The disintegration of gender roles
photo by sky stockton
Since the beginning of time, it's always been men and women. Two sexes and two genders. Until 1952, when the first person, Christine Jorgensen, a male transitioning to a female, was the first to get gender reassignment surgery. Since then, and especially in the last decade, the definition of gender has evolved. With this movement, has come the discussion of gender roles.
For most of human history we’ve relied on the biological construction of the genders to decide their roles in society—dating back to the nomadic times where men were hunters and women were gatherers. Now, roles are socially constructed to better fit a more modern time.
The term “gender role” was first used in a 1954 study of “intersex individuals” led by John Money. In this study, Money said that “Socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women,'' is how the World Health Organization defines gender roles.
“The main thing that has changed the most is how many jobs women can get now. It felt like you had one of three jobs you could have, like a teacher, secretary, or teacher,” said Sophie Newland, 12.
But, how do we get to a point where expectations for one’s gender can be determined by people who’ve long since died and held up by people who have no business in determining what is valid or not. That’s where we were historically stuck for decades and really, in many aspects, are still knee deep in this proverbial quicksand. For many years it was men had to be strong, never show emotion, and make a living for your family.
“One thing now especially is women can dress anyway they want. Very much like when my parents and grandparents growing up there were really specific things they had to wear,” Newland said.
For women it was: be pretty, wear dresses with long hair, and be a home taker. This last stigma died for a large majority of people following WW2 when necessity required women to be in the factories doing laborious jobs before almost exclusively reserved for males. Although the playing field had become a little more even, it was still far from perfect. Workplace equality was birthed through necessity.
The strides made for the sexes are interesting considering they are seemingly inverses. For females, their new found acceptance in the professional field. New jobs and opportunities have made it much easier for women to be accepted in the modern job market. It’s no longer a merry-go-round of the same three jobs. Many male dominated fields have opened up, but are yet to find the equal opportunity for females. As of 2017, only 6.6% of women worked full-time in male-dominated occupations according to Catalyst.com.
While for females much of the changes had been professional. They were now accepted to work amongst males in what was historically their fields. The change for men was professional as well but soon after, the brunt of changes came socially. It became more accepted for men to become nurses, or dress typically feminine.
We understand that men and women are not the same. Therefore we separate the genders for things like sports, sexual education, and changing rooms. We notice the natural biological differences from one another. But in today’s day and age we recognize that the biological differences are not enough to separate either party from the group that matters most—mankind.
We have to accept the natural differences and work together to create an even understanding of what we are–not only as men and women. But as a collection of people that make up mankind.
For example, one of the best cinematic remakes of the 21st century, Rise of the Planets of the Apes. In this cinematic adventure, the Apes don’t care whether you’re a male ape or female ape. All that matters is “Apes together, strong,”. In a time in constant division we seemingly look for ways to find what makes us different from one another. Why should we seek out our natural differences as opposed to finding our biological and social similarities.
“For many things I don’t think gender roles should be necessary. There are so many things like colors, jobs, fashion, where gender roles are not valid at all,” Newland continued.
“I don’t think gender roles should be necessary. There are so many things like colors, jobs, fashion, where gender roles are not valid at all,” — Sophie Newland, 12
The division isn’t as bad as we make it seem. We’re not as united as many think either. But we’re here and we must work together to either fix the problem or we have no right to dictate what is incorrect or not. In today’s society many care more about not hurting the feelings of others and not stepping on any toes. It really doesn’t matter what gender we are, just be what you want and love what you want. Anything other than that is miniscule.