GRSJ224/women social role

Introduction

In general, a gender role is a social role, behavior, and attitudes that are considered appropriate for people based on their biological or perceived sex. The term first coined in 1954 by John Money, who used it in his research on intersex individuals to describe the number of traits, manners, behaviors whose individuals showed in various situations. Until very recently, in most societies, genders were distinguished based on the ideas of masculinity and femininity, which are often biologically determined. However, in the 21st century, biological sex no longer defines gender roles. Individuals received more freedom in choosing their selfless, and many stereotypical traits and behaviors that used to be commonly associated inclusively with females or males are no longer necessarily ascribed to them. This massive shift in people's minds is resulting in changing women's roles in postindustrial societies, with further implications on family patterns, reproduction, and representations of females within media, pop-culture, and associated politics.

Historical background

A new era in the theories of gender roles was triggered by the rise of the feminist movement in the Western World. Almost one hundred and fifty years ago, in the UK and US. Most feminist theories are based on the idea that gender inequality is produced and reproduced within a power structure called patriarchy, a system of male dominance, and the exclusion or restriction of women. The feminist works of Simone de Beauvoir's and the theory of Michel Foucault published in1980s changed gender studies, bringing massive changes into the social life of the Western World.

Implications of women's roles' shifts

The change of gender roles had a major influence on four basic spheres of the existence of an individual, that had been trapped by all sorts of gender stereotypes until very recently.

Personality traits —women were traditionally expected to be more emotional, obedient, and selfless. Often femininity was linked with sexuality and sexual objectification of a woman. Often passiveness and receptivity are defined as feminine traits, while strong sexual desire or aggressiveness is prescribed to males.

21st century brought about the final separation of gender and sexuality, which led to the expanding of a binary gender system to the bigger palette, which includes queers, androgens, and other various types of identities. The focus was moved from the sexuality to personality, and traditionally feminine features are no longer prescribed exclusively to women. Traditionally masculine characteristics, such as self-confidence, aggression, competitiveness, and straightforwardness, were adopted by many women.

Employment —Aggregated data shows that women have outperformed men in formal education in the past decades. In affluent societies, women are guaranteed the freedom to work – by choice, and still, sometimes women have a harder time finding a job than men. Moreover, some professions, such as "midwife" and "postman", continue to be gender-marked.

Despite this, a recent study by recruiting company Career Builder revealed the blurring of gender lines in occupations. The findings are promising, as many male and female-dominated fields are becoming more balanced. The study, based on an analysis of data from 2009 to 2017, found that nearly 25% of the new jobs in typically male-dominated occupations, such as CEOs, lawyers, surgeons, web developers, chemists, and producers, were filled by women between 2009 and 2017. On the contrary, other professions that considered female-dominated are filled with men employees.

Family patterns and reproduction — for the most time of the written history of humanity, women were held responsible for taking care of the children, maintaining households. They were consistently excluded from the world of politics, finances, decision making.

Nevertheless, younger generations – both men and women – are more inclined to share work and domestic responsibilities. The last three decades of the 20th century witnessed interrelated worldwide trends - marital separation.

Generation Z, facing immense ecological issues, came to reconsidering the value of reproduction as it is. Widespread individualism and equality of rights and changing roles of women as a result of this movement led to emphasizing the wellbeing of an individual and, as a consequence, provided an ethical basis for women to refuse reproduction.

The latest definition of Reproductive Health, proposed by the WHO, is as follows: "the reproductive processes, functions, and system at all stages of life. Reproductive health, therefore, implies that people are able to have a responsible, satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so." Notwithstanding this open-minded definition, the reality is not as bright as it may seem. The problem of reproduction is actively discussed, and women refusing the traditional views on it, often face negative reactions and even ostracism of their communities.

Representations of reproduction

Teens' pregnancy, abortion remains highly stigmatized in media and culture. The research of the "Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health" group (the University of California, San Francisco): 385 abortion-related plotlines from 1916 to now, the pair found that while medical procedures like CPR are often shown as safer and more effective than the reality, stories of abortion are way more likely to end in the death of the patient than they are in real life.

At the same time most societies place a high value on parenthood in adult life, so although childfree ideas are sometimes introduced in pop-culture (Artificial Intelligence, Sex in the City), in most cases they are stereotyped as being "individualistic" or even "egoistic" and blamed of avoidance of social responsibility and social commitment.

Physical appearance —The images of models of Victoria's Secret, Barbie, or the Bratz doll – thin, with long hair and ideal bodies used to flood the public space and heavily influence the body image shaping among women. With the rise of body positivity and diversification of gender identities, the stereotypical vision of feminine and masculine traits of appearance, including clothes and make-up, is gradually changing too.

Conclusion

With the rise of feminism and the diversification of genders, women's roles experience significant changes. Given the ongoing liberalization process and focus on personality rather than gender identity, it is possible to predict further shifts towards blurring the borders between gender roles and their overlapping. In this sense, representations of major transmissions in women's roles in mass media and culture become an important tool for educating the population and constructing moral norms.

Reference List

Cotter, David, Joan M. Hermsen, and Reeve Vanneman. "The End of the Gender Revolution? Gender Role Attitudes from 1977 to 2008." AJS; American Journal of Sociology, vol. 117, no. 1, 2011, pp. 259-289.

Goldie, Terry. The Man Who Invented Gender. UBC Press, 2014.

Keizer, Renske; Dykstra, Pearl A.; Poortman, Anne-Rigt. "Childlessness and Norms of Familial Responsibility in the Netherlands". Journal of Comparative Family Studies. Vol. 42, no. 4, 2011, pp. 421–438.

Levesque, R.J.R. “Sex Roles and Gender Roles”. Encyclopedia of Adolescence. In: Levesque R.J.R. (eds) Springer, New York, 2011.

Latimer, Heather. Reproductive Acts : Sexual Politics in North American Fiction and Film, MQUP, 2013.

Lips, Hilary M. Gender : the basics, second Edition. Routledge, 2019.

Oláh L.S., Kotowska I.E., Richter R. “The New Roles of Men and Women and Implications for Families and Societies”. In: Doblhammer G., Gumà J. (eds) A Demographic Perspective on Gender, Family and Health in Europe.  Springer, 2019.