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Gender Roles in Marriage

Marriage is an institution that influences gender roles, inequality, and change. In the United States, gender roles are communicated. by the media, social interaction, and language. Through these platforms society has influenced individuals to fulfill the stereotypical gender roles within a heterosexual marriage starting out at a young age. Although traditionally, society claims that roles within a heterosexual marriage should be decided based on one’s biological sex, today individuals are determining their own roles for themselves, ultimately creating equal partnerships.  Communication of Gender Roles in the United States.

In the U.S., marriage roles are generally decided based on gender. For approximately the past seven decades, heterosexual marriage roles have been defined for men and women based off of society’s expectations and the influence of the media. Men and women are typically associated with certain social roles dependent upon the personality traits associated with those roles. Traditionally, the role of the homemaker is associated with a woman and the role of a breadwinner is associated with a male. Typically, women are concerned with caring for the family and the home while men are typically providing for the family. This ultimately portrays the man as a leader and the woman as the follower.

Media

In today’s society, people are generally unable to avoid exposure to most types of media. It seems inevitable for society to be influenced by the media and what it is portraying. Roles are gendered, meaning that both males and females are viewed and treated differently according to their biological sex, and because gendered roles are learned, the media has a direct impact on individuals. Thinking about the way in which couples act on romantic television shows or movies and the way women are portrayed as passive in magazine ads, reveals a lot about how gender roles are viewed in society and in heterosexual marriages. Traditional gendered roles view the man as a “pro-creator, a protector, and a provider,” and the woman as “pretty and polite but not too aggressive, not too outspoken and not too smart.” Media aids in society conforming to these traditional gendered views. People learn through imitation and social-interaction both in the physical world and through the media; television, magazines, advertisements, newspapers, the internet, etc.

Social Interaction

Gendered roles in heterosexual marriages are learned through imitation. People learn what society views as appropriate gender behaviors from imitating the repetition of actions by one’s role-model or parent of the same biological sex. Imitation in the physical world that impacts one’s gendered roles often comes from role-modeling parents, peers, teachers, and other significant figures in one’s life. In a marriage, often times each person’s gendered roles are determined by their parents. If the wife grew up imitating the actions of traditional parents, and the husband non-traditional parents, their views on marital roles would be astonishingly different. People acquire these stereotypical roles through a reward and punishment system. When a little girl imitates her mother by performing the traditional domestic duties she is often rewarded by being told she is doing a good job. Non traditionally, if a little boy was performing the same tasks he would more likely be punished due to acting feminine. Because society holds these expected roles for men and women within a marriage, it creates a mold for children to follow.

Language

Individual roles are gendered by social interaction, the media, and language. There are certain stereotypes society places on the way men and women communicate. Women are often believed to talk too much while men talk too little. Men are stereotyped to be more of a public speaker and leader, while women are stereotyped to talk more in private among their family and friends. For women, society views their use of communication as a way to express feelings and emotions. For men, society views their use of communication as a way to express power and negotiate status among other individuals. There are also certain societal stereotypes about how men and women communicate within a heterosexual marriage or relationship. When a man and a women are communicating within their relationship, the traditional language roles are altered. The man becomes more passive and the woman becomes more active. A man’s stereotypical silent communication style is often disappointing for women, while a woman’s emotionally articulate communication style is often seen as aggravating for a man. This creates the assumption that women and men have opposing communication styles, therefore creating society’s cliche that men and women don’t understand each other. This leads to many inter-relational quarrels because of one individual blaming the other for communicating inefficiently due to using the communication style that society has constructed according to their biological sex.

Changing Gender Roles in Marriage

Over the years, gender roles have continued to change and have a significant impact on the institution of marriage. Gender roles can be defined as the behaviors, values, and attitudes that a society considers appropriate for both male and female. Due to various movements, such as the Women’s Rights Movement, gender roles have begun to change.Traditionally, men and women had completely opposing roles, men were seen as the provider for the family and women were seen as the caretakers of both the home and the family. However, in today’s society the division of roles are starting to blur. More and more individuals are adapting non-traditional gender roles into their marriage in order to share responsibilities. This revolutionary view on gender roles seeks out equality between sexes. In today’s society it is more likely that a man and woman are both providers for their family. More and more women are entering the workforce while more men are contributing to household duties. Despite the fact that there is still a gap between gender roles, today, roles are less gendered and more equal in comparison to how they were traditionally.