How Important Are Gender Roles In Today's Society

Without even noticing it human’s make pre determined decisions based off of their gender. We do this so many times throughout the day that most of the time we don’t even notice it anymore. In today’s society men and women act, talk, think, eat and even walk differently based off of their gender. These “roles” have put many people in a tough position leaving them with the question: is it socially acceptable to do this based off my gender? If everyone is equal and has the same rights then why do gender roles even exist? These rules were often created off of assumptions that were made centuries ago during times when men and women weren’t treated equally and still today humans follow these roles whether they agree with them or not. These roles play a big part in who we become as humans. Roles determined by gender promote inequality and therefore cause problems within society. Some people believe that gender roles help maintain a functional society because they give each gender a different set of roles in which they should live by. For example, the gender role of men supporting the family while the women stay at home and care for the family. This has been a gender role for men in a relationship for centuries. This role back then may have been a reasonable way to live since women once could not work but now this can create a problem within relationships because women now work and can support themselves. Back before women could work, women were dependent on the male in the relationship to bring home money and support them and the family. Who 's the one to tell the women she must stay at home and care for the family instead of going to work, a women should be able to support her family by working if she wants to. If the man in the family wants to stay home and care for the family instead of going to work he should be able to do so as well. What if the women in the family has a higher paying job than the man, wouldn’t it make sense for the women to keep her job and for the man to stay home and take care of the house? If the man in the family can cook, clean and care for the children better than the women, shouldn’t he be allowed to stay home if he believes it would benefit the family? I believe all men and women were created equal and each share the right to work or stay home. This is just one way in which gender roles can cause problems within society. Many times throughout the day we are gendering people or being gendered without even noticing it. Before even talking to someone we make decisions based of what others do and even what they look like. Humans are gendered on almost everything, from the clothes they wear to the way they wear their hair. A man in today’s society is supposed to be in great shape, wear looser fit clothing and have short hair. While a women are supposed to be thin, wear tighter to the …show more content…
These gender role characteristics can be found in also every aspect of today’s society. From the way sports are played to the way businesses are run gender roles make their way into every aspect of society. In the sport of lacrosse, the rules and the way the game is played is totally different if you play as a man or a women. In the men’s version of the game there is a lot of contact in the game. Players are allowed to hit each other with their lacrosse sticks and collide with players to gain possession of the ball. In the women’s version of the game there is very minimal contact. Why are the rules in the game different based solely off of gender? The only conclusion I can come up with is that since women are supposed to be more gentle, soft and passive in society that they need to be the same in the world of sports as well. This only limits what one gender is allowed to do when each gender should have the no limits. The game of lacrosse should not be played differently because of ones