...APR0055-1516 Tutor: Merrick Burrows 27.11.2015 This essay seeks to discuss, compare and contrast two preferred sources that carried out a critique of Ann Bronte’s, the tenant of wildfell hall. In order to compile a factually based discussion, a key area needed to be focused on, namely, how social changes affected the gender roles in the early 18th century (1832-48). Furthermore detailing how the change challenged traditions and ideologies of the then rather prominent English common law, and the normative principle’s that surrounded motherhood. The Critical sources that bear the utmost relevance to the challenging social content that the tenant demonstrated are Monica Hope Lee’s essay a mother outlaw vindicated: social critique in Ann Bronte’s the tenant of wildfell hall. Nineteenth century gender studies. (4.3), 1-12. And chapter 2 from, Macdonald, T (2015) the new man, masculinity and marriage in the Victorian novel. London: Routledge. Both critics, attempt to dichotomise the tenant of wildfell hall in order to get representative discourse that outlines the social changes in question, moreover they seek to disclose how Bronte summarises her own personal perception of gender ideals in the regency culture, and how she displays openness and vision, as opposed to becoming a shrinking wall flower hidden in the shadows of sporadic sunlight, with a masked existence, and blind endemic to the upper-class hierarchies of society. Furthermore they offer an insight in to how the shift...
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...Cognitive explanation of gender essay (10) When explaining how gender identity and roles develop, the cognitive approach emphasises the role of thinking processes. It refers to how children gather and make sense of information about gender and how their understanding of gender changes over time. It assumes that changes in gender role behaviour reflect changes in how children understand and think about gender. These changes in understanding, in turn, reflect the gathering of information about gender taken from the environment and the developmental changes in the child’s brain that allow them to process information in more advanced ways. Kohlberg has a table to explain his theory of gender development. It says that a child’s understanding of gender strengthens in stages. At beginning, children think in characteristic ways about gender. As the child moves through the stages its understanding of gender becomes greater. The first stage is gender identity, which is usually reached by the age of 2 years. At this stage the child is able to correctly identify its own sex. The second stage is gender stability, which is usually reached by the age of 4 years old. At this stage the child realises that gender remains the same across time. However, its understanding of gender is heavily influenced by external features like hair and clothing. A boy at this stage might say that if he put a dress on he would be a girl. It is not until the third stage, gender constancy, that the child starts...
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...conception of "feminine" and "masculine." Much about these conceptions is not biological at all but cultural. The way we tend to think about men and women and their gender roles in society constitute the prevailing paradigm that influences out thinking. Riane Eisler points out that the prevailing paradigm makes it difficult for us to analyze properly the roles of men and women in prehistory "we have a cultural bias that we bring to the effort and that colors our decision-making processes." Sexism is the result of that bias imposed by our process of acculturation.Gender roles in Western societies have been changing rapidly in recent years, with the changes created both by evolutionary changes in society, including economic shifts which have altered the way people work and indeed which people work as more and more women enter the workforce, and by perhaps pressure brought to make changes because of the perception that the traditional social structure was inequitable. Gender relations are a part of the socialization process, the initiation given the young by society, teaching them certain values and creating in them certain behavior patterns acceptable to their social roles. These roles have been in a state of flux in American society in recent years, and men and women today can be seen as having expanded their roles in society, with women entering formerly male dominions and men finding new ways to relate to and function in the family unit. When I was growing up a woman was never...
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...traditional social gender roles, to the modern gender roles that were developing. Writers during this time would portray men and women roles, as they saw it in society. As the Western culture progressed societies view changed as well with gender roles. In the early stages of the twentieth century, playwrights such as Strindberg, Ibsen, and Lorca, wrote characters such as men and women in gender roles that fit to the societal norms during that time. Plays like Trifles by Susan Glaspell, gave the appearance of the common societal gender roles in Western cultures. The play shows the controversy of men having the power and wisdom over women. Glaspell shows through...
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...Gender Role Analysis Mindy Brown SOC/333 February 17, 2014 Erica Lloyd Gender Role Analysis Gender roles and stereotypes are often intertwined. Stereotypes can be positive or negative, and are speculations about the roles of each gender. The stereotypical female role is to marry, have children, and take care of the household duties. Stereotype of the male role is to be the family provider financially. Children learn these from adults as stereotypes and gender roles are passed from one generation to another. This paper will analyze gender roles shaped by education, norms of the government, its laws and its policies, and in the workplace. Gender Shaped by Education Gender roles and stereotypes are often reinforced in the classroom setting. Children learn these gender biases from their teachers and the materials used for learning. Some teachers have an unconscious bias toward a gender and make assumptions based on the gender's behavior and actions. Girls are expected to be polite and studious while boys are rational, unruly, and boisterous. Bias may also be social as well. Teachers may socially categorize children by race, class, and religion. For example, they may perceive African American girls to be more outspoken and louder than Caucasian girls. Teacher typically targeted boys of the Caucasian race as they asked and answered most questions (Scantlebury, 2009). Teachers may ask them more complicated questions than the girls. If they are unable to answer the question...
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...Gender roles in the 21st century Introduction Gender roles are a set of social and behavioral norms that are generally considered appropriate for men or women in a social or interpersonal relationship. We are not sure when this practice started but pink and blue begins this lifelong process in the 21st century (Lindsey, 2005). As my research evolves, I plan to examine gender roles in various aspects of 21st century life: workplace, relationships, parenting, voting, consumer behavior, etc. Since this is such a broad topic, my research will likely lead to a paper with a more narrow focus. For now, I've chosen references which are established articles on this broader topic. This research will likely become more focused as I develop the paper. Origin of Gender Roles The gender roles have evolved a great deal from the onset of the human civilization which started as hunter gathers. The males were primarily responsible to provide food, shelter and protection while the women looked after the offspring and took care of the tribe. The Functionalist perspective explains this fairly non-overlapping segregation of gender roles in the pre-industrial society. Evolution of Gender Roles For a considerable period of time there was little or no interaction between the different civilizations and therefore each society developed its own distinct culture and the socialization process. The local socio-economic factors, religious beliefs, legal and political factors had huge impact of the...
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...Gender Identity Kaylene Merchant PSY/265 July 27, 2014 Doris Tolan Gender Identity Gender identity is not a concept that everyone actually gives consideration. For most people, they fall into the role that is recognized by those around them. This role, however, is not always compatible with who they really are. For some, there is confusion about who they are and who they would like to be. To better understand gender identity and the traits of masculinity and femininity, one must first fully understand the factors of each concept, and how they apply to an individual. According to Rathus, Nevid, and Fichner-Rathus (2011), gender identity is the personal awareness or sense of self that either reflects as male or female. Gender identity should not be confused with sex (gender) assignment, which is the assignment of “boy” or “girl” that is given at birth. Gender identity focuses on the gender that an individual associates with in their own perception. While an individual may become aware of their anatomic sex by the time they are 18 months old, a firm sense of gender identity is not typically grasped until around 36 months old (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2011). The definition aside, there are several different factors that are thought to contribute to the determination of gender identity. It is almost always aligned with chromosomal sex, but there are cases where biology does not determine identity. In individuals who are intersexual, meaning that they possess the gonads...
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...Assess the view that gender roles and relationships have become more equal in the modern family life The item suggests that ‘a number of changes have taken place in gender roles and relationships within families’ so in today’s society, there are a number of sociological views, which agree that change between equality has taken place in gender roles and between the relationships within the family, making it more equal. Some argue that in modern family life there is much more equality, while others think this is just exaggerated. In this essay I will assess these views through domestic labour, domestic violence in couples and through the childcare debate, to find what extent gender roles and relationships have become more equal in modern family life. Functionalist sociologist Talcott Parsons (1955) thought that there was a biological division of labour roles within the family, and that this highly benefited the family within society. He saw gender roles being split as expressive and instrumental. This means that the gender roles were very unequal as the husband would have to play the instrumental role where he would have to provide financial stability for the family, while the wife would have to play the expressive role where she would look out for the emotional welfare of the family by socialising the children and being a housewife. In 1957 Elizabeth Bott put these divisions into joint and segregates conjugal roles’. This means that the family roles were divided between a couple...
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...December 10, 2012 Gender Inequality: How Women get the Short Stick Gender equality and gender roles go hand in hand in today’s economy. These two concepts complement each other to the extent in which one must know about both to fully understand the capacity of either. Gender roles are roles each sex is given. These are stereotypical things. For example, things like women cook and males work. In todays economy men and women are not equal. Gender inequality and gender roles are one of our countries biggest issues. Gender is how people are seen by society. This is imprinted in the brain at a young age and is formed and molded through childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and late adulthood. Each stage comes with different ideas about gender and power. Childhood is the point in life where the environment most influences the formation of gender schemas and stereotypes. Gender schemas are an important part of understanding how a person sees the opposite sex. Gender Schemas are “the generalizations that children develop about the differences between boys and girls” (Stevenson 3). On the other hand there is stereotyping. Stereotyping is also process that begins during childhood. Young children know that male stereotypes are high in power whereas female stereotypes convey fear and helplessness. Children are influenced by information about gender from family, peers, and the media (Stevenson 3). This justifies the argument that men and women aren’t treated equal. Gender Roles are evident, but...
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...Gender Equality Women have faced major discrimination when it comes to work and sometimes in education. Women decades ago had a wide range of opportunities denied to them due to their sex. Women have always been looked upon as the weaker sex and men as stronger and as the rulers. Women years ago were not seen as individuals, they were basically their husband’s slaves. Women were the ones to stay home, make dinner for their cranky and tired husband, look after their children, clean the house and answer to their husband. It was pretty safe to say that women were never the ones that over ruled this society, but “there have been huge changes…” (182) in gender equality. Gender equality has changed dramatically over the years and the shift toward gender equality will continue over the next years to come. It all started in the 19th century something important was born and it was the birth of the women's rights movement. Women were tired of being the “caregiver[s]” (Gender Roles Within American Marriage) while the men were the “breadwinners” (Gender Roles Within American Marriage). Women had to do change things around because they could not live the same life they were living. Many of the “women were suffering under the dominance of men in their lives” (Gender Roles Within American Marriage). It was time for women to fight for “gender equality in family and society economics, social, cultural, and educational fields” (Gender Roles Within American Marriage). It was not easy for...
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...Essay: Distinguish between sex and gender and explain its implications for feminist theory Click here and here for two recent articles on contemporary Feminism from the New Statesman Magazine and here for a recent Observer article on biology, culture and gender. Click here for Varieties of Feminism In many past societies men and women have performed significantly different social roles and despite a range of economic, political and social changes such differences persist to a considerable extent in the contemporary world. For example in the case of the UK women are still more likely than men to take disproportionate responsibility for childcare and housework; their employment opportunities, although improving, are still worse than men’s and although they finally gained the right to vote in 1928 they are still much less likely than men to become local councillors, MPs or government ministers. There has been great controversy surrounding the extent to which these differences in social roles are explicable by biological sexual differences or by gender differences which are socially constructed rather than biologically determined. Sexual differences refer to biological differences between males and females such that there are variations between males and females in their chromosomes, their reproductive organs and their relative production of different hormones which in turn result in a range of physical differences. Males are on average hairier, have deeper voices and...
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...Gender Role Analysis The roles of gender in today’s society vary according to history, one’s personal biases, environment, and society’s input in education, government, and the workplace. History has shown that gender roles have made great strides of accomplishments in roles that were once very similar in each area of life; particularly the role of females in that they were considered to be the property of men and played the role of the helpmeet, which was a biblical term that was taken to what is considered extreme in today’s U.S. culture. Through various social movements throughout history gender roles have changed greatly. Those changes that were affected by such social movements caused great opportunities and advancement for women and minorities in education, government, and the workplace. Social Movements From the beginning of this nation women did not have the same rights as men and were considered to be more of a second class citizen. In the early years of this nation, women along with minorities were considered the property of men. Women were not permitted to be educated in most cases, did not count as a citizen, could not vote, could not own anything, could not enter into contracts, obtain credit, work without her father or husband’s permission and could not even receive a paycheck in her own name. Social movements have made great impacts on gender roles in society throughout history. From social movements in the beginning of this nations’ history such as...
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...Gender What is male? What is female? The answers to these questions may depend on the types of gender roles one was exposed to as a child. Gender roles can be defined as the behaviors and attitudes expected of male and female members of a society by that society. Gender roles vary. Different cultures impose different expectations upon the men and women who live in that culture. The United States has experienced tremendous upheaval and revising of its traditional gender roles in the last generation. These changes in gender roles affect the home, the workplace, and the school, and they affect all Americans to some degree. Over the past few decades, Americans have made great strides in accepting and adjusting to new definitions of gender roles. Part of the cause is the increased number of women in the workplace. With the increased presence of women in the workplace, old attitudes and behaviors have had to change. Men and women are more aware of sexual harassment than previously; whereas 20 years ago a woman who refused to have an affair with her boss may have had to quit, she now has other options. Companies are now experimenting with policies that are family-friendly, such as flex time, job sharing, and on-site child care policies that benefit both men and women. In addition, women still earn far less money than men do for the same work, even though their salaries are vital to maintaining their families' economic health. A person's sexuality comes from within him or her, making...
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...The question invites the writer to give a valid discussion towards the view that Gender and Development (GAD) initiatives are more desirable than Women in Development (WID) endeavours. The Gender and Development (GAD) approach was developed as a response to the failure of WID projects to effect qualitative and long-lasting changes in women’s social status. GAD focuses on social, economic, political and cultural forces that determine how men and women participate in, benefit from, and control project resources and activities differently. This approach shifts the focus from women as a group to the socially determined relations between women and men. The GAD approach promotes a development process that transforms gender relations in order to enable women to participate on an equal basis with men in determining their common future. The emphasis has shifted to the more strategic needs of women, leading to a sharpening of the gender focus of preparatory analysis. Although the approach emphasizes the importance of women’s collective organization for self empowerment, the target groups are still primarily women. Unlike the GAD initiatives, WID policies and interventions have, in the main, concentrated on women’s productive work. The failure to make an explicit link to women’s reproductive work has often added to women’s workload. Gradually, it was recognized that an approach that focused on women in isolation was inadequate and not sustainable because it did not take into account the...
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...Discuss the roles of hormones and genes in gender development Everyone has 23 pairs of chromosomes and of these one set of sex chromosomes and these establish our sex. Females have XX chromosomes whereas males have XY chromosomes. Although the Y chromosome doesn’t carry much genetic information it does determine an individual’s sex, this causes changes to the embryo from a very early stage. Usually there is a direct link between our chromosomes and our internal/ external reproductive organs. It is these chromosomes that stat a chain of events that establish the individuals sex. Chromosomes determine a person’s sex but most gender development is actually governed by hormones. Hormones are released prenatally and in adolescence when we are exposed to a surge of hormones during puberty. To study hormones Congenital adrenal hyperplasia is looked at, this is an inherited disorder, present at birth which affects babies adrenal glands and therefor their ability to produce certain hormones. Research into this is Hines and Kaufman, they found girls with CAH played equally with boys and girls Whereas biologically normal girls choose their sex 90% of the time. This supports the theory that genes determined gender development as the change in genes caused by CAH resulted in these girls behaving differently and not being split into gender groups like a genetically normal gender. One evaluation to this study is that it lacks control, as it was a case study there was little if any...
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