Gender - Women have always taken a subordinate role to men in American society.

Gender

Women have always taken a subordinate role to men in American society. There has always seemed to be one set of standards that apply to men, and another set of standards that apply to women. This is evident in the home, workplace, and all throughout society. Alix Kates Shulman said once: “Sexism goes so deep that at first it’s hard to see, you think its just reality.” That quote sums up perfectly the way our society runs. There is no class teaching children how to act according the their gender. Yet boys and girls learn at a very young age what is expected of them. They get ideas about their gender roles from their parents, their schoolteachers and subconsciously from the toys they play with and the television shows they watch.

In many cultures, it is a matter of shame for a woman to conceive a girl, particularly if she has not produced a son. Parents in general, from the moment of birth, see boys as firmer, better coordinated, stronger and more alert, while girls are seen as smaller, weaker and prettier, even if boy is actually smaller than the girl at birth. The American Heritage Dictionary defines gender as "classification of sex." They also define bias as "preference or inclination that inhibits impartiality; prejudice.” Thus gender bias is separation of gender in a way that prefers one sex to the other.

Holly Devor, a professor of sociology at the university of Victoria in British Columbia, states that “Children, and later adults, learn the rules of membership in society, they come to see themselves in terms they have learned from the people around them” (Devor 415). In society we have social norms, which people don’t usually stray from. Children grow up and see the way people around them think, and they pick up many of the same ideas and stereotypes. All through our lives we tend to behave to match the attributes people make from stereotypes because, to behave differently, sets us apart. We, as males or females involuntarily behave as we are expected to. Devor states, “To some extent, children initially acquire the values of the society around them almost indiscriminately” (Devor 477) this holds true in every society on earth.

Parental views on gender roles, belief systems regarding gender, and actions toward both sexes will certainly influence children. Children are sent strong signals about the world around them, more specifically about men and women, from parents and teachers. Even before the children are born, parents begin choosing clothing and decorations by color based on the sex of the baby. The stereotype of pink, yellow and white for girls and blue, green and red for boys has long been a part of out culture.

Besides the things they buy, parents affect their children’s concept of gender roles in the way ...

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Besides the things they buy, parents affect their children’s concept of gender roles in the way they interact with them and by example. For one, parents tend to play rougher with boys than with girls, enforcing the idea that boys should be tough and girls should not act out. Also, Girls usually spend more time with their mothers and boys spend more time with their fathers. Therefore, girls end up doing “girlie” things like playing with make-up and helping Mommy make dinner. Boys do “manly” things like playing catch or helping Dad out in the garage. Parents often tell boys to “quit crying and act like a man” and hearing that enough over time makes boys think that it’s not okay to show emotion. They also tell girls repeatedly to “mind their manners and act like a lady” and this is one of the ways that girls develop the feeling that it is frowned upon for her to speak her mind and stand up for herself.

The toys children are given also have to do with gender stereotypes. In general, boys are given cars, action figures, and lego sets that encourage them to build, and explore things. Girls on the other hand are given Barbie dolls, and play make-up. This is basically saying that all that is expected of girls is that they become good mothers and wives and they look pretty. In essence, girls toys teach them to accept things as they are, and be ladylike and passive while boys toys encourage them to create and explore, never giving them the idea that there are limits to what they can do. Parents usually encourage these ideas without even realizing it. Boys get attention for being good at sports while girls get attention from looking good, and being good housewives.

Television programs and other forms of media also further stereotypes, again by showing children how they are “supposed” to act. For starters, there are more men than women in children’s programs and the women are portrayed most often in family roles. Males on TV are shown as knowledgeable, independent and aggressive. Females are shown as romantic, submissive, emotional and timid. Boys tend to watch television shows such as ninja turtles or power rangers where there is a lot of action and aggression whereas girls tend to watch television shows like full house and saved by the bell where the shows concentrate on relationships and emotions. In addition, television commercials and magazine ads geared toward boys tend to be fast paced and action filled; for girls, commercials tend to be quiet and feminine with soft background music and mellow colors.

All through history women have been considered inferior to men for example: Plato defined women as "lesser men," and Aristotle described women as "a deformity, a misbegotten male," craniologists of the nineteenth century argued that women's smaller heads justified their subordinate position in society. These views have seemed to change a lot over the years but as long as we train each generation to think this way there will always be a gender bias.

Hootie Johnson, a member of the Agusta National golf club is in some hot water now that the head of a women's group wrote to Johnson in June demanding that the club invite a female member. The 71-year-old chairman rejected them and simply stated “we will hold dear to our [club’s] tradition and our constitutional right to choose and associate.”

Years ago there was the expectation that women were supposed to get married and stay home to raise a family. The man was expected to go out to work to support his family. If the woman chose to have a career, she was considered "barren" or "lacking in maternal instinct", and her partner was often considered inadequate, as it was assumed he was not a "good provider". Things have changed to some degree. Today there is more sharing of family and household responsibilities, and both males and females are working in less traditional careers. For example, we have both male and female nurses, firefighters, and engineers. Things will continue to change but it may or may not always be for the better

Condry, J., Condry, S., (1976) Sex Differences: A study in the Eye of the Beholder Child Development 47 (1976) 817 in Fausto Sterling, A., (1992) Myths of Gender, Biological Theories about Women and Men, (p150) New York: Basic Books