What gendered relationship(s) does your cultural role or practice encourage - Essay Example

Basically, gender is developed under the influence of culture. Male or female gender roles have been shaped in certain social and national contexts. Therefore, culture depends on gender roles and gender roles depend on culture. If we try to speak figuratively, a dilemma of culture-gender relationship interdependence may be compared with a chicken and egg riddle. Gender role and culture relationship In the context of a given situation on the example taken from Bangladesh and Cambodian cultures, we would further claim that gender role and culture interdependence has been currently interpreted from a different perspective: i.e. with the cultural changes in these countries, gender roles have been also gradually changed.

Situation 1 In Bangladesh, like in many other countries, there have always existed differences between “women’s/men’s work”. With the growth of garment trade policies in this country, many women became a part of a labor force. The norms of purdah (female seclusion) have been changed and women became employees in this field of activity. Moreover, earlier women were not greatly visible in the city of Dhaka, but there is much more women in the streets than earlier. Consequently, we can suppose that there is a consequent shift in women’s roles in their families and at work.

We can explain this change of gender role as the result of socio-economical situation in the country. Further on, these changes were borrowed by culture and finally, they were reflected on women’s gender roles. Situation 2 The following changes of gender roles shown on the example of Cambodian culture had different triggers. It is possible to illustrate gender role change in Cambodia by the following saying: “men are a piece of gold, and women are a piece of cloth. The piece of gold, when it is dropped in mud, is still a piece of gold.

But a piece of cloth, once it’s stained, it’s stained forever” (Questions about Culture). Currently, modern Cambodian women do not want to live their lives in accordance with this saying. They consider it to be unfair and irrelevant. There is a need for social justice and equal attitude to men and women. For example, male criminals cannot be considered “a piece of gold” and widows should have a chance to put a virginal piece of cloth on them. As far as we can see, political, social and economical triggers have launched gender role-cultural accents shift in Cambodia.

Therefore, from a modern westerner’s point of view, it is relevant to claim that gender role principles explained by Virginia Woolf are not relevant to the greatest extent. Bangladesh or Cambodia does not have enough money, but their women are on their road to fight for their renovated and reinterpreted gender roles. The ideas of Brady, Pollitt and Tannen may be found more relevant in the modern context. Social stereotypes, political, social and economical changes have reached the minds of contemporaries and have triggered changes in gender roles.

Therefore, in order to encourage equal and fair opportunities for further development of self-identities, personal professionalism directed on favorable social interactions between men and women, it is relevant to introduce political, social and economical changes internationally. Moreover, a western position concerning equal relationships between men and women is on the way of implementation in the countries of the Third World. Thus, it should be noted that gender role perception in the