Biology alone determines whether a person is female or male, not culture, but cultural myths outline the roles women and men play in society. These cultural myths constitute to the lack of differentiation between sex and gender, imposing the idea of nature versus nurture. While one is born either female or male due to biology, one’s culture ultimately makes one into a woman or a man. Society has predisposed images of what it means to be feminine or masculine. These gender roles limit the individual’s potential, making humans into performers that must conform to their “appropriate” roles.
Being a man should not rely on appearing dominant, aggressive, or never admitting to weaknesses, nor should a woman’s life depend on her reproductiveness and caregiving nature while portraying a more vulnerable and submissive role in comparison to men. Gender inequality is not due to the notion that an individual is trapped by their gender, rather that they are trapped by society’s perception of gender where females and males are expected to conform to opposed roles; therefore, discriminating, dehumanizing, and applying social constraints to both females and males from birth.
One acquires one’s gender through the effects of socialization, where one’s culture establishes gender role behaviors that have been appointed as appropriate for the sex one was born with. Aaron Devor’s essay, “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” describes the social constructed process of developing gender roles. “As we move through our lives society demands different gender performances from us and rewards, tolerates, or punishes us differently for conformity to, or digression from, social norms” (Devor 387).
Impressively, at the age of 18 months to two years a child knows their gender identity. Children primarily recognize an individuals outward appearance as a characteristic for identifying gender, rather than the individual’s genitalia. Children observe details such as clothing, hair style, and the role they are expected by society to conform in order to make their judgement on which gender they pertain to. Once the child identifies the role they “should” partake, then they begin to comprehend what society expects them to do and how it is that they should perform.
Unfortunately, society has categorized femininity and masculinity in “… mirror images of one another with masculinity usually characterized by dominance and aggression, and femininity by passivity and submission”(Devor 390). From the moment a child is born, parents are quick to dress their child in the specific color that has been socially appointed to their gender; pink is feminine, blue is masculine, and the ambiguous yellow stands for both genders. These social norms appear harmless, but they are creating greater inequality between women and men.
Claire Cain Miller’s article, “Boys and Girls, Constrained by Toys and Costumes,” delineates how gendered marketing can influence a child’s future decisions according to the gender roles that confine interests based on gender. Before the 1930’s, all babies mostly wore “white, loose fitting dresses and long hair” and after the feminist movement in the 1970’s most toys became gender neutral (Miller). As a matter of fact, over the past two decades there has been a increase in production of gendered toys that portray society’s perception of characteristically feminine or masculine roles.
Most of the toys marketed to boys relate to action, building, and destruction, for example, they include super heroes, cars, and blocks. Similarly, boys costumes promote adventure and the ability they can be anything they set their mind to. In contrast, girls toys consist of care taking or beauty, and often they tend to be objects that their solemn purpose is to be looked at, like dolls, tea sets, and jewelry. In addition, girls costumes depict that they can play the same roles a boy can, but in a slightly tighter and sexist option that relates to “how well you look” (Miller).
If one does not factor in gender as a method for marketing, a wider set of interests become available, allowing the child to explore and find what they truly care and have potential for. This does not mean that all toys and costumes should become gender neutral, rather one should not “constrain [their] kid’s choices and abilities” (Miller). Toys should not have genders, nor should children feel limited to what has been deemed as characteristically feminine or masculine.
Due to biological evolution, society has characterized gender’s activities according to their physical traits. A women’s life is centered around her reproductiveness and ability to be a caregiver. For example, there are significantly more women in elementary education than there are in higher education. In contrast, since men are unable to bare children, they have time after time been responsible for providing the necessary for the his family, while “their” women stay at home carrying over the children, maintaining a clean household, and being responsible for all their needs.
Since men tend to be stronger and bigger than women, this ultimately has lead society to believe that men are more dominant than women; hence, women are often portrayed as weak and vulnerable. These biological characteristics translate to cultural myths about what a man or women can or cannot do; therefore, discriminating gender. This male dominance and privilege has contributed to the notion that men hold more power roles than women.
In addition, being naturally more violent and at higher rates than women has contributed to the myth that men are better leaders. Today, men are in charge of significantly close to most if not all of the largest corporations. If a women happens to be part of the leading group of one of these corporations, it leads to question whether she has the position in order to increase diversity or because she deserves and worked hard to be there. It is is unfortunate that society promotes that women are simply not good enough for the position.
