Changing Gender Roles in the 21st Century - Essay Example

CRITICAL ANALYSIS I chose the topic on changing gender roles in the 21st century because of its importance in the modern society. In the 21st century, there have been increased changes in the roles that are related to gender based on sex. Initially, it was expected that women and men were to do different work and pursue careers that are different. Women were expected to mostly take care of their families through cooking and raising children (Kmec, Mcdonald & Trimble, 2010, p.215). In contrast, men were expected to be responsible in supporting their families economically. Therefore, based on the responsibility of the men they were expected to pursue challenging careers as opposed to women. I noted that this trend is slowly diminishing and the gender roles are almost converging where both women and men can pursue same career goals. Through the topic, many people will understand the importance of ensuring that their sex does not limit their career development. “Trends of the decade “regarding gender roles gives a comparison and a justification that people’s careers and decision making have been converging and no more influenced by them being feminine or masculine. In other words, it accounts the gender revolutions that have been realized by the 21st generation, as well as, how different obstacles towards female recognition in the society have been eliminated for equality grounds. The topic sheds light to reflection of some of the traditional practices that were gender based to manipulate the female gender to retain particular roles in the society as opposed to their male counterparts. Nevertheless, the author unpacks the different gender practices that during the last decade are geared towards attaining a universal non-gender based careers, responsibilities, educational strengths, and unbiased employment among the two genders. It can be reflected that what men can do in this revolutionary decade, women can do, even better. The author has been keen with the dialect and a clear justification in the different fields that both the genders reveal equal recognition, treatment and perception of the feminine. The reading of this article targets different cohorts in the society in education, leadership in the society and the family for the influencing power in that gender has experienced its revolution. Different forces have been reflected to have influenced the gender perception and realization that men are equal to their counterparts when it comes to different roles and responsibilities that were gender-based traditionally. The affirmative action asserts pressure in creating awareness that females have strengths equivalent to men when it comes to career and other traditional stereotypes that some roles were for the males. It is revealed that traditional behaviour, attitudes and beliefs do no longer exist. I add incisive remarks to the role that education has played in breaking the gender obstacles in this decade. Education has been a universal aspect that has made the female be aware of their rights and boundaries. I believe that gender roles based on masculinity have deteriorated with the changing economic conditions in different places. With the scarcity of resources, it has rendered the female gender to give a helping hand to their counterparts, not only for family satisfaction, but also for self-satisfactory. In addition, as the world population increases it has become hard for men to undertake all the duties that were traditionally recognized for men. I believe that globalization has enabled different cultures to converge under one platform. The future of gender will experience more transformation in the coming decades and there will be no gender based roles, careers or responsibilities except for the biological distinct ones that men cannot do. The publication is important in that it enables people to identify the beliefs that limit their development based on their sex. The publication further enables the society and especially women to note that there are many opportunities for them as compared to men. This is especially when they pursue careers that are believed to be left for men. This is from the fact that; there are laws that have been passed by various governments to ensure that there is no discrimination in work places. Further, there are different campaigns that encourage more women to be considered for male dominated careers (Aldoory & Toth, 2002, p.107). This is achieved through affirmative action which makes possible for women to get chances in careers such as engineering. The publication also opens the thinking of men, who think that they should stick to particular careers and leave the careers in service industry to women. Through the publication, I show that men who pursue women related careers are doing better. This is motivating and reduces the myths based on what men should do and what they should leave to be pursued by women. The publication would fit in a publication relating to current issues in gender development. Changing roles among men and women is something new in the society and it should be among the emerging issues that a publication intends to capture. Such a publication will motivate the female gender and more so the girl who is still pursuing education. It will serve as an inspiration to work hard and smart. In addition, the publication will challenge men to up their game before women become more powerful than them. It will also serve as a wakeup call to governments not to neglect the boy child at the preference of the girl child. I carried various researches to gather the data that supports the topic on changing roles of members in the society. One of the methods was based on secondary research where I consulted government publication on percentage of women and men in different careers. The data further enabled me to understand how the changes in gender roles have occurred through the years. Functional connections that I have used in the publication include ideas on how women pursuing men careers are succeeding. The argument is persuading to women as there are higher chances to get jobs related to men when an opportunity arises. I aim to present the publication to the public twice a year to have enough time to carry out more research. The sections to be covered include benefits and various challenges associated with switching of gender roles. The readers of my articles are diversified and include government officials, teachers and the general public. The government is interested in understanding how affirmative actions on women are progressively being implemented (Mclaughlin, Muldoon & Moutray, 2010, p.304). This will make it possible to make laws to strengthen the affirmative and further understand any challenges facing its implementation. Teachers on the other hand find the article attractive as it gives them a platform to advice their students on their career paths. This will reduce incidences of students shying from taking careers associated with their opposite sex. Finally, through the publication, the public will reduce the stereotyping of certain roles to either gender. Thus individuals’ choice on career and roles in the society will be acceptable. In ensuring that I capture the attention of my intended audience, I will use functional genres such as drawing and arts to enhance by work. The drawings will depict some women in careers such as engineering where they will be shown carrying out different assignments. Men will also be shown practicing careers such as nursing which are considered to be women careers. Further the note in my article will be persuasive to ensure that people change their attitude on gender roles. In addition, art will be incorporated in my writing where the heading will be bold and important information highlighted. Ideas will be developed on reliable data sources to ensure that information written can be applied with confidence. To gather more information I anticipate to carry own research through accessing primary and secondary data sources. My research will be based on interviewing people in different careers to understand their attitude and what motivates them. This will be in addition to using observation to access the number of either gender in different careers. Secondary data will be in form of books or journals where information on gender roles is documented. Some of the challenges that I may face include false responses from the respondents or failing to respond to my questions by some interviewees. Data from the books may also pose the challenge of being out dated thus failing to capture the present situation. Further editorial constraints that I may face include using data that cannot be replicated in future due to technological advancement. The topic ‘Changing Gender Roles’ reflects trends that are evident in today’s society. I chose this topic because of the continued concern about this trends as well as because I have experienced it at several stages in life. Initially, there were distinct roles performed by men and women. Traditionally, the man headed the house and was solely responsible for the financial obligations of the family. The woman was left to handle the household chores. However, this trend has changed, and men and women are changing job roles. Women have now taken the roles of men at home and even in the career paths they take. In addition, men are also switching to careers that are seen as feminine in the past. This entails teaching, nursing and culinary. In the past, women were responsible for the household chores including cooking. However, this has changed, and men have become the best chefs at homes and in dining places. The changing roles motivated the writer to research more on the topic. The researcher derived information from various authors and writers to present the essay. The topic has been the talk of media houses, politicians, scholars as well as other members of the public. It has received wide publication in Journals, books, newspapers as well as government publications. There has been a variety of views, both positive and negative, which are still being disputed by various writers. One of the impacts of the continued gender roles is the transformation in the career paths of both men and women. Of importance is how career women have transformed the job industry and how powerful they have become. Most women have become senior managers and officers in organizations and governments (Ahl & Ahl, 2012). This is a big transformation taking into account that women were traditionally left to handle household duties at home. Though the male gender is still powerful, the male-dominated fields have continued to face stiff competition from their female counterparts. These have made most men uncomfortable with this trend while others have accepted the changing times (Ahl & Ahl, 2012). Those against the trend allege that women rulers tend to be harsh and proud, unlike male leaders. On the contrary, others prefer being led by women than men because they are more accommodative and motherly (Grunig, et al., 2013). Those are supporting this trend say that women are better placed to handle employee’s grievances in a better way unlike the men who may ‘rule as men’. The publication addresses men and women who are fascinated by the changing roles. The reader is mostly the younger generation that is very sensitive to modern trends. The publication aims at triggering a discussion on their different views and how they perceive this role changes. I have used a vocabulary and tone to build a bond with the reader as well as to trigger deep thoughts in the mind of the reader. The publication focuses on both gender roles and how they perceive the changes inorder to capture the reader’s attention. The women dominated fields were considered less inferior, unlike the careers that have been dominated by men (Grunig, et al., 2013). This low attitude towards the female-dominated fields is a traditional view of women. Women are seen as inferior members of the community who cannot handle work outside the house. This attitude has continued to exist even as women cross the career gap. Men venturing into the female-dominated fields are negatively perceived and in most cases they experience difficulty in crossing to the other side. Men deciding to engage in housekeeping activities are perceived as inferior (Ahl & Ahl, 2012). This has discouraged most men to venture in such activities while some are still motivated to cross the bridge and engage in careers that are seen as female. Men are now engaging in careers that women have received international recognition, and they have made great strides. Such careers include the nursing and teaching jobs. The male dominated fields are superior , unlike the female-dominated fields. As a result, females venturing into this fields are also highly regarded and also earn more respect. Moreover, this fields pay more than the female-dominated fields and therefore women venturing in this fields rise in the economic status (Grunig, et al., 2013). In addition to engaging in careers that have been the preserve of men, the women have also achieved higher levels of education. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (2010), women getting professional degrees have increased in number over the years. By 2007, the number of women getting Masters degrees have increased to 49% from the 43% in 2000. This trend shows that women are more focused to gaining a quality education as the compete against men in securing the best careers. More women are now graduating with masters degrees, MBA as even PhDs that have been dominated by men previously. Mosts governments have also enacted laws to ensure equality in job distribution among men and women. This is a contributing factor to the changing gender roles, and it has motivated the women to seek paid employment. Most women have sought to desert household responsibilities to seek formal employment where they earn for their services to the organization. However, the laws have been made to favor only the female gender alone. This has resulted in a disproportionate number of women venturing into male-dominated fields as compared to men venturing into female-dominated fields (Ahl & Ahl, 2012). This has seen more women become successful in a male dominated careers with only a few men venturing into the female regarded careers. The trend has seen few men seeking jobs in the female dominated sectors for fear of ridicule by the society. Such as move is seen as a disincentive since such fields as seen as inferior. They are also less paid compared to the male dominated sectors. This makes it unfavorable for men to move into the female dominated fields. This is directly opposite to what women experience when they venture into the male dominated fileds (Grunig, et al., 2013). They rise in status and become powerful members of the society in addition to earning a decent pay. Is there an equal representation in the changing job roles? The trend is seen to favor women than men. This is because organizations and governments are putting more emphasis on women empowerment than men empowerment. This trend is likely to see a female dominated society in future where men are less regarded. Women are likely to dominate the leadership positions while prioritizing the girl child while the boy child is left to navigate the muddy waters alone. Colleges and universities should encourage career equality and no career should be seen to be more powerful than the other. References List Aldoory, L., & Toth, E. 2002. Gender Discrepancies in a Gendered Profession: A Developing Theory For Public Relations. Journal of Public Relations Research. Vol. 14, pp. 103-126. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010. Employment projections. United States of America: Department of labor. Keck, J.A., Mcdonald, S., & Trimble, L.B. 2010. Making Gender Fit and “Correcting” Gender Misfits: Sex Segregated Employment and the Non-Search Process. Gender& Society. Vol. 24, pp. 213-235. Leaper, C., & Friedmen, C. K. (2007). The socialization of gender. In J. E. Grusec & P. D. Hastings (Eds.), Handbook of socialization: Theory and research (pp.561-587). New York, NY: GuilfordPress. M. S. & Ahl, H., 2012. Exploring the dynamics of gender, feminism and entrepreneurship: advancing debate to escape a dead end? Organization, 19(5), 543-562. Organization 19(5), pp. 543-550. Mclaughlin, K., Muldoon, O.T., & Moutray, M. 2010. ‘Gender, Gender Roles and Completion Of Nursing Education: A Longitudinal Study.’ Nurse Education Today. Vol. 30, pp. 303-307. T. E., Grunig, L. & H. L. C., 2013. Women in public relations: How gender influences practice. Routledge: s.n. 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