Gender role Attitudes

Bushra Mussawar
 Introduction
• Gender role Attitudes encompassing a range of behaviors that
are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for
people based on their biological or perceived sex.
• These attitudes are usually centered on conceptions
of masculinity and femininity, although there
are exceptions and variations.
• The specifics regarding these gendered expectations may vary
substantially among cultures, while other characteristics may be
common throughout a range of cultures. There is ongoing debate
as to what extent gender roles and their variations
are biologically determined, and to what extent they are socially
constructed.
 Sources of Gender Roles Attitudes
• Whether attitudes are converging over time;
and to what extent there are generational
differences regarding family values. There may
have been pronounced value shifts about
some aspects of family life, while other values
show greater continuity. Therefore, gender
role attitudes are shaped with different social
and individual expectation and sources.
 Con…
• Parents
• Teachers
• Peers
• History
• marriage
• family textbooks
• everyday language
• mass media are the sources of role model
 Parents
• Parents start to train their children from they were
infant in an appropriate way to their gender. Children
learn how to be parent, son, daughter, student or to
perform any other role in their life from their
parents. Mother and father tend to describe their
children as tiny, soft and delicate if they are girl, and
alert, firm and bigger if they are boys. Toys and color
of room or cloths also demonstrates the girl and
boys figure. Girls play with dolls kitchen toys, while
boys play with soldier,vehicle and gun.
 Teachers & Peers
• Teacher effect the children attitude on the way
of choosing the future job.
• Peer group exerts a strong pressure, monitors
and enforce the gender role/norms through
activities, toy preferences, friendships, and so
on
 History, Marriage and Family Textbooks
• Writings and researches about the gender role effects the
people`s attitudes.
• Family rituals/traditions and social interactions plays a major
role in the formation of specific gender attitudes
• For approximately the past seven decades, heterosexual
marriage roles have been defined for men and women based on
society's expectations and the influence of the media. Men and
women are typically associated with certain social roles
dependent upon the personality traits associated with those
roles. Traditionally, the role of the homemaker is associated with
a woman and the role of a breadwinner is associated with a
male.
 Every day Language
• Our everyday speech often expresses and reinforces
gender role stereotypes. Language reflects the
inequality between men and women in the
society. Language use to show gender stereotypes
for. Language treats the male as normative and
ignores women. The most widespread example of
this is use if the masculine as a generic form, as in
chairman, layman, policeman, workman,
businessman. These words are used for both male
and female sexes.
 Mass-media
• The mass media feature the predominant presence,
authority, and positive presentation of men as
compared to women. A majority of the song’s lyrics
describe men and women in the society or individual
stereotypes. Moreover television program shows men
are smarter powerful rational and stable. Women
characters are usually shown as younger, attractive,
warmer and happier than men.
 Changes in Gender Role Attitudes
• External sudden events or crises, like war or famine,
radically change the roles of men and women.
During World War II (1940-1945), the number of
economically active women increased dramatically
for the first time in Europe.
• Women`s movements are the most effective factors
to change the traditional gender role attitudes in the
male role at home, work as a partner and parent
• LGBT Community Movements
 Sources Of Change
• Education
• Mass-media
• Scientific Studies
• Economic Power