Males and females have biological differences, it is life experience that reinforces or contradicts those differences, however, they are not really as different as most perceive them to be, this fact lies in differential socialization, which claims that males and females are taught and influenced different appropriate behaviours for their gender by their first teacher and caregiver, their parents (Burn, Aboud, & Moyles 2000). At a young age, boys and girls spend most of their time in their home with their families and look up to their parents for guidance. Through observation of particular parental behaviors in the context of their family, children learn that certain actions may be drawn on as symbolic markers of gender (Cunningham, 2001). The parents are also the one that provides children with their first lessons about gender, one way that parents influence children’s gender development is through the role modeling and encouragement of different behaviors and activities in sons and daughters (Leaper, 2013). According to Bussey and Bandura (1999), parents also play an active role in setting the course of their children 's gender development by structuring, channeling, modeling, labeling, and reacting evaluatively to gender-linked conduct.
In a society rife with gender stereotypes and biases, children regularly learn to adopt gender roles which are not always fair to both sexes. As children move through childhood and into adolescence, they are exposed to many factors which influence their attitudes and behaviours regarding gender roles. These attitudes and behaviours are generally learned first in the home and are then reinforced by the child‘s peers, school experience, and television viewing. However, the strongest influence on gender role development seems to occur within the family setting, with parents passing on, both overtly and covertly, their own beliefs about gender. This overview of the impact of parental influence on gender role development leads to the suggestion
It has been said that mothers’ gender-role attitude is more highly associated with daughter’s gender-role attitudes than with sons’ (Blair, 1992). An example of this is when an employed women themselves also having egalitarian gender-role attitudes than those who are not employed (Glass, 1992), likely to transmit these attitudes to their children, while children whose mothers are employed are directly exposed to a female model behaving in a way consistent with egalitarian gender roles, when they reach the age of deciding to conform or deviate from their parent’s gender role and gender-role attitude, a change from the next generation might occur (Fan & Marini, 2000). Another evidence was gathered from Scott, Alwin & Braun’s (1996) study, the succeeding generations show attitudes that are less traditional than those of their predecessors, although overall change is made up of intra cohort change in addition to cohort succession. Through studying of Fan & Marini (2000) on the effects of different types of socializing influences in the family of origin and later in life, from a generation to the next one, they have identified the societal influences that produce a macro-level
Gender roles are taught initially in the family, re- enforced by schools and reflected by the media. These messages can have a real effect on an individual’s self-image and how they function in society. Whether it is the tales of the Disney versions, fairy tales have permeated society for ages. They are just stories told to children for entertainment. Families construct gender messages by teaching their children that boys and girls should learn the appropriate behavior and attitudes from the family and overall culture in which they grow up.
Considering the held nature of genders, the study would look into the extent of which characteristics of gender is more accepting and open when it comes to their relatives who are involved in interracial relationships. Although from the previous findings of Field, Kimuna, and Straus (2013), gender has no impact with regards to acceptance of interracial relationships. Also from Pierce stating that, other factors such as race place significance when it comes to positive attitudes, but with regards to gender there is no significanct difference. Few of the
Ideas of gender roles nestle themselves within each member of the family unit, and the influence of these members upon children regularly includes the conveyance of such ideas. Personally, I have experienced excessive prodding in the direction of my assigned gender from family members. My mother turned her nose at my choices of clothing, even going as far as to instruct me to wear a dress at her funeral. When I asked for a guitar for my birthday, my father made it a point to pick out the most horrifically embellished, pink, sparkly instrument he could find; the neglected guitar is still entombed in its case beneath my bed. My childhood room boasted both a pink princess-themed TV and a matching alarm clock, which were useful despite my dislike for their appearances.
Gender is not associated with one’s physical constructive, then again, it is far more confounding. It is characterised as “the complex interrelationship between an individual’s sex (gender biology) and one’s internal sense of self as male, female, both or neither (gender identity) as well as one’s outward presentations and behaviour (gender expression), related to that perception, including their gender roles.” Freud pointed out that when we meet a person, the first thing that we notice and establish is that person’s gender. Most of the times, if we are not able to place or establish a person’s gender, it will cause inconvenience to us. Perhaps, this ‘establishment’ is interlinked with the way we behave with the person, which is explained by the gender system, predominant in one’s culture. A gender system incorporates “processes that define males and females as different in socially significant ways and justify inequality on the basis of that difference.” This gender system lays down the guidelines about what behaviour a particular society expects of males and females.
1.2 THE EVOLUTION OF FAMILY AND GENDER ROLES Gender roles are “socially and culturally defined prescriptions and beliefs about the behaviour and emotions of men and women.” (Anselmi and Law 1998, p.195) In traditional families, it has been always the male that exudes power and the female was seen as weak, fragile and to be dependent on her husband. A boy was raised to be the head of the family and to protect the womenfolk in the house, it was seen as important for a boy to attend school, get good qualifications to be able to provide for his family in the future. On
This theory is relevant to the thesis because it shows that adolescents are already in a period of importance, and they want to fit in with society. Gender roles is an important component when forming identities among adolescents because society deems them acceptable so they try and follow these cultural norms. Some may not understand a correct balance of both female and male traits and this leads to lower self-esteem (Koopman
Does it take maternal instincts to lay that sound foundation for the youth? Since the social construction of gender is mainly formed by the gender role and stereotype in our society, gender identity is constructed by the representation of gender norms in mass media productions, parental expectations about gender identity, and the beliefs of different religious traditions about gender. In today 's society, mass media production such as movies, video games, and magazines influenced so many young males and females and also some older people. For instance, men usually dominate the action genre in films. Whenever a woman is cast as the lead role in an action movie, she has to be oozing sex appeal.