Traditional Gender Roles
What Are Traditional Gender Roles?
Gender roles are the social expectations placed on people because of their gender identity or perceived gender. Often, gender roles are spoken about in terms of their traditional and non-traditional forms. Traditional gender roles are associated with a binary view of the world that pits men against women. A traditional set of gender roles would expect men to be in charge and women to submit to men. This can be as blatant as women not being allowed to rise to a higher position in a workforce or as subtle as a man always talking over a woman colleague.
In an interview, Terry Crews acknowledges the negative affect that male pride has on women, on men, and on society as a whole.
A study done in Lisbon, Portugal suggests that society’s gender roles could have damaging effects on mental and physical health of children. Researchers concluded the report by showing that many children in the study found the gender roles undesirable. Once the gender roles were pointed out to the children, they became less apt to adhere to the roles.
Soraya Chemaly discusses the lack of authority or respect women are given in discussions due to gender roles that tell girls to be quiet and polite and boys to be assertive.
Video available through Reeves Library
A documentary that explores how men and boys are negatively affected by the gendered expectations placed upon them.
York,M. (2011) Gender Attitudes and Violence Against Women (Criminal Justice: Recent Scholarship), LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC. Available through Reeves library e-books.
York seeks to answer the question of the extent to which traditional beliefs about gender or gender roles are associated with increased levels of sexual assault and/or domestic violence. The prevalence of traditional gender attitudes predicted rates of violence against women, specifically sexual assault and domestic violence.