According to World Health Organisation (WHO) gender roles may be defiined as: "socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women". It differs from sex, which refers to anatomical and biological differences between male and female. Gender roles are based on the expectations of the society, not necessarily on biological features, even though they are unquestionably connected with each other. During last decades many various groups like LGTB or FEMEN are trying to change perceiving different behaviours as masculine or feminine and binary system of gender classification claiming that it is oppressive, unjust and inaccurate. Although, this cannot change the fact, that
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Amy M. Blackstone made very interesting conclusions about that in her work about Gender Roles in Society:
„A biological perspective on gender roles suggests that women have a natural affinity toward the feminine gender role and that men have a natural affinity toward the masculine gender role. The biological perspective does not, however, suggest that one role holds any inherently greater value than another role. A sociological perspective toward gender roles suggests that masculine and feminine roles are learned and that masculine and feminine gender roles are not necessarily connected to males' and females' biological traits.”
That means that people behave in ways they behave because they are taught to act like that.
Stereotyping is inherent part of human nature and concern every nation, religion, sex and gender. Stereotyping is inherent part of gender roles. Stereotyping means oversimplification or generalization, 'a portrait' of particular group of people we are creating in our head (C. Stangor, M. Schaller). Stereotypes are usually negative and irreverent conceptions and may cause prejudices, discrimination and separation of some groups (Stangor, Macrae and Hewstone …show more content…
They are considered to be obedient to males and live in agreement with rules established by society controlled by men. They are also attributed to nurturing children. These role was given to women religious authorities (Kloppenborg and Hanegraaff op. cit.) and did not change for millennia. The only acceptable role for a women was being a wife and a mother, and lack of children was a great disaster. Even though women should be modest and submissive, because of their physique they were perceived as a source of lust and a tool of evil. Moreover, an interesting fact is, that one of the most popular stereotype about men is that they constantly think about sex, not women (Lowrance
Amy M. Blackstone made very interesting conclusions about that in her work about Gender Roles in Society:
„A biological perspective on gender roles suggests that women have a natural affinity toward the feminine gender role and that men have a natural affinity toward the masculine gender role. The biological perspective does not, however, suggest that one role holds any inherently greater value than another role. A sociological perspective toward gender roles suggests that masculine and feminine roles are learned and that masculine and feminine gender roles are not necessarily connected to males' and females' biological traits.”
That means that people behave in ways they behave because they are taught to act like that.
Stereotyping is inherent part of human nature and concern every nation, religion, sex and gender. Stereotyping is inherent part of gender roles. Stereotyping means oversimplification or generalization, 'a portrait' of particular group of people we are creating in our head (C. Stangor, M. Schaller). Stereotypes are usually negative and irreverent conceptions and may cause prejudices, discrimination and separation of some groups (Stangor, Macrae and Hewstone …show more content…
They are considered to be obedient to males and live in agreement with rules established by society controlled by men. They are also attributed to nurturing children. These role was given to women religious authorities (Kloppenborg and Hanegraaff op. cit.) and did not change for millennia. The only acceptable role for a women was being a wife and a mother, and lack of children was a great disaster. Even though women should be modest and submissive, because of their physique they were perceived as a source of lust and a tool of evil. Moreover, an interesting fact is, that one of the most popular stereotype about men is that they constantly think about sex, not women (Lowrance