roles of men and women in contemporary British society

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INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION                                                                      

ELT 915

BRITISH STUDIES  I

``How do the roles of men and women in contemporary British society differ from their roles in previous generations? To what extent have these changes been socially beneficial?’’

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When discussing the different roles of women and men within contemporary society, there are many issues that have to be taken into consideration. In order to gain a better understanding of a stated problem, this part of the paper will provide general information on dissimilarities between men and women. It is acknowledged that both men and women take on different roles within society, where they both have their own responsibilities. As well as this, it is assumed that because women are generally the most caring, their responsibility usually lies within the home and/or around the family, by taking care of the children, cooking, cleaning, and carrying out other domestic duties to earn a living. Whereas men on the other hand, are often regarded as the more strong and powerful, therefore take on the role of breadwinner for the family, and carry out the jobs that are more manual and physical based.  In addition to this, men and women are taught to behave in certain ways, to help show a clear distinction between femininity and masculinity, where females tend to be dependent on the dominant male, suggesting that they are weaker and less able. This implies that genders, due to the well known fact, are not only different in biological appearance, such as for example brain structure and its usage, body strength, metabolism, body build or genetic expression, but also in their skills, abilities, behaviour and aptitude.

Sayers (1982), in her book asserts

When one examines these supposedly purely biological accounts of gender roles one finds that they are rooted in appeal to social, not biological, considerations. This is true not only of recent biological analyses of sexual divisions in Society but also of the analogous biological explanations of these divisions advanced in the nineteenth century.

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Having looked at the brief description of gender, Sayers states that biology is crucial when it comes to showing differences between men and women, and also that the understanding of social backgrounds and social behaviours throughout the centuries is a critical factor. The roles of women and men as well as their behavioural attitudes are the result of a long historical process and much longer evolutionary one, such as for example division of labour into female gatherers of plant food and male hunters (Archer, On-line). Archer explains that there is another, more recent division between women and men that ...

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