Jiana Ejbara Professor Ditch English 115 vf 2 3 October 2017 Ww ‘\ Na o ec Romney i ‘\, _ Many people do nt reropize just how influential gender is in everyday society. Whether \Y\” oe think about it or not ware affected by itn our everyday lives. Surprisingly enough, many ia C\ “people do not understand the difference between sex and gender. Many confuse the two and believe that they are the same concept when in reality they are quite different. Your sex is what \ ey } _Aoa are bom with while gender is win eee to identify yourself as. Meaning that the sex y / that you are born with may not be who pet up choosing to be in the future. Through personal VC ( _ experience Ihave realized that in certain spaces I may act one way and in another space I may \y | i yr pony a a ere ender peviianct Beng a female I am expected to be submissive and ey | _-ceccitve while mals are expected to be dominant and must not show thei feelings to society, \ t v\ for that is frowned upon. Having these expectations have put an unexpected toll on today's J 1 society of how we view ourselves and andy pes In adgtion, it seems as if women have been AY “aS given the disadvantage and seekers ete inferior gender. Being a men seems to provide a \ VY more benefits and more freedom than what a women would receive, Gender roles are impeingy 43 women the most because of the different expectations women are held to, what women Pl” i ’ ¢ exposed to at a young age, and how women are judged based on looks. Ui 4 oma CR AN of ‘sex can play quite a big part in our everyday lives whether it is life,at home or life at ( work. Gender can even affect how people treat us on a day to day bases. We portray women as i t yeet also expected to balance a job along with balancing a clean home and their ae ZL) \ ‘ Ejbara 2 they must take care of the children, in addition to taking care of the home. Furthermore, they-are 3) gives an example of this by stating “In countries that discourage gender discrimination many e ‘major roles are still gendered; women still do most of the domestic labor and child rearing, even “y v while doing full-time paid work; women and men are segregated on the job and each does work Ne M4 considered “appropriate”; women’s work is usually paid less than men’s work” (30). Women are 4/* € expected to do more than men would have to do and yet they ae sil paid less than men purely because oftheir gendesThey are pales even when the same tsk being performed by the opposite gender, Lortler continues her argument by oring that “Men dominate the positions of 9 authority and eater in government, the military, andthe law; cultural productions, “" ie and sports reflect men’s interests” (30). Women are not as represented as much as men are NMA represented in the work place. This may discourage young females from going for an opportunity VY that they feel deserving of but fel they are not capable of it due to gender. ; We learn about gender roles at such a young age and we do not even realize it until we wt hv are older that we have these expectations for each gender. We are not necessarily exposed to it on t purpose but rather thru our day to day lives. Devor provides evidences of this by stating “Children begin to settle into a gender identity between the ages of eighteen months and two ‘y years. By the age of two, children usually understand that they are members of a gender ce ops Ny and can corectly identity other members oftheir gender. By age three they a fairly fina le consistent concept of gender” (35). Even by such a young age we are already exposed to hat off cour genders are supposed to perform like in today’s world, We must do and act the way our nr gender is recognized to act in today's society. Devor also explains that “Children five to seven x ue ayEjbara 3 years old understand gender as a function of role rather than as a function of anatomy” (37). Young children are taught that you must perform certain roles according to their gender, This can have damaging affects on young children because they may not want to perform to that gender, but because that is the norm, They may be even looked at as the odd one out because of it. For Y example, women are looked at as being submissive and sensitive while men are looked at as é being dominant and powerful. We view men as being strong and demanding while we view oN women as being frail and weak. When in reality men and women can be both depending on. ip kind of space they are in, If lam in a group project and I see that my group members are not doing the work and are slacking of, then I being a female Will become the dominant one and CP ‘make sure that everyone does their part for the project. This would mean that if there were any men in my group that they would be performing a feminine act because they would be \ e A é ia submissive to me, J d ri ] Based on the gender that we are born with we are expected to look and act a certain way (qY —y to match society's expectations of that gender. Hubbard provides examples of this by explaining } y that “The impression that women are shorter than men is enhanced by our social convention that ¢ ‘when women and men pair off, itis considered preferable for the man to be taller than the \ women" (Hubbard 46). Women are expected to be smaller than men in both height and weight wise. It is not seen as normal if in a relationship the women is either taller than or bigger than the man, This has caused many problems in society because women feel that they are held to a certain standard, If women feel that they can not reach this society norm they may feel as if their is something wrong with them and take destructive action to fix the problem. Hubbard mentions this by saying “At present, U.S. women are obsessed by concems about their weight to the pointevelopment” (Hubbard 49), The norms that women have can possibly have traumatic effects on ‘hem mentally, physically, and emotionally as well, This can result in many health issues that can // have lifelong effects on women and thei loved ones. Ito have had to deal withthe negative A.” effets of body image. Wether Iam gong tothe gym or even gong shopping I would get ‘atcalled o stared by men, would go tothe gym and go tothe weight and realize that w A; ft sometimes the only women in that section which would cause men to want to stare me, Men 4 would stare when I simply ust wanted to workout and lift weight. Things ike this give a huge disadvantage to women, In conclusion, women have always been viewed as differently than men, wether it be ‘based off of looks or talent, women are not provided with the same opportunities as men. Men have always been viewed as the more powerful and dominate gender regardless of what any ‘women has done, It is important to keep this topic alive because for years and years it has been talked about and nothing has changed. In addition itis making itis providing a terrible example to young women that being a women is looked at as « negative thing in todays society when it should rather be getting celebrated and embraced. We should encourage young women to be proud of who they are and always motivate them to know that anything a men can do they can do as well. Teaching children from a young age that whatever your gender is should not make you treat the other differently, and rather be open minded to all things. Gender has and always will be ‘huge part of who we are in todays society, however we should never allow one gender to feel superior tothe other. Regardless of what gender someone identifies as they are allowed to perform a different gender role based off of what space they are in.Ejpara $ ile Work Cited a ¢ (i \ ye Devor, Aaron. Becoming Members of Society: he Social Meanings of Gender. , \v Hubbard, Ruth. Rethinking Women's Biology.