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Mark Torres
Professor Olivas
English 201
11 November 2016
Women and the Unfair World We Live in

Do gender roles have a place in todays society? Depending on who is asked can yield
very different answers. From the beginning of time humans have filled the roles they seem best
fit for. Men, with their superior physical strength, assume the role of warriors and hunters. While
women with their natural motherly instinct stay behind to watch the children and elderly. While
this seemed to work, in a time where those roles were born out of necessity, things have changed
in modern society. There is no need for these roles anymore and by perpetuating them it only
hurts women. Also, the effects of gender roles are presented in the short story The Story of an
Hour by Kate Chopin. The wife of a man she believed is killed thinks of how wonderful her life
will now be without her husband imposing gender roles. Gender roles and the effects they have
on women is visible in many aspects of life, even being included in works of fiction like. Women
are paid less, forced to assume the role of primary caregiver, and are not considered for jobs that
are deemed too demanding for women, this causes womens lives to be subpar when compared to
men and that needs to change.
In America, there is a saying that all men are created equal. This should equate to all men
have the same opportunities and respect to do whatever they please in life. Well, what about
women? According to Galinsky, women were paid 80 percent of what men are earning. Women
earn less than a man in almost every profession and field. This automatically puts women at a
disadvantage in life (Galinsky). For example, the median salary for a Women in 2015 was

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$40,742 compared with $51,212 for men (Hegwische). While 80 percent does not seem like too
much of a difference, after a full year of work women will earn $11,000 less than a man for the
same work. So, for a single mother, she would have $11,000 less than a man to support her
children. It becomes harder to maintain the same commodities with this large chunk of money
missing. While they wage gap has shrunk significantly over the last few decades there has been
little to no progress in the last ten years. Families are still considered to assume the basic setup of
the male breadwinner and the female housekeeper/caregiver perpetuating gender roles. Iwpr.org
states that if changes continue at the same pace as is has for the past fifty years, it will take 44
yearsor until 2059 for women to finally reach pay parity (Hegwische).
While the pay gap may seem modest it is not representative of all women. Women of
color or far worse off than women who are white. According to CNN African American women
only make 65 cents on the dollar while Latina women make an even less at 56 on the dollar
(O'Brien). So, while a white woman makes 80 percent of what a man does Blacks make 64
percent and Latinas make 56 percent. That is almost a full 50 percent of a man's paycheck
leading to financial hardships for these women. This can lead to women who are already
disadvantaged, like a single mother, to continue to struggle from the lack of funds they are
receiving. This also keeps the poverty cycle going as according to the national poverty center
Poverty rates for blacks and Hispanics greatly exceed the national average. In 2014, 26.2 percent
of blacks and 23.6 percent of Hispanics were poor, compared to 10.1 percent of non-Hispanic
whites and 12 percent of Asians (U.S. Bureau of the Census). This shows that these races have an
inherent disadvantage when compared to those, not of color. The national poverty center also
shows that in 2014, 30.6 percent of households headed by single women were poor, while 15.7
percent of households headed by single men and 6.2 percent of married-couple households lived

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in poverty (U.S. Bureau of the Census). Women are almost twice as likely to be in poverty than
men so this keeps the single mother in the cycle of poverty living paycheck to paycheck. These
women are more likely to work in jobs that pay below minimum wage when compared to men.
Some women, like Latinas, arrive at this country illegally and will take any work they can to
support themselves and their family. These jobs are usually gender role-centric like sewing,
nanny, servers, and housekeeper. This further reinforces the gender roles as they are obtaining
jobs that women are considered good for. While some women will strive to obtain better jobs
they are not as likely to obtain the position they are applying for. This is because of the
unwillingness to choose women over a man for the same job.
Women are forced into taking care of children because of gender roles. which can be
detrimental to their progress in life. In most societies, childcare falls mainly upon women
because if the hierarchies installed by many generations of gender roles. Karin states that within
socialization of families, gender differences are reproduced and internalized (Sardavar). This
means that every generation has continued the endorsement and enforcement of gender roles.
This makes it hard for change to happens among certain groups who hold gender roles to be the
standard of living. Since the changes have become an integral part of the way things work within
families it becomes hard for a women ti to change things. They are usually met with harsh
resistance because the people perpetuating feel there is nothing wrong with filling gender roles
and they are going against a system that is not broken. In a situation like pregnancy, the women
are expected to take care of the child while the male can leave. This expectation comes from the
fact that women are considered natural caregivers so they seem suited for the job. So now a
single mother will be forced to take any work they can get to support their child and these jobs
are usually ones that enforce gender roles like the ones stated in the previous paragraph (sewing,

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nanny, servers, housekeeper etc). These jobs being barely sufficient to support themselves and
most if not all of these of jobs have little to no room for self-improvement or advancement in the
workplace. So, if a mother cannot find work besides those that keep her gender roles she will
continue to follow in their path.
Women face imposed gender roles and must deal with violence and dangers to their
health, within families especially, of they resist the roles they have been assigned to. Some
women are trapped in gender roles because of their family situation. Some women who are in a
family unit are forced to fill their gender roles because of their partner's demands. They are
forced to assume the role of housekeeper and caregiver. Many women dare not to resist lest they
want to be met with violence for disobeying. These men who are abusive are also more likely to
have HIV which will hurt a womans health. Per the US National Library of medicine women
observed in an epidemiological study were shown to be at a higher risk for HIV if they are in an
abusive relationship (Santana). They also state that this is due to a diminished control of sexual
protection among abused women (Santana). Coincidentally men that are abusive have an
increased likelihood of HIV infection (Santana). With their disadvantages, womens lives have
become the afterthought of men the society they live in. This shows how gender roles are
negatively affecting womens lives. The risk of abuse and diseases is enough to see that gender
roles only make womens lives more negative and even life threatening
While the evidence that supports gender roles are negative for women is very prevalent
some people will argue that they need to stay in place. According to The Father Foundation
Gender uniqueness and complementarity means that each gender has a unique contribution to
work, society and interpersonal communication that cannot be filled by the other gender in its
entirety (Adams) The reasoning for this is that humans have naturally adapted gender roles and

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it is the way humans naturally socialize amongst each other. Gender roles were not created and
installed by any specific group but rather were natural occurrence through the evolution of
human society. Gender roles have always existed in human history in some form. From a time
when humans were hunter gatherers, men would go out and hunt while the women stayed
behind. Women would tend to children and the elderly embracing their natural role. It is better
for parents to specialize in one area maximizing their potential instead of trying to do more than
one thing. The reason gender roles have been integrated into society is because of the need for
survival and doing what that gender is best suited for. Women were naturally weaker than men so
they were not inclined to go into battle or hunt. Without the burden of hunting, they focused on
what they could do and that is caregiving. The main argument is that if someone is better at what
they do than another person why would they stop doing what they are doing. This shows that
since women are set up to take care of children why would they choose to leave their gender
roles as this would only cause progress to slow down. To many, it seems that women are
biologically set up to be caregivers. Only women can give birth and produce milk so they seem
to be predisposed to assume the role of caregiver. Today women are still stuck in those same
roles but in have evolved to adapt. Instead of being able to stay at home many women must work
to sustain their family. They are no longer held down to staying at home. Although they are
usually thrown into the roles they seem fit for but that is not by choice. While these arguments
might seem compelling there are flaws. Women do fill the role of caregiver well but that does not
mean that cannot do another job. Not all men fit the role of defender, warrior, breadwinner so
women also can fail as the role of a caregiver and exceed in another position. While women
might be suited biologically to assume gender roles, like taking care of children, that does not

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mean they want to or are mentally stable enough to do so. Therefore, gender roles are flawed
because not everyone fits into their supposed role.
In the short story The Story of an Hour the main character has been suffering from
gender roles set by her husband. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind
persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a
fellow-creature (Chopin). She is clearly saying that she had been forced to obey her husband's
will during the time they were together. During the time this story was written gender roles were
even more prominent than today. It is not surprising that during this time many women could
have felt the same way, trapped. Forced to obey someone because that was the way things were.
There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and
piled one above the other in the west facing her window (Chopin). This window symbolizes her
new chance at life and how it looks positive. This proves that women are negatively affected by
gender roles if they feel that their husband dying is a good thing because of the harsh treatment
they received. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that
would belong to her absolutely (Chopin). She knows that her life fully belongs to her now and
instead of assuming the role of server to a man she will liver for herself and only herself. Only if
things were bad for her and her life would she have this type of reaction to the death of her
husband once again highlighting the negatives of gender roles.
The solution to gender roles would be to accept that they are not a law of the world.
Companies and families alike can start by ignoring gender and focusing on what that person does
less. So, yes some will fall into roles that are associated with their gender and that is fine because
that is what they are good at. While others will be able to strive in new fields that were
previously hard to access because of gender roles. By giving women equal opportunities their

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lives and well-being will be increased. In The Story of an Hour the main character realizes that
her life is now hers to command because she does not have to live under the gender roles her
husband enforced on her. Instead, she can live freely and be able to pursue whatever she would
like and that is the way it is supposed to be. Giving women opportunities to advance in jobs will
not only help them but the children they sometimes have to raise on their own.
Women are paid less, forced to assume the role of primary caregiver, and are not
considered for jobs that are deemed too demanding for women, this causes womens lives to be
subpar when compared to men and that needs to change. Gender roles are something that has bee
around since the dawn of civilizations and they have had effects on the way we treat women in
our society. While some may argue that they are needed it has been shown that women do not
always fill the role they are designed for and neither do men. The only thing that gender roles
do is perpetuate the unfair treatment of human beings causing them and their children to suffer in
the process. Only through change and acceptance if women can these roles be limited and
everyone is treated as equal.

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Works Cited
Adams, James. GenderMatters.org. Fathers For Families, 16 June 2015. Web. 15 Nov.
2016.
"Ariane Hegewisch, Program Director, Employment and Earnings." IWPR. George
Washington University, 1 Sept. 2016. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
Bureau, U.S Census. "How Does the United States Measure Poverty?" Npc.umich.edu.
University of Michigan, 2014 Oct. 15. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.
Chopin, Kate. The Story of an Hour. Logan, IA: Perfection Learning, 2001. Print.
Galinsky, Ellen, James T. Bond, and Kerstin Aumann. "Gender Roles in the Workplace
Are Converging." Gender Roles. Ed. Nol Merino. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press,
2014. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Times Are Changing: Gender and Generation at Work
and at Home." Vol. 1. 2011. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
Santana, M. Christina, Anita Raj, Michele R. Decker, Ana La Marche, and Jay G.
Silverman. "Masculine Gender Roles Associated with Increased Sexual Risk and Intimate
Partner Violence Perpetration among Young Adult Men." Journal of Urban Health : Bulletin of
the New York Academy of Medicine. Springer US, 18 May 2006. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
Sardadvar, Karin. "Gender Roles." The Social History of the American Family: An
Encyclopedia. Ed. Marilyn J. Coleman and Lawrence H. Ganong. Vol. 2. Los Angeles: SAGE
Reference, 2014. 607-610. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.

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O'Brien, Sara Ashely. "78 Cents on the Dollar: The Facts about the Gender Wage
Gap." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 14 Apr. 2015. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.