Gender Roles

My younger brother and I are not even two years apart, we grew up in the same house, with the same parents, the same two older siblings and going to the same schools all our lives but in some ways, it's easy to see the ways we were raised differently. I don't think my parents ever intentionally raised us differently but even with something simple such as chores, my brother would most of the time help my Dad outside with yard work when I would typically help my Mom inside. I never once learned how to mow the lawn because my brothers always did that, just like my brothers never helped my Mom cook dinner cause either me or my sister would be helping.        

Gender roles in our society have been a big topic discussed in recent years. For many years it was believed that men were superior and that men and women were very different in how they dealt with and reacted in different situations. In more recent years psychological studies show that there are more similarities between men and women than there are differences. There are the same fundamental needs, survival, self-esteem, intimacy, and both need to have a sense of control over their lives. Woman and men are even similar in ways we once thought they were different, such as emotions.

From studies was have now, we know that woman and men are both very capable but it was once believed that men were better in leadership positions, scientific work, and creating art while woman were better at domestic matters and nurturing. Of course, these are not true. Young woman are now doing better than young men in academic performance and females are less likely to drop out of high school. On tests of cognitive ability woman outscored men on some and men would outscore woman on others, showing that both are equally capable.

Now the argument comes up how the gender roles are determined in our society, are we simply born with these certain gender roles? Or do we learn them through socialization? An increasing amount of research shows that both social and biological factors play an important role in behaviour and even show that the human environment affects the way our genes express themselves, such as learning to talk, we are born with the ability to talk but the language we learn comes strictly from our environment. So when it comes to gender roles, how much is biological and how much is taught? Many make the argument that all gender stereotypes are taught but the fact is that young girls do gravitate more so to play that involves nurturing while boys will play more aggressively.

Personally, I think a part of gender roles is biological, we are born differently with different likes and interests, but we are also taught from a young age what our gender role is and it's hard to determine where one ends and the other begins.