Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective - Essay Example

Application EssayGender roles are the activities and responsibilities ascribed to men, women, boys and girls by the society based on the gender of an individual. These gender roles vary across communities and also over time and are passed from one generation to the other through socialization process and agents of socialization like the family. The women and girls are ascribed almost similar roles while boys and men are given almost similar roles. The roles assigned to women and girls are different from those assigned to boys and men.

Women have triple gender roles (reproductive, productive and community gender roles) while men only have productive and community gender roles (Lindsey 356). In as much as the roles vary across communities, most of these roles are similar and they lead to gender stereotypes being developed. Some of the similar gender roles are women and girls cook and wash while men are the sole providers for the family and also offer security to the family. Some of these gender roles keep on changing as a result of feminism wave and people embracing equality and hence neglect those stereotypical and rigid ideas surrounding gender roles.

Strict enforcement of the gender roles may lead to one gender (mostly women) to be left out in decision making positions and in prestigious careers due to the duties they have that consume most of their time for other activities.Understanding these gender roles is important for an employee and also an employer. This is because of division of labor in the workplace based on gender. For a long time now, employees division of labor and hiring has been based on gender roles present in that particular society.

For example, positions such as those of secretaries and clerks and also nurses have been associated with women and girls as a result of their gender roles of nurturing, care-providers and being subordinate to their superiors (which is the position ascribed to men by most cultures). If the employees understand the prevailing gender roles in that society, they can fight stereotypes and gender inequalities which may hinder them competing for leadership positions. The concept of gender roles for a student helps the student incorporate that knowledge in addressing community issues in future.

Students are viewed as the future leaders who are expected to be impartial no matter their gender. They therefore need to be aware of gender roles differentiation as defined by their community and how they may affect social interaction and enforcing impartiality in their future leadership. In terms of passing the information about the rigid gender roles, the students are at a better position to be heard by the community members as they are considered the elites of the society and hence whatever they propose is mostly implemented.

Parents are one of the socialization agents of the community. They pass social norms, values and gender roles differentiation to their children. Whatever information parents give to their children is considered gospel truth and is effected by the children. Parents also give their children different roles according to their gender and this therefore becomes hard to reverse when they grow up. If the parents become flexible in their gender roles assignation to their children, this may act to reduce the gender inequality and stereotypes as a result of the gender role definition and implementation by the society.

ReferenceLindsey, Linda. Gender Roles: A Sociological Perspective. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2009.