Gender Socialisation

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Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………….Page 3

Gender Roles in the past………………………………………..Pages 3 - 4

Gender Roles in the 20th Century………………………...........Pages 4 - 6

Gender Roles in the Home……………………………… …….Pages 6 – 7

Gender Socialisation …………………………………....  …….Pages 7 – 8

Gender Roles in the Media…………………………………….Pages 9 - 10

Gender Roles in Education…………………………………...........Page 11

Interview with woman…………………………………………Pages 12 - 13

Women’s Hall of Fame………………………………………………Page 13

Conclusion……………………………………………………....Page 13 - 14

Evaluation…………………………………………………………….Page 14

Bibliography…………………………………………………………..Page 15

Letter to ITV…………………………………………………………..Page 16

Are gender roles of previous centuries being challenged or reinforced in the 21st century?

In my coursework I will look at how gender roles were in the past and present and compare them to see if there have been any changes.

I know that 'Sex' refers to the biological, anatomical differences between males and females, whilst 'Gender' refers to the psychological, social and cultural differences between them.

This is why sex is a biological construct and gender is a social construct.

A person's sex is a natural quality, but a person acquires his/her gender through a process called gender socialization. This means how people learn. I will look into this in more detail.

The society in which we live plays an enormous role in determining the different attitudes and behaviour of us all. These differences are shown most strongly in the development of certain gender related social roles and behaviour traits. Gender is a socially constructed term, and the development of gender roles often begins as early as childhood.

From the moment of birth, a child's world is prepared along gender-related rules. The blue vs. pink-colored blankets, and jackets used to wrap infants, the nursery rhymes that describe what boys and girls are made of, and the sex-based separation in classrooms are but a few of the hundreds of behaviors that underline the importance of gender as a classification scheme.

Gender is socially constructed to make a clear division between the two sexes, and to describe their characteristics through gender roles.

Culture forms much of what people consider masculine or feminine. In most societies, the "feminine" is usually categorized by delicacy, sensitivity, innocence, sympathy, and who cares for others. The "masculine," however, is characterized by strength, aggressiveness, independence, intelligence, and a hard worker.

Gender is different from sex, which is biologically determined. Although we see that gender roles are mainly socially built, it is certain that biologically based characteristics also lead to the development of some traditional social roles.

There has been lively debate for many years over the relative importance of genetic and environmental factors in determining human attributes. This is often referred to as the “Nature verses Nurture” argument

Since women are the carriers of babies and have the ability to breastfeed, it is not strange that women should be given the role of the caretaker of the home, while men, who are physically stronger, are the protectors and providers.

It is a worldwide feature that males are more physically active and aggressive than females, while females engage in activities that require precise mental skills.

Gender roles in the past

The females of the past had to go through a lot to have the right just to be equal as men. In this case they wanted to vote and also rule and get into the ugly world of politics which was supposed to be only for men, and women would not be able to survive if they interfere with politics but this was their argument, and why not? If men could do it why cant they. I will tell you what the women of the past went through, so that the modern women of today have many privileges that they wouldn’t have 100’s of years ago.

By 1900, the attitude towards women was still the very traditional view that women were the homemakers and belonged in the running of the household and bringing up of children and the supporting of their husbands. Women were viewed as morally better to their male counterparts and had to be protected from the rough world of politics.

Domestic service continued to be the most common occupation for working-class women and so women were still working as servants, which supported the view that their best qualities lay within household management, and not in the running of the country.

During the 1800s, women began to speak up and organize to gain women's rights. In 1848, the first women's rights meeting was held in New York. One important issue from that meeting was women's suffrage -- the right to vote.

A group of women suffragettes fought for the rights of women to vote. Even though suffrage eventually became headline news, no party was willing to accept women before 1918.

The suffrage bills in Parliament were put forward by sympathetic MPs as private members' bills, which meant they had little chance of success because they did not have majority party backing.

One of the main problems with women not being taken before 1914 was that the Liberal government was not willing to give them the vote.

The Liberals had won a landslide victory in the General election of 1906 and needed to keep this majority in order to stay in government.

The Liberals began to introduce new welfare improvement such as the School Meals Act and Old Age Pension's Act to tackle the problem of poverty and generally improve the lives of the British public. These changes took time and money to launch. The Women's Suffrage Bill was rejected in 1907 and then carried in 1908 but in 1909 when it received its second reading, they failed to give it support so it failed. This proves that the government undercut the efforts of the supporters of women's suffrage.

Most politicians wanted women to have the vote only if their party benefited from it. The Liberals in general believed women should have the vote, but they were fearful of the property qualification for the vote and were convinced new female voters would support the Conservatives as most women who held property were upper or middle class.

There wasn’t a problem about giving the vote to women as few of them actually could meet the existing qualification, and this also applied to one third of all men as well.

Gender Roles in the 20th Century

Women have spent much time struggling for equality; supporting for the right to vote, the right to own property, the right to education, the right to equal employment opportunities and amongst others, the right to legal status.

Women have always wanted to be pleased of their minor position in society and to improve their domestic, economic and political position within it. They have wanted to break out of their so-called 'private sphere' long time ago and be able to contribute fully and freely within the 'public sphere' of society.

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In the quest for equality, the law is often seen the most powerful tool which can be used to support women's causes. The law has been used to tackle various issues and various Acts have been passed to reflect this. However, there is some doubt now as to how effective the law is. It would therefore seem that the law is not quite the dangerous weapon it is thought to be and some other alternative may be needed.

The perfect example of the lack of the law in this topic relates specifically to employment and the lack of the anti-discrimination at ...

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