The existence of gender roles in our society plays a huge role in our day to day activities, mindset and even mentality, some people’s upbringing has been influenced so hard with the gender roles that it’s difficult for them to adjust to an oddly new system and environment. This however can be in two forms, which is negative and positive. It’s a great knowledge acquisition to break down these effects and find a way to relate it to our day to day experiences as humans.
Positive Effects of gender roles is that it helps to create a shared understanding and stability in societies and this is because of its long term deeply rooted impacts in the society, it’s difficult to suddenly revolt against it, it has become the norm and people live by it. Also, in traditional roles it helps to provide identity for those comfortable with it i.e, in a traditional setting where there are dos and don’ts, the worshippers of such religion see no reason to oppose it because they believe its ancient and it’s the best way to keep things orderly with their spirituality. Lastly, in every family and community, gender role plays the major part and one of the positive effects is how it shapes the mind of every individual in such a family and community to play their parts without any hesitation.
Negative Effects of gender roles cannot be undermined as there are disadvantages to every advantages we see, the negative side to this stems from inequality in wages to political underrepresentation in the society, some of the examples are seen in women’s and men’s sports, the unequal pay can be attached to how gender roles is performative in our society, also, one of the negative effects is how it limits personal freedom and forces you to conform to a certain pattern of living, slurs like “women are emotional” “men are strong” “fathers are unfit” “mothers are nurturing” are all stereotypical phrases that stems from gender roles. And to the most obvious negative effects, discrimination, harassment and gender-based violence, these are all practical in our societal system.
We cannot deny that we have not in a way or the other not experienced any of these effects in our daily lives either as the victim or the beneficiary, this is to show that there are always two sides to everything, even if you suffered an effect yesterday, you have benefited from an effect the next day, which makes the whole gender role discourse very complex and interesting at the same time.
Impacts of Gender Roles on the Society
The impacts of gender roles on our society is the type that cannot be written off because it has played out in every sector and has impacted the growth of newer ideologies, some to promote the idea of gender roles and some to render it irrelevant in our lives and to create a neutral environment where gender role is not needed to achieve certain goals, do certain things and live a certain lifestyle. Gender roles impact how we live, work, see ourselves and even love each other. Even though they are capable of providing structure in most societies, they also create inequality and psychological strain. It has become a constant negotiation globally if it is important to hold on to tradition or progress pushing forward. Such is the idealization of feminism, LGBTQ+ and other gender challenging movements. Also, the conservative versus the liberal association are two groups at war over ideology, one defends tradition and moral value while the latter believes in fluidity in gender and roles.
The impacts of gender roles has also introduced us to globalization which has challenged some of our cultural values and beliefs, it has also opened us to new gender perspectives, women are in sports today as a result of globalization, women working in offices, military are all impacts of globalization which has challenged old cultural norms.
Gender role impact is vivid in our economical sector as of today as we have women in politics, businesses, science and leadership, we’ve had female presidents, women headlining top businesses across the world just as we now have men in care-giving and service roles. Also, let’s not ignore the persistent gap in payment of wages, salaries for both men and women even in the same field, these are all economical impacts of gender roles.
There are areas where gender roles have had psychological impacts on individuals, people having the freedom to identify as whatever they choose, the constant battle with anxiety, depression and conflict for those who feel trapped between what they want for themselves and what the society expects from them. Phrases like “men should not cry” “ women should be submissive” have become the norm, men are being told not to show emotions and women are pressured to be selfless and nurturing, both can be mentally exhausting but bringing up awareness about the mental health of individuals in the society can be seen as a rescue strategy to help free from the mind from cages caused by gendered expectations. When pattern becomes persistent and causes more damages to the body and the mind, solutions arises, seemingly useful to curb the situation and provide alternatives, the mind is a world on its own and needs to be watched and taken care of, the ideology behind men being strong and should not show emotions causes male loneliness pandemic and women being oppressed by some foundational rules
Gender roles are multilayered social scripts, enacted from history, culture and power structures, we can cite its effects psychologically, politically, economically, culturally and socially, but as we have it right now, they are being renegotiated across the globe as we are now having several ideologies arising from several parts of the western world, some against and some for. They shape identity, relationships, economies, and politics and we can see their impacts are visible from the media, to the institutions, schools and even homes, helping with mental health struggles down to global rights movements.
