones who had that privilege.
Doctors were only males, but today females do receive an education and are able to major in the
career they want to pursue. Today in the 21 century, we do have equality in education in many
countries. In the article of, “ Gender Roles and Gender Conflicts,” they stated that, “in countries
with the highest level of gender equality both boys and girls perform better on standardized
mathematics test.” This quote shows that boys and girls are equally capable of performing well
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in assessments. If women would have never been granted with the opportunity to receive an
education we would not have made advancements in this world. Men and women make this
world up, and are equally strong and equally weak at the same time.
Graduation.” this article is based on credible data that proves all stereotypes that involves women
being weak, wrong. Stanford stated, “In another five years by 1987, women earned the majority
of master’s degrees for the first time.” This quote shows that women have succeeded in earning
degrees from associates to masters. Which shows that gender roles have changed in education
due to the fact that men started warning degrees first. They were doctors, engineers, architects
et., but today we have women that are pursuing a career in this field but still the gender in jobs is
not equal.
Stereotypes do circulate in education specifically in certain careers. Many will think that
when they say, “ I have a nurse in my family,” the first thing that comes to mind is that it's a
female. This is a huge stereotype because today in society we have male nurses and female
nurses. Nurses back then were females and doctors were males. As centuries passed, men began
to pursue an education, majoring in nursing. In the article of , “Male Nurses Becoming More
Commonplace, Census Bureau Reports,” they stated that, “The nursing profession remains
overwhelmingly female, but the representation of men has increased as the demand for nurses
has grown over the last several decades...” This quote shows that male nurses have made a great
impact in changing gender roles. In my opinion, I feel that this has been something positive
because they are bringing knowledge from both females and males in the nursing field.
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Overall, change in gender roles has become a great advancement in our society today.
Restrictions in the past of genders created a huge diversity of which gender was stronger and
smarter. Eventually, gender roles have changed for a better. Parenting has been quite modified,
which helps out moms with having to deal with the whole responsibility of taking care of their
children. Having the dad help out mom with her baby duties has been a great impact. Jobs have
also changed according to gender roles. Women have received the privilege of working in what
best fits them. Men also have been given the opportunity to work in opposite sex roles. They
have broken stereotypes and tried out the opposite sex role. Education has also been changed by
gender roles. From women not receiving and education at first and just staying home, taking care
of the house and children, to being able today to pursue a career. “A gender-equal society would
be one where the word 'gender' does not exist: where everyone can be themselves,”(Steinem). I
agree with this quote because at the end of the day there shouldn't be a diversity in males and
females. Although we have made great improvements there is still not equality in gender roles.
We are all humans and have the right to identify ourselves in what we think best fits us.