Gender:- Gender is a social construct that refers to the characteristics of women, men,

girls, and boys, including the norms, behaviours, and roles associated with being a woman,
man, girl, or boy. Behaviours of men and women are socially considered appropriate, known
as gender roles. Gender roles are the expectations, stereotypes, and behaviour expected of
people because of their gender. These expectations come from societal norms. Gender roles
can be expectations about someone’s personality, job, appearance, behaviour, and even voice!

Types of Gender roles

There are three main types of gender roles in American society.
1. Traditional Gender Roles
2. Egalitarian Gender Roles
3. Transitional Gender Roles

Traditional Gender Roles

Traditional gender roles are the stereotypical roles that society expected out of people 100
years ago. Traditional gender roles expect women to be polite, nurturing, and caring for the
house. Women are to listen to their husbands and, in most cases, not work so they can take
care of their children. In the traditional gender role, women are to be hyper-feminine.
Hyperfeminine is essentially overdoing all the female stereotypes to be the most “feminine”
person you can be.
For men, traditional gender roles expect them to be aggressive, the sole caretaker of the
family, and not show emotions. These men are hypermasculine. Hypermasculine is over-
stereotyping “male” characteristics such as strength, sexuality, and wealth.

Egalitarian Gender Roles

The theory of egalitarian gender roles is based on the concept of an egalitarian society.
An egalitarian society believes that everyone is equal, should be treated the same, and have
access to all equal opportunities. In egalitarian societies, this concept refers to social classes
and gender, but here we’re just going to focus on gender. Here, women and men in
relationships would work, take care of the house, and raise their children. For some
feminists, egalitarian gender roles are their end goal – people are treated the same, regardless
of gender.

Example
Have you ever opened the car door for a woman (or got a door held open for you)? Have you
ever paid for a woman’s meal on a date (or had your meal paid for)? Have you ever been
courteous to a woman (or received it)? All these examples would not exist in a society with
egalitarian gender roles.
Transitional Gender Roles
The final type of gender role is the transitional gender role. In transitional gender roles (and
assuming a heterosexual relationship), the man is still the primary source of income. Still, the
woman has more freedom outside the traditional position to pursue a career outside of
homemaking. While countless women have careers, companies, and children, this is the type
of gender role that American society is most in line with. Typically, the man is still the
breadwinner while the woman can work she can until she has to sacrifice part of her career
for children.

Gender Roles in Society: Examples

 Girls play with dolls and boys play with trucks
 Gender reveal parties where pink means the baby is a girl and blue means the baby is
a boy
 Girls wear skirts and boys wear pants
 Women in education and men in STEM
 The woman needs to be saved by the man
 A man can’t show his emotions while a woman should
 Men should love sex while women should be inexperienced sexually
 Girls are good at reading while boys are better at math
 Women shouldn’t speak out or raise their voices otherwise they'll come across as loud
and whiney while men should, getting viewed as powerful.