Question

Do you believe gender roles are more biological or culture? Explain

(about 100 words)

Answer 1

• As opposed to sex (which comprises only the biological aspects of being either female or male), gender includes the psychological, social, cultural, and behavioral characteristics associated with being female or male.
• Gender is defined by one's gender identity or the recognition that one is either male or female based on both biological and psychosocial considerations, and the internalization of this gender concept into one's self-identity.
• Gender role is largely a product of the way in which one was raised and may not be in conformance with one's gender identity. The development of gender differences is a complicated issue including elements of both nature (biology) and nurture (socialization).
• In some ways, gender roles are biologically based. For example, physiologically, it is women who must gestate and bear the young of the species. However, this does not necessarily mean that it is the woman who must take care of the child after it is born, as is demonstrated by stay-at-home fathers who nurture the child while the mother returns to work in a reversal of traditional typical Western gender roles.
• Although gender has a biological foundation in the physiological differences between females and males, the way that gender is interpreted differs from culture to culture and, in some ways, from individual to individual. For example, although some societies are patriarchal in nature in which the male is the head of the family, descent is traced through the father's side of the family, and men have power over women, others are matriarchal with women holding these roles instead of men.
• From a biological perspective;in prehistoric societies, two major social roles existed (1) hunting or gathering food to relieve hunger, and (2) bearing and nursing children. Because only women could perform the latter role, they were also the primary caretakers for children for several years after birth. And because women were frequently pregnant, their roles as mothers confined them to the home.
• Meanwhile, men were better suited than women for hunting because they were stronger and quicker than women. In prehistoric societies, then, biology was indeed destiny: For biological reasons, men in effect worked outside the home (hunted), while women stayed at home with their children.
• This in turn implies that existing gender inequality must continue because it is rooted in biology.
• But yes,even if biological differences did influence gender roles in prehistoric times, these differences are largely irrelevant in modern societies, in which, for example, physical strength is not necessary for survival.Evolutionary arguments implicitly justify existing gender inequality by implying the need to confine women and men to their traditional roles.
• Anthropologist George Murdock found much greater gender variation in several of the other tasks he studied, including planting crops, milking, and generating fires. Men primarily performed these tasks in some societies, women primarily performed them in other societies, and in still other societies both sexes performed them equally. Murdock’s findings illustrate how gender roles differ from one culture to another and imply they are not biologically determined.
• The socialization process including our family and friends also influences our gender roles.Boys tend to play sports and other competitive team games governed by inflexible rules and relatively large numbers of roles, while girls tend to play smaller, cooperative games such as hopscotch and jumping rope with fewer and more flexible rules. Although girls are much more involved in sports now than a generation ago, these gender differences in their play persist and continue to reinforce gender roles.
• Parents commonly describe their infant daughters as pretty, soft, and delicate and their infant sons as strong, active, and alert, even though neutral observers find no such gender differences among infants when they do not know the infants’ sex. From infancy on, parents play with and otherwise interact with their daughters and sons differently. They play more roughly with their sons—for example, by throwing them up in the air or by gently wrestling with them—and more quietly with their daughters.
• Mass media also has an inlfluence; women are also often portrayed as unintelligent or frivolous individuals who are there more for their looks than for anything else. Television commercials reinforce this image. Cosmetics ads abound, suggesting not only that a major task for women is to look good but also that their sense of self-worth stems from looking good. Other commercials show women becoming ecstatic over achieving a clean floor or sparkling laundry. Judging from the world of television commercials, then, women’s chief goals in life are to look good and to have a clean house. At the same time, men’s chief goals, judging from many commercials, are to drink beer and drive cars.
• Even if biology does matter for gender,the significance of culture and socialization should not be underestimated. To the extent that gender is indeed shaped by society and culture, it is possible to change gender and to help bring about a society where both men and women have more opportunity to achieve their full potential.
• So,I think we are born with certain biological differences in terms of physical characteristics and certain evolutionary behaviours,but adding fuel to fire is done by the culture and society as well.Everyone has an opinion on gender roles and they do try to enforce it,so its a combination of both.