5 examples of gender roles (and their effects on society)

Gender roles are an element that has been talked about a lot in recent times and they are gaining more and more prominence.

The tendency is to eliminate them so that there is no gender separation in any type of task, but still many of them can still be observed, especially in certain societies.

In the following paragraphs we will have the opportunity to see some examples of gender roles and the way in which they have influenced human societies.

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What are gender roles?

Before we begin to list different examples of gender roles, we must first stop for a moment to understand exactly what this concept means. Gender roles are unwritten norms in which a series of behaviors have historically been established as proper or appropriate for a certain gender, while it was less likely to observe them on the contrary.

As we anticipated in the introduction, in recent years various sectors of society have made great efforts to identify many of these examples of gender roles and try to dilute them, so that the set of behaviors to which they refer cease to be predefined for a single gender and become plausible for any of they.

Likewise, some of them have also been identified who, instead of wanting to extend to both genders, prefer to suppress when doing reference to behaviors that in today's society are no longer accepted, so they should disappear instead of becoming universal among the genders. Later we will see different examples of gender roles.

One of the essential issues of gender roles is that they somehow mark what others expect the behavior of a person in a certain situation depending on what their gender. At least this was the case until a while ago, as we have already mentioned that the trend is towards universalization or the elimination of these behaviors.

The basis of gender roles, therefore, is the belief that, depending on whether a person is male or female, they will have certain behaviors. The explanation about what part of the base of these behaviors would be innate and what a mere social construct is the subject of intense debate and would provide for countless investigations.

Therefore, we will not go further and we will go on to reel off some of the examples of gender roles that will allow us to know in greater depth the phenomenon that concerns us in this article.

Some examples of gender roles

Once we have done a short tour about the concept of the gender role, we can go on to see some examples to be able to visualize the implications of this phenomenon.

It is important to remember that these examples of gender roles have been common in our society until a few years ago, but the trend is think that we are on the way to eliminating or at least substantially modifying some of them, making them become independent roles of the gender.

1. Childcare

One of the most frequent examples of gender roles is that which has to do with childcare. Traditionally, in our society there has been a tendency for this task, within marriage, to be assumed by the woman. On the contrary, what was expected of the man is that he work and earn a salary with which to support the family. The woman not only had to take care of the children, but also take care of the household chores.

Of course, this photograph is long overdue. The trends towards gender equality, with policies especially active in the incorporation of women into the world of work, have taken an important turn in this role.

Today, it is common to find marriages in which both parents have their respective jobs and therefore also share the tasks related to the home and childcare. In these cases, they often turn to outside help to be able to give children the care they need, either through caregivers, nursery schools or with the invaluable help of family members, especially grandparents.

In any case, although this represents a change in trend, it does not mean that they do not continue to occur. cases like the previous one, and even the other way around, or with people of the same sex or being a family single parent. It is evident that family models have also expanded, which has also helped to reduce this first example of gender role.

2. Emotional expressiveness

Another of the behaviors that have traditionally been differentiated according to whether the person was a man or a woman is the one that has to do with the expression of emotions. Until a while ago, and even today, many people consider it correct that women express their emotions openly, letting others know how they feel and even crying if need.

However, this same behavior, if it comes from a man, has been less common. Traditional parenting styles have gone a long way in teaching children not to cry, that they are strong and that this behavior does not correspond to them. Of course, that trend is changing and today more and more parents are teaching their children that they should express what they feel and that there is no problem in crying.

This is one of the most important examples of gender roles, as it is based on a learning that the boy or girl receives from their earliest age. early childhood and that has tremendously relevant implications during adult life, because in the case of the child who has been brought up In order not to express anything regarding their emotionality, they will have fewer tools to know how to manage these emotions when they are exceed.

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3. The physical aspect

Of course, the physical aspect is another of the examples of gender roles that society has traditionally had and that have been changing for some time. Historically, many people expected women, by virtue of being a woman, to maintain an impeccable physical appearance, resorting to elements such as makeup, certain clothing, cosmetics, waxing, hairdressing, etc.

But precisely that of the physical aspect is a role that has quickly become universal. More and more men are dedicating the same means as women to taking care of their appearance. In this field, both the sectors that promoted equality and the commercial brands themselves have had to do, who have seen how they could reach the other 50% of the population, who traditionally stayed outside their bells.

This does not mean that today everyone feels a social obligation to take care of their physical appearance to the extreme. It simply means that it is no longer a role assigned to women and therefore anyone can decide to keep those behaviors, but they may also decide not to do so and therefore not worry excessively about the projected physical image before others.

4. Dominant character and conciliatory character

The type of character traditionally assigned to men and women is another of the most common examples of gender roles. Historically The idea has been promoted that men had certain tendencies to leadership and dominance, while women, on the contrary, were more empathetic and more conciliatory. In fact, we can already appreciate the interconnection with examples that we have seen previously.

Under that prism, it was understood that it was easier for men to reach certain positions of responsibility, since its character implicitly carried a series of appropriate characteristics to exercise those tasks. On the contrary, women were expected to remain in subordinate positions.

In addition, the first of the examples of gender roles that we saw implied that women could not even consider reach those positions of responsibility, since motherhood was incompatible with developing a working career prosperous. Today, equality policies, such as equal paternity and maternity leave, mean that this gender role is gradually being diluted.

5. Types of studies

Also a distinction was made between the types of studies appropriate for a man and for a woman, stating that men had a greater propensity to enroll in exact sciences and engineering majors, while women preferred the humanities, social sciences, and caring disciplines to others (medicine, nursing, or psychology).

Although the enrollment figures indicate that these trends are still maintained, the free choice of career is encouraged, so that no man or woman today has any impediment to choose to carry out the studies that voluntarily have chosen one.

Bibliographic references:

• Chávez Carapia, Julia del Carmen (2004). Gender Perspective. Plaza and Valdés.
• Jayme, M., Sau, V. (1996). Differential Psychology of Sex and Gender: Fundamentals. Icaria Editorial.
• Puleo, A.H. (2007). Introduction to the concept of gender. Gender and Communication. Editorial Fundamentos.
• Rubio, S.P. (2012). Transnational family and redefinition of gender roles. The case of Bolivian migration in Spain. Papers: magazine of sociology.