Introduction
Gender is a set of unique character which creates a clear distinction between male and female notions; in most cases these two concepts are differentiated as, man or woman and boy or girl (Faqs.org, 2011). While gender roles refers to a set of socially shared and behavioral customs which are mostly considered to be communally acceptable for a person of a particular sex to perform a given responsibility that varies with different cultures (Faqs.org, 2011). When each gender performs their roles well, within a family, issues of emotional imbalances such as depression among others are completely eliminated.
Discussion
Gender is a very sensitive issue, more so because in very many aspects man and woman are usually treated as two different entities in dissimilar ways and this distinction is quiet clear from an early stage of adolescence when children can actually perform basic roles. In fact, children are given an identity mostly based on the observable differences in their biological nature or sex. As such, when a child is growing they are expected to perform certain roles and responsibilities in the society that are consistent with the community’s culture (Ivone, 2010).
To elaborate this point further, one needs to understand that when a particular gender performs a different role from what is generally expected by the society; such actions are usually perceived as a deviation from the norm. In most conservative society, especially in many communities in Africa, each gender is usually assigned with responsibilities that are usually passed down the generations in what has now come to be accepted as the community’s culture.
Such assigned roles are part of the community culture and hence failure for either of the gender to perform the culturally assigned role is a big problem because the community perceives such actions as erosion of their culture (Ivone, 2010).
In today’s society, equality is an issue that has not been fully achieved and integrated in the society and hence gender roles are very distinguishable with man and woman having different roles as part of their commitment to culture in the society (Caltech.edu, 2011). The following discussion will clearly outline different roles played by female and male in the society in order to elaborate the fact that gender is a role and not a biological nature.
The male gender is more masculine than their female counterparts in nature, and for these reasons men usually perform those physical roles that usually involve use of energy while the female gender on the hand usually perform simple tasks like domestic work which generally involves less dependability on the masculinity nature of humanity (Faqs.org, 2011). Besides, females have also specially been assigned a unique role by the creator; therefore they have maternal and family roles to perform in the society and such roles are part of the human nature regardless of the community’s culture (Faqs.org, 2011).
Additionally, the male gender is usually perceived to be authoritative while the female gender is usually very emotional and these personalities are respected as part of the human culture. Therefore, men usually have authority over women in almost all the issues especially in a family setting while the female gender has an influence over the male gender in one way or another (Faqs.org, 2011). These roles are respected and performed by both genders where men for instance takes the role of leadership in a family because of their authoritative nature whilst the women have cognitive behavioral therapy due to their influential nature over male gender who sometime have emotional dysregulation at some point.
Conclusion
Until equality is fully achieved in the society, the notion of gender will always be treated as two different concepts with diverse abilities and hence female and male will have different expected roles to play in any society. However, with the current trend of increase in globalization time will tell since in due time both genders will have equal responsibilities in the society, at least to an extent (Caltech.edu, 2011).
Reference
Caltech.edu. (2011). Women in the family. Web.
Ivone, G. (2010). Role of women today. Web.
Faqs.org(2011). Gender and gender roles. Web.