Ross Bradley

9/21/2016
Dr. Earnest Cox
Rhetorical Theory
Classical Rhetoric Assignment
Blaming Gender and Gender Roles
As long as humans have been around gender has existed. Gender is one of
those social institutions that causes more problems than it does benefit human society
and should be blamed for many social issues. Gender and gender roles are to blame for
several societal problems including overall societal bias with the genders, the wage gap,
and mental health diagnosis and treatment bias.
It is important to realize when discussing gender that gender and sex are two
completely different things. Amy M Blackstone in Gender Roles and Society writes
Sex and Gender are two different concepts (Blackstone 335). She continues, Sex is a
biological concept, determined on the basis of individual's primary sex characteristics
and gender...refers to the meanings, values, and characteristics that people ascribe to
the sexes (335). Sex, in and of itself, is not dangerous despite what people think. It is
the attitudes and thoughts about gender, which are misconstrued to be to sex that are
dangerous. People are born male and female, but we as a society assign ways of
behavior and expectations based upon these sexual characteristics.
The most obvious occurrence of gender in society are gender roles. Gender roles
are societal rules or norms that are imposed upon the genders and they have appeared
in every culture throughout history with some variation. Because of the misconception
between gender and sex, gender roles are often male and female. And, because of this

misconception, they are thought of as natural just like sex, which is not correct. Maria do
Mar Pereira, the deputy director for the University of Warwicks Centre for the Study of
Women and Gender, in an interview with ThinkProgress states, usually we think of
gender as natural and biological, but its not...we actually construct it in ways that have
problematic and largely unacknowledged health risks (Culp-Ressler).
Gender roles are taught and imposed before birth. Many parents reveal the sex
of the baby and then the theme of the baby shower is gender sensitive depending if the
baby is a boy or girl. Then the parents will usually decorate the nursery to accommodate
gendered colors or toys like the walls would not be painted pink if the baby was a boy.
When the baby is born the hospital will give the parents either a white blanket with thick
blue stripes for a boy or a white blanket with thin pink stripes for a girl. Is Testosterone
blue and estrogen pink? No, the sex hormones have no color. The thicker lines on the
blankets for boys also visually illustrate that men are supposed to be more dominant
and imposing than women. These are just a few examples of how gender roles are
imposed upon individuals at birth, and we continue to teach children gender as they
grow. Planned Parenthood notes by the time children reach the age of three they are
able to demonstrate they have learned which toys and clothes are appropriate for each
gender ("Gender Identity | Stereotypical Masculine & Feminine Traits). But, why are
gender and gender roles dangerous? I mean making boys wear blue and girls wear pink
or play with certain toys isnt dangerous? Its just clothes and toys.
By teaching gender at an early age, we are encouraging children to modify their
behavior to fit the expectations of gender roles. Dr. Maria do Mar Pereira from the

University of Warwicks Department of Sociology conducted a study in school in Lisbon

where she spent three months in an eight year class every school day ("Girls Feel They
Must 'play Dumb' to Please Boys"). She states, the belief that men have to be dominant
over women makes boys feel constantly anxious and under pressure to prove their
power - namely by fighting, drinking, sexually harassing, refusing to ask for help, and
repressing their emotions ("Girls Feel They Must 'play Dumb' to Please Boys") On the
other hand, girls feel they must downplay their own abilities, pretending to be less
intelligent than they actually are, not speaking out against harassment, and withdrawing
from hobbies, sports and activities that might seem unfeminine ("Girls Feel They Must
'play Dumb' to Please Boys). The research she conducted also showed by the time
boys turned 14 they believed that girls their age should be less intelligent ("Girls Feel
They Must 'play Dumb' to Please Boys). These taught notions about differences in
gender eventually leads to adults who believe and adhere to gender roles, which
causes social problems.
Gender roles not only encourage certain behavior in the workplace, but they also
create and encourage the wage gap between men and women. According to the
International Labour Organization, in 2010 American women on average only earned 81
percent of what the male counterparts in these positions earned ("Gender Inequality and
Women in the US Labor Force") Women are also encouraged to only work in certain
fields. There were 65 million women in the American labor force in 2010 and 53 percent
of women worked in the fields of education and health services, trade, transportation
and utilities, and local government ("Gender Inequality and Women in the US Labor

Force"). Women also represented 79 percent of the health and social services field and
68.6 percent of the educational field ("Gender Inequality and Women in the US Labor
Force). On the other hand, women only represented 43.2 percent of professional and
scientific and technical services ("Gender Inequality and Women in the US Labor
Force"). Women also make up only 8.9 percent of the construction field ("Gender
Inequality and Women in the US Labor Force"). Women are encouraged to work in
certain fields and not in others based on gender roles and not in others. They are also
not encouraged to be in leadership roles. Only 24 percent of CEOs were women in the
United States and on top of that they on average only earned 74.5 percent of male
CEOs. Obviously, according to gender roles, women are not born leaders and should
not be leaders and, if they are, they shouldnt earn as much for doing the exact thing.
Because, theyre women.
Women are thought to be less intelligent and act less intelligent around men. But,
interestingly women on average are more educated. According to the International
Labour Organization, women surpass men on education attainment among those
employed aged 25 and over: 37.1 percent of women hold at least a bachelors degree
compared to 34.9 percent for men ("Gender Inequality and Women in the US Labor
Force"). Our society places such an importance on education in order to get a better job
and have a better life. Women are doing this, but are not earning as much because of
the fact they are women.
Gender roles affect more than just the workplace. They also affect the self
esteem and mental health of an individual. The World Health Organization (WHO)

states, depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms and high rates of comorbidity are
significantly related to interconnected and co-occurrent risk factors such as gender
based roles, stressors and negative life experiences and events ("Gender and
Women's Mental Health"). Individual issues with gender, or more accurately, societal
pressures with an individual's nonconformity to established gender roles can lead to
mental health disorders. There is nothing inherently wrong with the individual besides
society telling them there is something wrong with their behavior and choices as far as
gender. Also, there is gender bias in the way psychological disorders are diagnosed and
treated. The World Health Organization (WHO) states women are more likely to to be
diagnosed with depression than men by doctors even though men and women have
similar scores on standardized measures of depression or have the same symptoms
("Gender and Women's Mental Health"). And, female gender is a significant predictor of
being prescribed mood altering psychotropic drugs ("Gender and Women's Mental
Health"). Stereotyping of the genders in regards to the idea that women are more
emotional than men and men are more likely to have alcohol problems, has kept
individuals from receiving for mental health disorders outside the gender lines ("Gender
and Women's Mental Health").
Social bias, the wage gap, and the gender difference in how psychological
disorders are diagnosed and are caused by gender and gender roles. Gender and
gender roles are harmful to our society in the unfair pressure they put on everyone. We
should also blame gender for many of our social issues and not praise it.

Work Cited
Blackstone, Amy. "Gender Roles and Society." DigitalCommons@UMaine. The
University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine, Aug. 2003. Web. 21 Sept. 2016.
Culp-Ressler, Tara. "Forcing Kids To Stick To Gender Roles Can Actually Be Harmful
To Their Health." ThinkProgress. ThinkProgress, 07 Aug. 2014. Web. 22 Sept.
2016.
"Gender and Women's Mental Health." World Health Organization. World Health
Organization, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.
"Gender Identity | Stereotypical Masculine & Feminine Traits." Gender Identity |
Stereotypical Masculine & Feminine Traits. Planned Parenthood, 22 Jan. 2016.
Web. 22 Sept. 2016.
"Gender Inequality and Women in the US Labor Force." International Labour
Organization. International Labour Organization, 2016. Web. 22 Sept. 2016.
"Girls Feel They Must 'play Dumb' to Please Boys." Warwick. University of Warwick, 05
Aug. 2014. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.