Gender Roles in Society

Gender roles are the expectations, stereotypes, and behavior expected of

people because of their gender. These expectations come from societal
norms.
Gender roles can be expectations about someone’s personality, job,
appearance, behavior, and even voice! Since modern society based itself
upon older cultures where the men did all the work while the women
stayed home and raised children, these elements are still prevalent today.
Of course, there are cultural differences within subgroups of American
society, so this is discussing general gender norms.

Gender is not binary, meaning just male and female. There are now a
plethora of other terms that people can use to define their gender so that
they don’t feel restricted in the gender binary. Some of these terms
are agender, genderfluid, transgender, and nonbinary. However,
despite the wide variety of words people can use to identify, this
explanation will be mainly centered around male and female gender roles
since our society is founded on those. This note is not to discredit other
genders but rather to write about the patriarchal societal roles that are so
heavily based on the stereotypical “male” and “female.” This explanation
will also assume that people are in heterosexual relationships since those
relationships propagate gender norms the most.

Major Types of Gender Roles

There are three main types of gender roles in American society.

Traditional Gender Roles

As you might guess by the name, 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.
We can look at this definition now and know that not having children
doesn’t make you any less feminine, but in traditional gender roles, it is
crucial.
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.
While society has evolved in understanding that men can be feminine,
women can be masculine, and people don’t have to fit into these
predetermined roles, these previous ones still influence the current
expectations.

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. However, some women might
not want to be in a society with egalitarian gender roles.

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.
Even though we don’t think of these examples as negative things (such as
the pay gap), they are more instances of the genders not being treated
equally. In a society with fundamental egalitarian gender roles, everyone
would open their car door, pay for their meals, and not focus on being
polite to people of the opposite gender. This would be a welcome change
for some, but others benefit from non-egalitarian gender roles.

Transitional Gender Roles

The final type of gender role is the transitional gender role. You can think
of transitional roles as stepping stones between traditional and egalitarian
roles.

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.

Notice how there’s no type of gender role where the woman is the head of
the household and the main source of income? Given how societies are
based upon the centuries-old notion that men have all the power, it’s still
not feasible to speculate on a female-run society.

Gender Roles in Society: Examples

Can you think of any examples of gender roles? Remember, gender roles
can be the physical job or part that the person is expected to play, but also
stereotypes that influence our view of a person.

 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

Impact of Gender Roles on Society

Unfortunately, gender roles’ stereotypes and impacts transcended our lives
before we were even aware of what a stereotype was. From childhood, we
get conditioned to act in ways that align with our gender, making it
challenging to have preferences outside of the gender norm (and even
more difficult for those who are not cisgender).

Were you gifted toys that aligned with your gender stereotypes when you
were a child? Probably.
Since it has been ingrained in us since we were children, it makes it harder
to understand the problems until we are older. The older generations
condition the younger generations with the traditional (and transitional)
gender roles, perpetuating the cycle.

Impact of Gender Roles on Society: Defying Gender

Roles
Additionally, what happens when you defy gender roles? If you’re in a job
that’s unexpected for your gender – like a woman in construction or a man
in fashion – do people make fun of you? Are you not accepted by your
peers? Not understood by your parents? Since American society was built
upon traditional gender norms, it’s more difficult to break those norms.

The same concept can apply to other areas outside of work, such as college
majors (women in STEM and men in education), athleticism (it can make
boys uncomfortable if a girl is faster than them), and clothing. While it is
your passion or pride, acting outside the gender roles can cause people to
be upset.
Alas, this is the impact that gender roles have on our society. They force
people to act hyperfeminine or hypermasculine and then ridicule those
who don’t and be who they want to be.

Changing Gender Roles in Society

So now that you understand gender roles, do you have any thoughts on
how to change them? A change in gender roles has to be a gradual process,
given how heavily society was founded upon them.

To change gender roles, you need to understand some outside societal

influences that impact the continuation of gender roles.

 Parents: Someone's upbringing is influenced by how they view

gender roles. If a person is raised in a conservative, traditional home,
they will most likely have traditional gender views. However, if
someone’s parents are more liberal and unconventional, they would
likely impart more modern gender views on their child.

o Family: Family refers to extended family outside of the people

who the child lives with. If a family only buys and exposes the
child to toys or opportunities in line with their gender
stereotypes, that can influence the child’s perception of gender
norms.
 Friends: Peer influences are an extremely important part of our lives.
Typically, we surround ourselves with people who share the same
interests and views we do, reinforcing the preexisting beliefs.
 Media: Media is a huge influence that often can’t be controlled by
parents. Depending on what the child is exposing themselves to,
traditional gender roles can either be encouraged or discouraged.
Media can include the news, social media, TV shows, movies, and
the internet.
By further understanding these influences and their impact, people can
begin to change gender roles in society.
Gender Roles in Society - Key takeaways

 Gender roles are the expectations, stereotypes, and behavior

expected of people because of their gender

 There are three main types of gender roles

o Traditional: the man works and the woman takes care of the
children and the house

o Egalitarian: the man and woman are equal in everything

o Transitional: the man works and is the breadwinner but the

woman can work if she wants to

 Gender roles are influenced by someone's parents, the media,

someone's friends, and someone's peers

 Gender roles can cause people to face discrimination if they are

doing something outside of their gender role