Girls And Boys example essay topic

"Sugar and Spice and all things nice... that's what little girls are made of"Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog's tails... that's what little boys are made of" In our society men and women both play very important parts. Even if it may be tempting to believe that girls and boys are the same for a short while after their birth this is not the case. From their first moments girls and boys are raised differently. To put it simply: girls get the dolls and boys the cars. The differences become more apparent the older the children get, especially if they have been brought up according to traditional values.

Men and women very often have a completely different attitude in life. Men are said to be less emotional, but more determined, whereas women play the more caring, but also more dependent role in our society. But what would our world be like if women were more like men? Since the beginning of mankind, men have been hunters and women the ones who stay at home, taking care of the children.

Even though our society is undergoing tremendous changes, men still hold the top-positions in jobs such as management, marketing, finance or politics and get paid around 1/3 more than women on average. Apart from the traditional reasons for men being more successful there is also the reason that men do everything possible to achieve their goals. Women are far less ruthless and much more sensitive to the feelings of others, so they seem weaker and less determined. Women very often work as teachers, nurses and social-workers, jobs which involve care and emotions and are directly concerned with people, but very often badly paid. If women were more like men they would also try and get the best-paid jobs, without thinking of anyone they may be harming on the path to achieving their goal. There is nothing wrong with being determined and career orientated but it is also important to be sensitive towards other people's feelings.

As most leading politicians are men, men are the ones who start wars. Women would probably have a completely different approach towards conflicts. They would try to deal with problems, by trying to get to the bottom of them instead of just solving current dilemmas. Women would almost certainly take more notice of the civilians being harmed, whilst men block out personal feeling during war. Of course the male attitude to politics can be positive too, as they act rationally and are thus less affected personally. But if our world would consist purely of people who try to show as little emotion as possible (which is what men try to do) there would be an even greater lack of teachers and nurses than there already is.

Nurses are badly paid and have a difficult, demanding job, but they are rewarded by knowing that they are helping people. If women too would only be interested in getting well-paid jobs rather than jobs which fulfil their emotional needs, our world would be much tougher and colder. Another very crucial part of society which would change is family-life. When growing up, children benefit from both maternal and paternal influences.

Mothers are supposed to be the more sensitive and caring parent, whilst fathers are seen to be more practical and demanding. Although nowadays men are said to be more sensitive than they used to be they still find it embarrassing to cry or show affection. A healthy balance between the two needs to be found to raise a child. On the one hand the father's realism and level-headedness is important to teach the child about the real world, whilst the mother is more emotional and is more likely to be able to help the child with its problems. Mothers also have to cope with many things at the same time, for instance work, shopping and cooking, so they are very good at organizing. This is an important influence for children.

If women had more male characteristics then girls and boys would be raised the same way. This would help to eliminate stereotyping. A mother who isn't very emotional wouldn't bring up her daughter to show many feelings as this would prove to be a disadvantage in life. In this case it might be positive for males and females to be more similar as later in life they would have the same chances to get the same jobs for equal pay. In addition to the points mentioned above, life would be very boring without the differences between men and women. We spend most our life trying to get to know and understand the opposite sex, usually with limited success.

As opposites attract, relationships without contrasts would be no fun. Even in homosexual relationships one of the partners is usually more masculine and the other more feminine. When children turn into teenagers much time is spent in groups with friends of the same sex discussing the opposite sex. If girls were like boys many conversations wouldn't exist. Girls wouldn't go to the toilet with at least three of their friends anymore, they wouldn't talk about make-up and clothes and wouldn't giggle when boys walk past. Instead they would act tough in front of their friends, talk about the football scores or skateboarding and would wolf-whistle after boys, who of course wouldn't see this as odd, as they'd do the same to girls.

In clubs there would be no queue in front of the girl's loos, girls would walk boys home and fashion-magazine sales would collapse. All in all life would completely change and would become far less exciting than it is at the moment. In my opinion women shouldn't become more like men. Already more and more girls find it 'cool' to act like men, for example they drink and swear much more. This is one of the negative ways that women have taking on male characteristics. Of course it is important that women get better-paid jobs and have chances of having a good career too, but this shouldn't mean that we have to sacrifice our female qualities.

I also don't believe that men should become more like women, as every sex has its advantages and disadvantages. Men should learn that showing emotion isn't necessarily negative, but if men were too much like women that wouldn't be an improvement to our society either. So all in all I think life should stay as it is.