Gender Roles

Throughout life every man and woman fits into a specific gender role. We are told what is expected of men and women from birth until death. Many people influence our view of how we should act and what we should so suck as our parents, friends, and even the media. Males and females play very different roles and these differences are apparent in our every day lives. These differences are not the same as they used to be. Society has changed the way it treats men and women over time.

Around the beginning of the 20th century men and women had very specific gender roles. Women in the past we usually looked at as the homemaker types. Very few women had jobs of any type during this time period. Women usually stayed home and cared for children and cared for the home. At this time women had no voting rights either. They were practically a man's property.

Men of this time period also played a different role than they do today. The males of this era made all of the money for the household. They were the ones who went to work and provided for the family. They were looked upon as the head of the family and were expected to act as such. Males were also the ones who voted, so all of the leaders around this time were elected by men.

Women are still expected to care for the children and take care of the home, but it is more acceptable these days for a man to take a more active role in sharing those types of responsibilities. The gender roles we have now are much less defined. In old times, women were put in a place under men and could not move from that. They could not strive to be better and they could not challenge the way society thought. This is simply not the case today. Our society has advanced to the point where there are not such defined boundaries on what a woman can achieve. Many women have accomplished achievements that early 20th century women didn't even dream about such as voting. Voting was a right gained by women in 1920. The 19th amendment says that "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." This was a great victory for women. Also,