Emma Vance 1/31/2017 FHS 2400 Marriage and Family U2 E1 Gender Equality

Question:

Does it seem to you like gender equality is a one-way street? When we talk about gender
equality, arent we usually talking about women becoming more like men? Why dont
conversations about gender equality also focus on mens ability to become more like women?
Does our society believe that women can really lead as well as a man? Does our society really
believe that a man can be as nurturing as a woman? What do you believe? The double standard
of aging says that men become more distinguished as they get older and that women dont.
Assuming that you view this double standard as being unfair, what can you do and what should
our society do to remedy this lack of equality?

Answer: Word Count: 655

I do believe that gender equality is a one-way street. When people think of or discuss

gender equality they are discussing women becoming equal to men. Today money and

socioeconomic status speaks volumes about your family. Men have traditionally been the

breadwinners; it has been their income that defines their familys socioeconomic status. This

gave men the power that is discussed in the textbook and among sociologists today. Society

seems to value mens financial contributions to their families rather than the domestic work that

women traditionally performed. The traits that men stereotypically possess were more desirable

because their work had a tangible product, money. Society seems to value this tangible product

that men traditionally produce over the intangible product women typically produce with

domestic work and childrearing. Thus, the traits typically exhibited by males became more

desirable. Even though today we are closer to gender equality than we have been, there is still a

gap between the two sexes. A portion of society wants total and complete gender equality, but

that is difficult to accomplish when women and condoned for exhibiting masculine

characteristics and males are ridiculed for exhibiting feminine characteristics.

Its hard to say whether society believes a woman can lead just as well as a man. Answers

would vary depending on the geographic location, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, age, and

gender of the person youre asking. I think society wants to believe a woman can lead just as
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well as a man, but there are still the engrained feminine characteristics that make it hard for

people to believe that a woman can be a decisive and confident leader rather than an indecisive

and insecure leader. The same can be said about whether men can be as nurturing as women.

Men are socialized to be aggressive instead of nurturing. Barbara Risman conducted research on

single fathers and found that the fathers had the ability [] to develop nurturing qualities that

depart from their prior socialization (Strong & Cohen, 2014, p. 131). Its not impossible to

develop traditional characteristics of the opposite gender, but typically is not done unless

circumstances require it. I believe it is impossible for men and women to truly become equal in

todays world. For both sexes to be completely and totally equal we must wipe clean the

expectations for each gender and stop the socialization of each gender and that is impossible to

do in todays world. I think if we could reset our expectations and not socialize children to their

genders then yes, men and women could be equal. Even in this situation biology would still play

a role in developing genders.

As men and women age they are treated differently. Men look distinguished as they age

and develop the classic salt and pepper hair and beard. However, when women begin showing

gray hairs, theyre expected and even encouraged to dye their hair to cover them. It appears men

are allowed, even encouraged to age, but women are expected to stay young and remain looking

youthful. There are hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of anti-aging skin care products targeted

towards women, yet they are not nearly as many for men.

Our society has made great strides towards gender equality. Whether we will ever

accomplish equality is debatable. How is equality defined? By wages? By political offices held?

The answer would change based on who is answering. I do not think we will ever be able to

reach true equality. There are always going to be some gender expectations and socializing
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children to their gender will continue. I think we have gotten very close, if not as close, as we

will ever get towards equality. Even if the wage gap is narrowed, will it ever be closed? When

laws are set in place to protect pregnant women in the work force, they are still discriminated

against. If we want to reach true equality, there is a lot of work to be done.

Reference List:

Strong, B., & Cohen, T.F. (2014). The Marriage and Family Experience: Intimate Relationships
in a Changing Society (12th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.