Introduction
Although many people hold certain beliefs about gender and its impact on men and
women's capabilities, these perceived truths are actually evolved psychosocial
constructions called gender roles. Although the sex of a
person is based in biology, gender roles are learned social norms. Although there
are significant biological differences between the sexes, gender is largely viewed
as a social construction that affects individuals' psychosocial
development. Therefore, gender roles are subject to change
over time, and there are significant differences in cross-cultural perspectives on
gender and gender roles.
Family Life
Researchers have found that the gender roles of married couples tend to become
more clearly defined following the birth of a child. Often the woman assumes the
primary responsibility for child care and the greater part of the housework. Some
people see these family gender roles and the unequal distribution of familial
responsibility as unfair and claim that each parent should take equal
responsibility. They argue that placing too much stress on one
parent is not good for the family. In most countries, even women who work outside
the home complete a majority of the housework involved in raising their children
and maintaining their homes. Researchers have found that these working mothers
have fragmented leisure time because their off-work hours are consumed by
household and child-care chores. Since the 1970s, when the women's rights
movement began gaining traction, men's participation in
housework in the United States has nearly doubled, and their time spent on child
care has tripled. However, women still complete the majority of household chores
and child care responsibilities, in accordance with traditional concepts of gender
roles, even in families in which women work equivalent or longer hours outside the
home and earn salaries that are equal to or higher than their husbands. On the
other hand, men are more likely to work longer hours outside the home than women,
and surveys have indicated that a majority of men would prefer to have more time
to dedicate to raising their children.
The household structure in which a person is raised has been shown to correlate
with the degree to which the person as an adult believes in and follows
traditional gender roles. It makes sense logically that family members become used
to a structure they have lived with for all or most of their lives and interpret
it as the norm, especially if they have not experienced any other family
situation. Members of such a family may not even be aware of the existence of
other functional family structures. Kelly found that a significantly higher number
of girls than boys participated in household cleanup, a chore traditionally
associated with women: according to researcher Alison Kelly, 72 percent of
eleven-year-old girls as compared with 29 percent of eleven-year-old boys
participated in household chores. Such childhood experiences are likely to produce
adults who tend to follow traditional gender roles.
Occupation
Occupation is another area in which gender stereotypes abound, and gender roles
can have a significant impact on men's and women's career trajectories and
lifetime earnings. Common gender stereotypes hold that men are better at so-called
"left-brained" skills such as logic mathematics and that women are better at
"right-brained" skills such as language and communication. Kelly found that
parents had a tendency to guide their children toward certain occupations and
interests based on the child's gender. According to Kelly's research, the jobs of
nurse, social worker, and teacher were traditionally seen as more fitting for
women, and manual jobs such as electrician and engineer were considered more
suitable for men. However, Kelly noted that parents did not link all professions
with a specific gender: Jobs such as doctor, manager, and computer operator were
not viewed as being more suitable for either men or women. Kelly concluded that
women business professionals may gain acceptance more easily than women who choose
to work in a trade or craft. Furthermore, social-science research indicates that
the lack of same-gender role models and mentors in traditionally gendered
fields—particularly science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
careers for women and care-giving careers such as nursing for men—have a
significant impact on dissuading individuals from pursuing their interest in a
particular career.
Salaries and wages are also affected by traditional concepts of gender roles.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD), women across the developed world earn approximately
16 percent less than men employed in similar full-time jobs and with similar skill
and experience levels. This wage discrepancy becomes even larger for women with
children, particularly in countries that do not ensure paid maternity and/or
paternity leave following the birth of a child. The pay gap becomes even larger
when comparing all working mothers, not just full-time employees, as many women
opt to return to work part time following the birth of a child, particularly when
they do not have access to maternity leave or affordable child care. This
phenomenon, dubbed "the mommy penalty," relates directly to women's traditional
gender role as the primary caregivers to their children. Women who take time away
from their jobs to have and raise children are often penalized for their absence
with lower wages and fewer opportunities for advancement.
One of Kelly’s major findings is that most of parents interviewed believed in
equality of education and occupational opportunities for both genders, but with
limitations. The parents’ formal commitment to equality coexisted with other
attitudes that might make equality difficult or even impossible, such as a belief
that women have the right to work but only if their work does not interfere with
their roles as mothers. Many parents were idealistic about equality of education
and work, but they saw equality as an ideal rather than as a practical, reachable
goal. Therefore, in essence, these parents exhibited a subtle but real
sexism that likely shaped their children's perceptions of
gender and gender roles.
Education
The behavior of boys and girls at school differs, according to researchers Susan
Jones and Debra Myhill of Exeter University. Boys may underachieve because they
feel that they are supposed to be “macho” or “tough,” and they may view sitting in
a classroom, quietly doing written work, as “wimpy” or “compliant” and therefore
undesirable behavior. Another possible cause of underachievement in boys is that
they typically have weaker hearing than girls; therefore,if they are placed in the
back of the classroom, they may strain to hear the teacher's words and will find
it harder to follow along and accomplish the assigned tasks.
Similarly, Jones notes that girls were once viewed as struggling in a
male-dominated classroom and suffering from low self-esteem
and poor self-confidence as a result. People often repeat the notion that girls
are inferior at math and science, although this attitude is slowly growing less
common. Research has shown that the gender achievement gap in math and science
closes in countries that have high levels of gender equity. In countries with the
highest levels of gender equality, both boys and girls perform better on
standardized mathematics tests. Several researchers have explored the concept of
stereotype
threat, which holds that when individuals are aware of
negative stereotypes about their group (and most children are aware of their
culture's sex stereotypes at a young age), they are likely to conform to those
negative or positive expectations. In a 2001 study by N. Ambady and colleagues,
Asian American girls in kindergarten through the eighth grade were presented with
tasks intended to highlight either their female identity, their Asian identity, or
neither identity, and the girls then completed a grade-level-appropriate
standardized math test. Compared to the group of girls who were not primed to
consider either their racial or sexual identity, girls whose gender had been
emphasized performed worse (conforming to the stereotype that girls are not good
at math) while those girls whose race had been emphasized performed better
(conforming to the stereotype that Asians are good at math). Stereotype threat may
also explain boys' relative underachievement in language arts, as children may not
be motivated to try in certain subjects if they believe they have a particular
gender deficit in that area. Ultimately, long-standing educational gender
stereotypes have the potential to become self-fulfilling prophecies when it comes
to overall achievement in school or in specific subjects, to the detriment of both
girls' and boys' academic performance.
The stereotypes that portray girls as compliant and boys as challenging also
affect the kind of attention that teachers give to each student. Jones argued that
the stereotype of girls as more compliant may make it harder for teachers to
identify underachieving girls than underachieving boys. If teachers do not see
these girls’ performances as problematic, they are not likely to intervene and
help them do better. This results in teachers paying greater attention to
underachieving boys than to underachieving girls, thereby affecting the quality of
the education that the children receive.
Implications
Gender roles have both positive and negative influences on society. One task for
researchers is to find ways, beginning in childhood, to minimize or alter the
negative effects that gender roles have on psychological and intellectual
development. Society may be difficult to change, but gradual alterations in the
definitions of gender roles could help. Another way to minimize negative effects
is to eliminate the inferiority associated with various gender traits.
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