Gender Roles   

Introduction

Gender roles are learnt behaviour. These roles keep changing related to different cultures in their social, economic and political domains. The values and norms of a culture are different from those of the others. There can be some definite form of universality in gender roles, yet to a great extent, they are determined culturally. 

It is hard to change gender roles, yet as they are formulated socially, so they are not static or unchangeable; it is possible to change them.

Concept of Gender Roles

Gender roles are such a group of cultural aspirations which mention of those methods according to which the member of a sex should behave himself. Under it are included the behaviour considered appropriate for man or woman, there attitudes, activities and the like. 

There are two meanings of gender role: First, gender role of people, in a way in which they express their gender identity which is thus determined; and second, the society determines gender role of people; it determines how a man and a woman should act himself or herself, and this goes on to assume the form of gender role. There are several complex forms of sex gender identity, and in daily social life, it is expressed in several ways, though the society prescribes different social roles of men and women according to their distinct groups.

Formulation of Gender Role Identity and Self-Concept in Different Cultures

                                                    Gender Socialization

Gender roles are learnt from the family, guardians, elder siblings and other role models. These role models are the ones who processes the same sex and behave themselves according to their sex. Learning continues to take place under diverse situations. Whenever a girl is given a doll and a boy, a gun, it is manifestation of gender identity. From the viewpoint of biological sex and social gender development, these can we seen as different facts. Physiologically when a child is two to three years of age, he starts to distinguish between boy and girl, and by the time he/she attends the age of five years, children dev clear stereotypes according to their sex. These stereotypes can pertain to their behaviour, attributes and experiences.

It has been often seen that girls and women possess a low self-concept about themselves. They do not consider themselves necessary, important and valuable. The way children are brought up plays a very important role in formulation of self-concept. In our culture, children are treated according to their respective sexes. Girls are attached less important and they are taken as a responsibility from which they have to get rid of. Boys are given special significance. Even a girl being brought up in a very caring home can often hear the guests saying: "She is a lovely girl indeed. How if she were born as a boy!" Small girls see how the boys are waited to be born (thinking that the next issue will be a boy ). And when he is born, people jump into rejoice. The people who have only girls are pitied. The discrimination between boys and girls can be felt and seen under several situations :

1. At Birth : When a boy is born, there is an atmosphere of joy and celebration in the family; and when a girl is born, the atmosphere turns sorrowful. Even the midwife (nurse) turn grievous as she would not get a tip for congratulation. According to the customs, the midwife plays a copper plate with a spoon when a boy is born, and she flings away an earthen pot when a girl is born. It simply means that the boy is a valuable like metal while the girl is nothing more than ash. Small girls observe all this, and they come to know that her brother is more important, boys are gems and girls, only stone.

2. Infancy : The mother breastfeeds boys more than girls. Even the mother is discriminated in terms of food and rest after she has born a girl. This disappointment is manifested in the behaviour of the family. Boys are affectionately brought up. According to a study, out of total of about 400 lullabies, only three have been meant for girls. A boy is the 'Raja beta' or the prince-boy while a girl, a curse.

3. Toddlers and Preschoolers : The children of two to three years of age come to know whether they are boy or girl. They are named according to their sex. They are given different types of clothes, toys and even food. Girls are given dolls and utensils to play with, while boys are given guns and aeroplanes.

4. 6-10 Years Old : In the middle class families, not much difference is found between boys and girls when it comes to height and weight, yet generally most girls are found to be underfed and underweight. The sequence in which food is served at home is quite evident: father, then son and then mother and daughters. Even in prosperous homes, the best food is served to men. (Good pieces of meat and fish are given to men and boys.) Girls just look at them greedily and assimilate the inferior importance being given to them. Often, old men and women can be seen emphasizing that it is better to feed girls less: high protein ans good food leads to mature girls sooner than later, and they start the puberty age.

5. Puberty : The girl's puberty is looked at like a calamity and it is considered that they need to be guarded until they are married. In South India, there are varied and extensive customs at puberty, and sometimes, there can be several causes of her shaming who have to wear half saree or long skirt, and boys mock at them. Often, girls are kept away from school during their menstruation period, or they drop out themselves. As they take admission late, there education is interrupted when they are just 8 or 9 years of age; and they fail to complete primary education even.

6. Rituals, Festivals and Folksongs : Girls grow up seeing boys at the centre of all domestic festivals and customs. Small girls observe fasts wishing for a good husband, while women observe fasts for long lives of their husbands. Fasts are also observed for birth of sons. There are several festivals which are boy-centered, as Rakshabandhan and Bhaiya Dooj. On these occasions, sisters daub on their forehead of their brothers and tie a sacred coloured thread round their wrists and pray for the long lives, and in return, they get an assurance for care and security. The brother may be howsoever small, he thinks it his birthright to restrain his elder sisters. Girls have to depend on boys under all circumstances, whether small or big; their place lies just here.

Some Examples of Gender Roles Difference--

・ In Hindu families, small girls in pre-puberty stage are worshipped and adorned taking them as incarnation of Goddess Durga on the occasion of Navratras, but as soon as their stage of puberty begins, they are considered defiled and kept away from the ritual. 

• There are several folksongs and customs in which girls are repeatedly told that their house of birth is only transient, and their real home is that of her husbands. They are constantly prepared and trained that they have to be cooperative and obedient to their husbands, they are forbidden to raise their voice or answer rudely; they are asked to keep their glance low. 

• Girls are not allowed to play outside after sunset. On the contrary, boys are permitted to play in open places, even in roads and streets. 

• The wedding songs are all aimed at  preparing a girl for wearing with all types of maltreatment and physical violence, and you can find a glimpse of all this quite often.

• Then there is an eternal impediment: that is to search a suitable life partner and anxiety for dowry. Girls parents are perennially anxious, which cultivates a sense of inferiority and hesitation in girls, and they keep looking at themselves helplessly and desperately. Some of them, in order to save their parents from the trauma, end their lives. 

• Boys are not only given good food and better medical facilities, they are but also encouraged to be aggressive. If they come victorious in street fighting, they are given positive reinforcement. And in fact, if boys come home beaten and crying, they are mocked at and they are told,  "Are you a girl that you are crying you are disgrace bear the bangles and sit at home like girls all this cultivates are restlessness in voice where they are expected to image brave aggressive fighter and victorious

Boys are trained for outside or market chores, while girls are trained for domestic chores; girls are asked to care of younger siblings, the sick, domestic cattle, fill water and gather fuel etc. In fact, they are prepared for such domestic roles of the future as they are imagined to play those roles in the future. Thus, boys become outgoing, extrovert and enterprising, while girls are restrained within the four walls of the house. Boys are pressurized to be achievers, productive and helpful to parents; and owing to this pressure, they are sent out to the unknown world at a comparatively delicate stage, which often leads to their being victims of troubles, crime and addiction etc.

Some Additional Instances and Episodic Narrations

The women who bear boys are given good food, rest and clothes etc., while those who bear girls are neglected and disrespected; who would like to have a fate like this? Therefore, the best suitable modern method is not to bear girls at all; so, females are destroyed at the foetus or infant stage or they are poisoned. Women hate themselves being women, as they are often victimized of violence and comments. In such a case, they would not like to bear a child who would be victimized alike and be a tool for additional spending of the family. There are several sayings in India which say that spending on girls is like watering the neighbour's plants.

Old people bless women to bear a son. In a Punjabi saying, women are blessed to be Satputri, or the one who bears seven sons. As soon as the newly-wed bride steps into the house, a boy is placed in her lap and worshipped with til (linseed, a type of oil seed), and women sing that she should bear as many sons as there are the seeds. In the morning, when the bride touches her mother-in-law's feet, they are blessed that her Suhag or husband should live long as her fate is linked with him. Small girls often observe that women pray for the birth of sons, for having husbands like Shiva and fast for long age of their husbands and sons. No such fasting is done for girls or their long age. If a boy is born after a girl, she is considered auspicious and fortunate.

Girls experience open discrimination in food, game and medical facilities even. Boys and men are given better food, while girls are given less so that they do not grow like 'a pole'. Game is considered a natural need for boys while girls are kept within the four walls of the house right since puberty, and are sent out only in the company of some men (whether grown up or younger brother).  They are made to feel weakness every moment, and mothers can we seen lamenting often, "When shall we get rid of this calamity? She is sure to bring in fancy." Even younger brothers mock at her why she stood at the doorway. She is forbidden from jumping, running and playing life physical activities. "Do this and don't do that," are the common injections that are passed to her always. What they should eat, what they should wear, which school they should go, which game they should play, which festival they have to attend, with whom they have to be married, etc, all decisions pertaining to them are taken by others.

Conclusion :

Often it is seen that the relation between gender identity and gender roles is not clear. It is possibly due to the fact that the meanings of sex and gender have been oversimplified. It is thought that a person will be either a man or a woman fully, that is, a man will carry out the gender role of a man, and a woman will play a feminine role. In the modern times, we can see variations in it such as in cross-dressing in which women wear manly dresses, and the other way round is also true.

Several anthropologist studies revealed that gender roles are in fact a form of labour division. There is no uniformity in different social and cultural definitions what is masculine or what is feminine social behaviour and role. This distinction can be found in different societies and communities. In the same society too, the gender roles undergo a change with time. It is mainly related to social definition and social meaning attached to them. The gender role defined by our society has a far-reaching and intense impact on the lives of men and women. They provide a structure for formulation of gender identity.