Essay Sample on Personal Story Related to Gender (Male)

Gender is the social construction of men, women, boy, and girls their roles and responsibilities in society. This roles and responsibilities are allocated to each gender depending on the community one come from. Gender stereotype (Ellemers, 2018), refers to a generalized view about characteristics and attributes that are possessed and performed by men and women. Gender stereotypes are considered to be harmful because they limit men and women's potential to advance their abilities and to pursue their dream careers and make decisions about their lives. Therefore, this paper will focus on my personal story related to gender stereotypes.

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Gender Stereotypes

In my society and culture, we have different ideas on how men and women should behave. Traditional, roles in my family dictate that I should act as a household head meaning am the primary provider in the house and main decision making an organ. Choices that I make ought to be respected and adhered to since (Ellemers, 2018), was viewed to be a symbol of authority in the household and that nobody should question whenever I make a decision. However, I recognize that the existence of social norms at the community level act as dictatorship and indignation to the dominant roles that am supposed to perform. It disgusts when I am told that my primary purpose is that of income earner and breadwinner in the family level yet both genders can present this.

On the other hand, in my community, a good husband is the one who provides things such as food, clothes and other necessities while other communities consider a good husband to be the one who pays all the bills in the house and earns a decent income which enables him to keep his family in good comfort. In return, this confuses me because I view it as a burden, and a frustration at the same time if I do not bind by the requirements of my society just because of my gender. Moreover, there is a perception that I must put in extra effort by working more hours to earn money which will cater to the needs of my family.

The conflict between My Own Belief and Other's Expectations

There exists a conflict of my own belief and other people's expectation of gender stereotypes. Women can also assume (Gather & Zipprian, 2016), the role of breadwinners at the family level by providing for the family. This is possible especially when they actively secure employment and even good salaries that enable them to meet the daily basic need of the family. For instance, transport cost, food, rent and other costs like hospital bills.

I feel like am total compelled by society to fit in it. Women are perceived to be homemakers, housekeepers and that they only perform household roles, therefore, end up assuming that men should take care of the family by providing all the requirements that are needed for survival

Conclusion

Gender roles should not be majorly based on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. Additionally, gender stereotypes have continued to be common in most societies; they continue to impact the behavior of both genders regardless of their origin. Conforming to the societal norms that are associated with gender is common. Undoubtedly, women and men share tribulations that emerge from gender stereotyping. Regardless of the society, the common perception is, men will receive hostile reception if they choose to violate gender stereotypes as compared to women. There should be an agreement of cost sharing between men and women at the family level to avoid overburdening one gender.

References

Ellemers, N. (2018). Gender stereotypes. Annual review of psychology, 69.Gather, C., Schurmann, L., & Zipprian, H. (2016). Self-employment of men supported by female breadwinners.

International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 8(4), 353-372. Retrieved on 19th March 2019 from https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/IJGE-07-2015-0026