I am in total agreement with Melaina from transatlantic blonde that gender roles are socially constructed. I have always been fascinated by Margaret Mead’s study where she investigated three different tribes in New Guinea looking at gender roles. The first Mundugumar showed both males and females having typical masculine behaviour of aggression and avioding child rearing! The second the Arapesh all displayed characteristics associated with femininity, they were all gentle and caring. Finally she looked at the Tchambuli where men wore make up and shopped whilst the woman were out hunting.
Now if that isn’t evidence for the social construction of gender I’m not sure what is!
But where does it leave me and parenting. Umm raising very gender based children actually and why? I guess its because of societies pressure but more than that I blame the media.
Anne Oakly claimed that we canalise and manipulate our children through the toys we buy, the clothes they wear and the language we use. Yes- guilty as charged I call my girls princess, my boy is a buster at times. Have you ever tried not to do it? Its very difficult.
Take a peek at the argos book, the ‘girls’ toys are all on pages adorned with a pink background and the boys blue. The TV programmes still stick to the time tested stereotypes. Soap operas are the worst though, with their stereotypical roles and responsibilities. Does it matter though?
Thankfully I don’t think it does too much. Society has got so much better, Education doesn’t treat the genders too differently anymore (contact sport being the only difference) both genders have equal access to subjects although there still remains a gender gap in the take up of these options. The family has improved, with a step away from the traditional roles and embracing a more family friendly approach. Many men have moved away from the sole provider role and takes a more intimate role withing the family and especially with the relationship they have with their children. I class myself as a liberal feminist, I can see the improvements in society and I know we are finally on the right road, to equality.
Another reason is that as individual human beings we have free choice. So that child we created and manipulated will become a tween, then a teenager and finally an adult and on that, at times rocky road, they will make their own choices and that is why even the little girl dressed from head to toe in pink, playing with her dolls may well grow up to never wear a skirt again and pierce her body, have tatoo’s and climb trees! Thank goodness for that, because I am glad we have free choice. All I want to do as a parent is make sure me three gorgeous children have choices and hopefully they will make choices that make them happy.
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I love Margaret Mead and her work. My feminist views were very much shaped through the lens of anthropology actually!
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
– Margaret Mead