The gender role is associated with the behaviors that are considered appropriate for women and men in a given society.
Role is a term that comes from the English role , although its etymological origin is in the French rôle . The notion refers to the function or role that an individual assumes in a certain context.
Gender , for its part, is a concept with several uses. In this case, we are interested in its meaning as the group of living beings that have certain characteristics in common.
What is gender role
The idea of gender role is associated with the concept of gender in the social sciences . Gender is a social construction that attributes to men and women various different characteristics according to biological sex. Continuing with this reasoning, the gender role is the role that men and women must assume according to social mandates.
Gender role, in other words, refers to the behaviors that are considered appropriate for men and women within a society . These behaviors depend on the idea that the community has about masculinity and femininity .
In Western countries, the traditional gender role indicates that men should go out to work while women take care of household chores.
The personal feeling
Experts affirm that the personal feeling of the gender role is what is known as gender identity : while gender identity is the perception that a person has about themselves regarding feeling like a woman or a man, the gender role is the public manifestation of said perception.
If we take the most traditional and widespread gender roles, we can say that, in Western society, women must take care of their children and do housework while men must go out to work to guarantee the material support of their family . . Of course, this vision is stereotyped and is no longer fulfilled as frequently, partly because of the new professional opportunities that women have, but also because of the adoption of a more open and egalitarian social model.
Just as some people continue to respect this distinction between men and women, there are those who see them as equal beings, with the same rights and obligations towards society, so that if a heterosexual couple has children, either of them can decide freely. take care of them and maintain the house or go out to get the money to meet the expenses. This means that both can assume "half" of the responsibilities for their family group: that they both take care of the children and take care of their upbringing, at the same time that they pursue their goals on a professional level.
Gender role: the case of Japan
In Japan, for example, the differences between the role of men and women are very defined, and this may be difficult to believe at first glance, given that it is one of the countries considered synonymous with advancement and cutting-edge technology. . Various surveys carried out on Japanese women with a high level of education and with jobs that would be enviable in other parts of the world have brought to light that many of them do not feel satisfied with the conditions that companies in their own nation impose on them. , only because of their sex .
The gender role in Japan can be difficult for many women, but there are also those who are grateful not to find themselves in the situation of men, since they assure that they bear the brunt : while women have lower salaries and must take care of the house and the children , men tend to have harder, more demanding jobs, both physically and emotionally. In such a demanding and perfectionist society, where arriving a few minutes early for an appointment is not recommended but almost mandatory , it may be preferable to be on the side that generates fewer expectations .