Male Attitudes To Changing Gender Roles - Essay Example

Male Attitudes To Changing Gender Roles Male Attitudes to Changing Gender Roles Globalization and liberation of human rights have changed the world; this change have resulted in more opportunities for women and minorities. Women, who used to be oppressed in patriarchal cultures, have been fully integrated in social life. Now the number of educated females and women in business is constantly increasing. On the other hand, traditional male gender role is challenged by this global change. As a result, not all men cannot adapt to their new position which gives them lees authority and influence in private and social life. Gender is not given to people by nature, it is socially constructed behavior. Tradition plays great role in gender identity construction because it displays gender role models. Liberation of women rights has challenged oppressive patriarchal traditions which represented women as uneducated and jobless housewives. According to Miller (2012), there is a huge social conflict between men and women considering gender roles. In patriarchal cultures, women are expected to sacrifice their own interests for the sake of others. When they fail to do, they become more independent and less attractive for men. However, more women have become more assertive, confident and ambitious. Such a change resulted in limitations for conservative attitude about the role of men in the society. According to Gauntlett (2009), attitudes towards new roles of women depend on several variables. Different studies identify that men who were born in the before 1950-s are more likely to have explicitly negative attitudes towards new gender roles. The same can be said about men in their 40-s and 50-s. Younger men are more flexible in their perception of women (Sweeting et al., 2013). The analysis of popular media publications for men shows that they seem to be out of place in such conditions ( Gauntlett, 2009). The content of publications suggests new ways of constructing masculinity. Culture and religion also influence male attitudes towards new female roles. Western liberal cultures tend to be more accepting of new female roles, while highly patriarchal societies in Asia and Africa fail to meet the demands of women and display explicit negative reactions. For instance, the study conducted in Ghana by Preko (2012) reveals that 68% of male employees desire to have a male manager. Directions given by female supervisor to male employees are perceived with explicit protest; they are humiliating for men. As a result, women in such countries in Ghana have to struggle to get managerial position in the organization. Preko (2012) lists more examples of negative attitudes towards women in the Middle East; in this region men are not willing to let women in political and social life. The access to higher education and elaboration of women rights in these countries are not met willingly. The attitude towards professionalism of educated women remain ambiguous in different world societies. Male CEOs and managers are more likely to suggest mentoring for female employees. Female employees are less likely to benefit from mentoring; they report to have less opportunities for promotion if they compete with men. Finally, male employees are believed to be more promising than female; as a result, they are more likely to be sponsored of mentored by CEO of top managers (Ibarra, Carter & Silva, 2010). These facts show that men still underestimate women in their potential. According to Sweeting et al. (2013), such results are not surprising. The study indicates that men tend to experience psychological distress when their traditional gender role is challenged by their environment. Traditional gender role attitude defines men as breadwinners and dictates women to care about household prior to all other functions. New egalitarian view on gender roles considers men and women to be equal in everything including rights and education. If men accept new egalitarian gender roles, their actions do not conflict with their beliefs. As a result, they are more satisfied with their family life; moreover, they generally perform neutral or positive attitude towards females. Egalitarian beliefs about equality foster positive perception of changing gender roles. They make both men and women meet half way trough. Women share financial responsibilities and males change their attitude to women rights and labour division. On the contrary, men with traditional beliefs find themselves in conflict. The summary of several studies shows that this inner conflict results in higher risks of suicide in men in the UK, lower satisfaction level in family life and more stress due to financial responsibilities in a family (Sweeting et al., 2013) . Males with traditional beliefs about manhood cannot accept the idea that women can do the same things men usually do. Communication with women with better education or higher social position are oppressive for these men because they challenge the traditional representation of women. The conflict based on beliefs is painful for both men and women because they fail to meet the demands and expectation of each other. Increasing number of educated and employed women with successful careers foster the change in men. Even though they experience difficulties facing new realities of life, there are more and more males who choose to adapt rather than to oppose the new gender roles. According to Gardiner (2013), it is difficult for men to realize that they cannot control women any more. Women are better represented in politics, education and occupations which are labeled as “male”. The culture and society is very sensitive to all these changes. Gauntlett (2009) mentions that new gender roles and liberation of female rights are reflected in media, which help men to build their male gender identity. This process leads to understanding of the change and acceptance of the reality especially in case of younger generations. Summing up, new gender roles require men to adapt to new condition, but not all of them succeed to be flexible enough in their beliefs and attitudes towards women. Traditional beliefs about gender roles make them oppose the liberation of women rights; as a result, they experience stress because of the discrepancy of their perceptions and real world. The persistence on traditional gender roles limits opportunities for women, who are still perceived skeptically by men in different professional and social areas. However, there is a positive tendency in acceptance of egalitarian views on gender roles by younger generations. They accept equality and react neutrally to liberation of women rights. Obviously, this tendency will decrease anxiety in men and help them to find their place in new society where men and women are equal. References Gardiner, J. K. (Ed.). (2013). Masculinity studies and feminist theory: New directions. Columbia University Press. Gauntlett, D. (2008). Media, gender and identity: An introduction. Retrieved from http://www.theoryhead.com/gender/extract.htm Ibarra, H., Carter, N. M., & Silva, C. (2010). Why men still get more promotions than women. Harvard Business Review, 88(9), 80-126. Miller, J. B. (2012). Toward a new psychology of women. Beacon Press. Preko, A. (2012). Attitude of male employees toward female managers in selected organizations in Ghana. Researchers World: Journal of Arts, Science & Commerce, 3(3). Sweeting, H., Bhaskar, A., Benzeval, M., Popham, F., & Hunt, K. (2013). Changing gender roles and attitudes and their implications for well-being around the new millennium. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 1-19. Read More