Why Do Girls Wear Handbags

When observing the bags I had found, I found many interesting things. The first I observed was that was how these bags played into our gender roles. The girls had purses or totes. Neither of these bags went over both shoulders. They were called “mini” because they replicate what girls tend to see older women wear. Their colors and style indicated that girls and women were dainty and not rough. The girls were also supposed to like small animals such as kittens and the beach. The purses and totes sizes indicate that they are meant for small items for girls to put in such as lipgloss and nail polish. For the women although they had large totes, the backpacks were extremely small in size unable to possibly fit a school binder. The boys and men items …show more content…
Most of the men’s bag were meant to do athletic activities. They had large straps and a buckle across the chest indicating that they were meant to carry large items. These buckles would be very uncomfortable for the women.These items also fit our society’s gender schemas. Gender schemas which is a cognitive structure and network of associations that helps to organized individuals perception of the world. (Ryle 133). In our society women and young girls are not supposed to be rough and carrying heavy things, therefore mini purses and totes are available so girls can fit only small things such as makeup along with the small Michael Kors backpacks. Beauty and looks is something women in our society worry about most. The label of most of these items plays a huge part as well. The men and boy bags were the only one to have an actual two strap backpack to fit a binder. This fits into our gender schemas since boys are able to carry more than girls in their mini purses. Boys could fit their toys, men were able to fit their books or binders while girls only have a limited option of what they wish