Gender roles

Gender roles are the expectations society put on us based on our gender and mainly our birth sex.

Clothing and appearance reflect a lot about the gender roles… For example, there’s almost always sections for clothing separated for women and men. The women’s section is always filled with dresses and skirts, blouses, crop tops with warm and vibrant colors while the men’s section is always with button up shirts, polos, trousers with cold and dull colors. It’s unbelievable to me because, clothing are just pieces of fabric sew together why does it need to be assigned a gender? According to the judgements from the society men are not allowed to wear nail polish. Why? Nails are just a part of your body made of keratin… Nearly everyone has nails and if they’re in healthy state and you’re interested in painting them why not ignore others’ judgements and try it out?

What is so feminine about pink and what is so masculine about blue? They’re colors, they don’t represent gender in any way. “Assigning colors to babies enforces a role that they are supposed to grow and fit into. There are only two colors, also enforcing that there are only two genders you’re allowed to claim. If you’re a girl, you have to like pink, and that also means you’re girly. If you’re a boy, you have to have blue, and you CANNOT like pink, or else you aren’t manly enough. If you’re a girl and you like blue, you’re a tomboy, and you aren’t seen as a strong female, but instead as a girl who doesn’t know how to be a proper girl.”( Maleigha Michael, 2018)

Occupations and jobs are also limited by gender, public relations, nursing, and teaching are considered to be for women while stock trading, engineering, and construction are considered to be for men. In most straight relationships’ women are also expected to stay at home while as men go out to work and earn most of the family’s income.

Overall, gender is just a social contrast of rules and expectations society put on us and you should represent your appearance in whatever way you feel comfortable in. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but your appearance has nothing to associate with your gender or sexuality. Be yourself.

Brenda Zhao 8.1

Sources:

Inc., P. P. F. of A. (2021). Gender Identity & Roles: Feminine Traits & Stereotypes. Planned Parenthood. https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/gender-identity/sex-gender-identity/what-are-gender-roles-and-stereotypes#:~:text=What%20are%20gender%20roles%3F,polite%2C%20accommodating%2C%20and%20nurturing.

Doering, L., & Thébaud, S. (2018, July 23). How occupations become gendered: A look at microfinance. Gender and the Economy. https://www.gendereconomy.org/how-occupations-become-gendered/#:~:text=There%20is%20a%20general%20consensus,%E2%80%9Cmale%2Dgendered%E2%80%9D%20occupations.

Michael, M. (2018, June 25). Sexism in Colors – Why is Pink for Girls and Blue for Boys? UMKC Womens Center. https://info.umkc.edu/womenc/2018/06/25/8369/.

World Health Organization. (2019). Gender and health. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/health-topics/gender#tab=tab_1.