Gender Roles

Gender roles play a very important role in every day life. Children are raised based on the specific gender roles that people are supposed to play. Because of raising children based on gender, the outdated roles are being reinforced. Also many people are discriminated against for their careers, not just getting jobs, but for the jobs they do. There are many men and women who are discriminated against for the profession they do because of gender, however times are changing and this should be coming to an end because gender is the package you are born with not who you are. Although there are many specific roles that gender is supposed to play, however there is no law that says this is the way you have to live your life.

When children are young, they are taught gender roles that continually get reinforced throughout their lives. According to many people, there are certain gender roles that are supposed to be followed; girls are supposed to play with dolls, play house, and be more docile, while boys play with trucks, play cops and robbers, and be more aggressive. However, there are always exceptions to every rule. There's always the strange little boy who plays Barbies, but quickly learns his lesson after being made fun of by his peers. If this boy continues school with the same group of kids, he will probably be labeled as the feminine boy or as kids say, "girly-boy". There are also little girls who would rather throw a baseball than dress her dolls. This little girl probably won't be made fun of as much, but the prissy girls will call her names that have to do with boys and the boys won't give her any attention as a girl, but as one of the boys. She will never be able to play on the baseball team with the boys, even though she is just as good. This is very normal, even though it's unjust. This shows the way gender roles influence so much of their lives.

Some parents dealt with gender issues when they were younger, so they try to avoid putting their children through this. They reinforce the gender roles by dressing their little girls in pink dresses with ruffles, and their boys in blue sports uniforms. Gender roles have been seared into our brains since infancy, but how many of these little girls will continue to follow these gender rolls? How many little boys will be so greatly influenced by sports and athletics rather than their brains? Eventually each little boy and each little girl will grow up and make their own decisions about to obey or disobey the gender roles decided for them. Several boys and girls will grow up and operate outside of the outdated gender roles, but then they have to deal with even more issues because of their gender.

Gender should not dictate what profession you choose, or define you as a person. Women are choosing to disobey society's gender roles more frequently, but they are often ridiculed for making the bold move of improving not only their lives, but the lives of more women who will eventually follow in their footsteps. Society has been molding women for hundreds of years into traditional roles such as secretaries or housewives. However in today's world, women are refusing to follow the rules that were formed for them before they were even born. Women can be the main supporter of the family and work in a man's world doing jobs such as construction or carpentry. However, when women choose to operate outside these roles they are labeled as being too masculine.