Gender Role

According to the holy bible, the god made a woman from a man’s rib. This shows that from ancient time, a woman already became dependent on a man. Today, that opinion seems to be changing. Many countries on the world admit to gender equality among men and women. However, there are some people still think that woman are born to be subordinate to men. What factors make these people always think like that? Are they biological, or social and cultural factors?

Some scientists and theorists believe that there are some differences between men and women because of biological differences. First, they differ from genetic structure. Men have one “X” chromosome and one “Y” chromosome while women have both “X” chromosome. Second, there is hormonal difference between men and women. Testosterone (aggression) and androgen are higher in men while estrogen and others are higher in women. Third, they have a different gonadal and genital. Men have penis and testes while women have clitoris and ovaries. And also there is evidence that there is a brain function difference. Women’s brains have a larger corpus callosum than men have. These biological differences give males and female slight differences in motivation.

And they explain why women are more intuitive and better at expressing their emotions while according to Hamilton McCubbin and Barbara Blum Dahl, former professor at the University of Minnesota assume that “men are better at dealing with abstract concepts”. They also prove that women are physically weaker than men; women are more verbal while men are more oriented to actions; women are more diplomatic, men are more direct and also women are more nurturant while men are more instrumental.

According to Hamilton McCubbin and Barbara Blum Dahl, “most differences between females and males are learned through family interactions, socialization in schools, and the mass media”. The first thing most parents learn about their newborn is whether the child is a boy or a girl. From that moment, most of those children act in a certain ways. Girls play with doll and make up while boys play with balls, sticks, trucks etc. Boys don’t cry and girl don’t hit. Girls are allowed a little more behavioral flexibility than boys early on. There are also differences on clothing styles, hair styles etc. between males and females. These social differences prove that men are prone to aggressive, assertive, inexpressive actions while women are prone to passive, expressive ones. They also explain why men are more likely than women to ask for directions if they’re lost, girls tend to share secrets more with their good friends than boys do etc.

According to http://library.thinkquest.org/17067/you/nfgender.html, the number of women show on TV is far smaller than the number of men shown. Women are under represented in television about 3:1. It also shows that when we watch TV ads, we see that women are always connected somehow with ads for soap or for food products that need cooking. The mend tend to be focus in any ads involving something mechanical. That’s why women usually choose careers like nurses, secretaries, and early childhood teachers while men usually are doctors, truckers, police officers etc.

Research from around the world has shown that gender inequality tends to slow economic growth and make the rise from poverty more difficult. Today there is half of the world’s population is female, hence, the extent to which women and girls benefit from development policies and programs has a major impact on countries’ development success. That’s why one country that wants to progress quickly have to promote gender equality and empower women.