How the world around us effect who we are.
When we think of gender, we often think of male or female; however, that is only half of understanding gender. The denotations of male and female actually refer to biological and physiological sex. Gender is the socially constructed differences between men and women. In western culture, we, for the most part, believe that we are exempt from the harsh gender inequalities that are rife in LEDCs. All throughout history, women have been disregarded and snubbed as the lesser gender, with only few exceptions (for example Boudicca, Queen Elizabeth, Amelia Earhart). These exceptions were women of extreme bravery and calibre, they broke free of their assigned gender roles and status in society to become some of the greatest leaders and explorers in history.
Culture has shaped the way women feel, act and see themselves. Every minute of everyday women are bombarded from movies, advertisements, by family and friends as to how they should act. Women are defined by how they conform to the gender roles and status that is placed upon them because of their sex. Gender-based stereotypes such as girls playing ‘house’ and boys playing war, have an impact on people later in their lives. While gender distribution in certain jobs is slowly changing, traditional gender roles run deep in the work force. In 2008, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics, 90% of nurses were female while only 10% were male. The many aspects that cultivate a culture all individually effect gender roles, stereotypes and the status of women, some aspects are: ethnicity, socialization, values, attitudes and behaviour. A clear indicator of how gender is influenced by culture can be heard all over the world in everyday conversations. Common gender-stereotypical qualities are submissive, quiet, neat, weak, clean, clumsy, incompetent and motherly. Because social pressures to fulfil these expectations are strong, typically enforced by parents, friends, teachers and media, many women conform to these qualities. These roles cause women to refrain from speaking their minds and progressing in the workplace from pressure to have children and for the fear of being viewed as manly, harsh or bossy. All of this does not mean that women are still secondary to men, in fact in countries such as Iceland and Finland, women enjoy extremely high education attendance rates (in some cases higher than men) and the majority of women in the labour force are classified as professionals. However gender inequality is still a huge concern in hundreds of countries where women are abused, raped and denied basic human rights. |
Religion is another key contributor to the development of women in their culture. All over the world, families (socialization) and religion are influencing the lives of women, most of them without even knowing it. In western society, all countries have been male-dominated. This stems from Christianity being androcentric, all texts, leaders and rituals are male based. Immediately, this has put women at a disadvantage. Some religions, for example Christianity again, some would say, have gone as far to demonize women (blaming Eve for getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden).
Another prime example of culture being effected by gender is race traditions. For instance, African American families are less likely to adhere to strict gender-role distinctions when socializing their children, whereas Mexican-American families are more likely to highlight gender differences. In conclusion, for the previous reasons, it is evident that gender roles and the status of women are heavily influenced by all different aspects of culture. |
*Androcentrism (Ancient Greek, ἀνήρ, "man, male") is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing male human beings or a masculine point of view at the center of one's world view and its culture and history.