Traditional Gender Roles example essay topic

Throughout many decades women have been struggling to be equal to men, both at home and in the work place. Women have come a long way and are certainly fighting to gain that equality, but gender roles are very important in our society. They have become important in life from birth, and society continues to push these gender roles. The treatment of the male gender is very different from that of the female, and this issue has become very important to me, as a woman. As children we learn and adapt to specific gender roles, and as we grow they become more evident and more important to our role in a society. There is a lot of discrimination against the female gender.

Carol Gilligan argued that women are more likely to make decisions based on responsibility and norms of caring, where as men are likely to apply principles of justice to their decisions. Because of this discrimination, social mobility has been difficult, but is definitely changing to benefit women and is definitely something I would like to see changed. Women of the later 20th century are fighting more to end the discrimination, and a lot has improved. But women are still looked down upon in society, and men still have the power. I believe that this issue is important, not only to myself, but to everyone. It is an issue that effects everyone, and people have to realize that women are stronger, smarter and involved with the world much more than they were a half a century ago.

The controversy with this issue however, is that many people don't believe that women belong in high-powered positions. Many men believe that women aren't aggressive enough and strong enough to handle the sometimes-high pressure that comes with some positions. Others believe that women are better off taking the traditional gender role and staying home to take care of the family and household chores. Men only do twenty to thirty percent of the housework, and this is the expectation of many people on society today. My personal opinion on women's mobility in society is strong, considering I am a woman. I believe that women, regardless of how we are "supposed" to act, should have the same opportunities as men.

Gender roles tell us we are supposed to be submissive, quiet, and tender hearted. Therefore, we would not be able to handle a power position is society have read many articles and writings about the gender inequality issue and social mobility, I have found a mix of expected and unexpected things. I used to think that women were breaking out of traditional gender roles and moving up the social ladder, which is happening but the numbers are still growing rather slowly. Men are still dominant in most power positions, although some women have taken over these positions. Although our fight for equality is growing, it isn't growing as rapidly as I hoped and expected.

Another thing that has surprised me was how many women are now in the labor force. Within a half a century, the numbers have more than doubled, in many age groups. As for women's earnings as opposed to men's, although the gap is closing, there is still a large amount of pay difference, which is something that is not fair, because if they both do the same job, they should both have the same amount in their paychecks. The reason for this is that employers assume that women are not reliant on their jobs as much as men are. The reason that women have always been related to certain work positions, such as nurse, social worker, counselor, or secretary, are the stereotypes that go with being a woman. Very rarely will you see a woman that is a military leader or a politician, because these jobs entail strength, power, and firm attitude.

Being a nurse or a counselor is associated with being sensitive, compassionate, and tenderhearted, all traits which are most commonly stereotypical of a woman. Luckily although, women are breaking through the stereotypes and becoming more involved in 'manly' jobs. The biggest jump that women have made over the past couple decades, is their mobility in politics. Women's Suffrage is not universal, as in some Muslim countries women are still incredibly unequal, but it has come a long way Even though women have faced so many huge problems with their social mobility, women really have come a long way. The only problem for women in such high positions is that they are under a constant spotlight. For many there is a lot of pressure to do an exceptionally good job, which causes women to struggle to make it in such high power positions.

But this problem that has held women back for so long is slowly getting broken. It's more of a question of gender discrimination than an actual problem in later years. The problem is described as an unseen barrier, which keeps minorities and women from rising to the top of the corporate ladder, regardless of qualifications. This effect is usually noticed more at higher levels of achievement, but can be seen throughout an entire career. Women have a lower chance of climbing the ladder than a white male, and African American women have an even lower chance, which brings another topic in, racism. It remains to be seen how well women continue to break the barrier even further, and climb the ladder more.

It is expected that within the next decade women will be as important in the labor force as men are, but the traditional gender roles and controversies may still remain. Women are becoming more involved though, and with the help of the feminist movements we are becoming more important in society. Even though women have a come a long way, we still haven't reached the same level as men. That is something everyone needs to work at, and something that needs to change.