Boehme-Martinez 1

Vanessa Boehme-Martinez
English 2850
Professor Haley Haffey
03/11/17

Gender Roles and American Cultural Norms

Dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries we can see a distinction between the male and

female identities. We see that there is a certain expectation as to which each gender is assumed to

dress, act, speak, societal roles, and identify themselves. In most cultures men are supposed to

play a certain role and that also goes for women. Certainly, in the United States there is a distinct

difference as to what a mans life should look like and to what a woman's life should look like.

Society needs to realize that a person's identity or association can not or will not be grouped into

categories that are gender exclusive.

In American culture there are things that put emphasis on what a correct gender is

supposed to be. For example, marketing strategies for kids. All the male toys are marketed in

colors that are normally associated with the male gender; i.e blue, green, brown, black, etc. Also

most advertisements for boy toys are things like trucks, cars, blocks, guns, footballs, action

figures, etc. On the flip side, the marketing strategy for girls is completely different. In ad

campaigns one might see the colors pink, purple, white, yellow, or any color that is seen as

girly. The toys for girls generally advertised are things like kitchens, vacuums, babies, dresses,

dolls, toy houses, etc. This is something that needs to be changed because all that it does is

reinforce gender roles that should not be there in the first place. Toy advertisements or marketing

strategies should have more gender neutral campaigns. If the advertisements were more gender

neutral and included both male and female then we would see these gender roles start to decrease

and an increase in inclusivity and equality.

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Another thing that can be seen in the American culture when it comes to gender roles is

that they are started from a very young age. These stereotypes for both male and female can

almost be seen from the day of birth. An example of this would be, a woman has a baby and the

declared gender of that baby is a male. The parents would most likely be inclined to paint that

childs room blue or green, and include stuff in the room that is for a male. Such as, a blanket

with trucks on it or a onesie with a football on it. This role then continues as the child gets older.

For instance, the parents may not buy the child a barbie doll, because dolls are considered to be a

more feminine thing. Then the child may want to take ballroom dance instead of play football

and the parents force him to play football because dance is for girls only.

These gender roles are nothing new and have been around for many centuries. What I

mean by this is that women were supposed to stay home, raise a family, and take care of their

husbands. They were not supposed to work or go to school. Their sole purpose was to have

babies, raise the family, and attend to the husband. Things have progressed a little over time, but

the roles and stereotypes are still there. When women were finally allowed to go to school and

eventually got to the point of going to college they were advised to pick careers suited more for

women i.e nursing, secretaries, teachers, and many others that didnt require too much skill. If a

woman wanted to become a doctor she would have most likely been told that being a doctor was

a mans job and she should pick something that was less intense and better suited for a woman.

Gender roles are reinforced in American society everyday. Whether that be through

television, literature, or music. It can be very hard for a person to try to break those boundaries

for fear of judgement or hate. Gender roles cause many problems in society because many may

feel like they identify with the opposite sex more than with the same sex. This is an issue because

it can cause problems in every aspect of life; socially, romantically, mentally, and physically. It
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can cause problems in all of these areas because its a conflict of what that person feels and what

society says that person should feel or be.

As time progresses we have seen some of these things change from traditional times,

meaning male more dominant to female to modern times where some of the gender roles have

reversed. Only 40 percent of college degrees are going to men versus 60 percent going to

women, which is a flip of where we were in the 1970s (Meyers author of The Future of

Men, CBS News). The article also states that there is a shift in income levels between men and

women. Women are the sole income in a household where a male is not present and if that

woman has a child then that child is seeing a different dynamic than the previous generation.

It seems as if things are getting better and some of these stereotypes are starting to be

paid less attention. However, there are many things that continue to be a problem in society. We

can see things start to change by talking about the issues and then taking actions to prevent them.

Gender roles have placed many obstacles in the lives of many people and they are hard to

overcome the stereotypes. This is a major issue in society and one that needs to be taken care of

immediately.

Like mentioned above there is starting to be some progress to get rid of gender

stereotypes it may not be huge shifts in cultural norms, but small things are starting to happen.

People are starting to become more aware that gender is beyond an x or y chromosome and many

things play into how a person identifies. There is a bright future ahead and part of this is due to

the millennial generation. Many people tend to criticize this generation for many reasons, but one

of the things millennials are not is close minded. This generation tries to be more accepting of

people who are different or identify differently, not one hundred percent, but more than past

generations.
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Gender issues have been in the public spotlight for the past few months because of the

president elect, Donald Trump. Throughout the election process America was able to see his

views toward women, the LGBTQ+, and how he reinforces the gender stereotypes that society

needs to get rid of. During the start of his presidency there was talk of him defunding planned

parenthood, which he followed through with an executive order. He talked about wanting to

make abortion illegal, there was even talk about reversing gay marriage or making it illegal

again. All of these things reinforce gender roles by showing that a man is superior to a woman. It

does this by taking away womens right to choose and basically says that womens opinions do

not matter even when it comes to making decisions about their own body.

However, there has been a lot of push back toward his executive orders and decisions.

For instance, there the Womens March protest that took place on January 21, 2017. This protest

was to fight for basic human rights along with womens rights, LGBTQ+ , and many others. This

was to send a message to the Trump administration that these issues were not going to be

overlooked and will continue to be fought for. What made the march even more effective and

gained national attention was that it took place at a national level, so there were marches in

various states and one took place in Park City, Utah. The other thing that made these marches

significant is that they were on the day immediately following the inauguration.

People should be allowed to be who they want and to feel like they have the freedom to

do so without fear of retaliation. With someone like Donald Trump as our President all that is

doing is saying that it is okay to treat someone differently because of their gender, how they

look, or what their sexuality is. The reason that Trump won was because he spoke to the fears

that people have. He spoke on behalf of the most prejudiced people in the United States. This

created a real problem because it seemed as if we took 10 steps forward with Obama and then we
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are going to take 100 steps back with President Trump. What his presidency has to do with

gender and breaking gender boundaries is, like stated above, he is a very prejudiced toward the

LGBTQ+ community and has been very vocal about that since the beginning of his campaign.

The Trump administration withdrew Obama-era protections for transgender students in

public schools that let them use bathrooms and facilities corresponding with their gender

identity (Washington, CNN). This just goes to show Trumps views of gender and how he is

reinforcing gender roles in the United States of America. Things are not going to get better if the

leader of this country is not supportive of the LGBTQ+ community.

However, the things we can start doing now is to listen to the problems at hand, but listen

to understand and not just listen to respond. A big issue when it comes to talking about these

issues is not being receptive to any argument other than our own. As a society we have a long

way to go before breaking down gender stereotypes and dealing with any sort of LGBTQ+ issue.

As long as society continues to fight for these issues America will take a step in the right

direction.
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Bibliography

News, CBS. ""The Future of Men" Explores Evolving Gender Roles." CBS News. CBS Interactive, 01

Mar. 2016. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

Boboltz, Sara. "9 Facts That Prove Traditional Definitions Of Gender Roles Are Bull." The

Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 Apr. 2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

"List of Gender Stereotypes." HealthGuidance.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

Vogue, Ariane De, and Emanuella Grinberg. "Trump Administration Withdraws Federal Protections

for Transgender Students." CNN. Cable News Network, 23 Feb. 2017. Web. 01 May 2017.

Richardson, Bradford. "Trump Signs Executive Order Defunding International Planned Parenthood."

The Washington Times. The Washington Times, 24 Jan. 2017. Web. 01 May 2017.