Gender and Women free essay sample

Since the beginning of human civilization man has looked down on women. With the average role in a womans life is at home mom. But it was not till recently that, that role was look down on. Not all civilizations were treated women with poor conditions. In many ancient civilizations women were basically equal to men besides in Rome, women could not have political power. In Egypt women were equal to men in all ways under the law and could become pharaohs both civilizations treated women better than the world does now in the recent one hundred years. These conditions were better than the ones in the more recent years. Back then women stood home and since then it has become the norm for women to be there. Usually it would be men out working and women in the house taking care of the kids. Sexism. What is it sexism? Sexism is the ideology that one sex is superior. We will write a custom essay sample on Gender and Women or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Define by SOCIOLOGY A Brief Introduction by Richard T. Schaefer. Stereotypes and sexism go hand in hand because of sexism forces a stereotype and makes it seem natural â€Å"common sense† for a person. â€Å"People organize their knowledge about the world around them by sorting and simplifying received information. Therefore, they create cognitive schemes, which are certain representations of the reality displaying its most typical and fundamental elements and properties. These schemes are responsible for defining the essence of our worldview and have a significant influence on social cognition – understanding, anticipation, and situation and emotion control. † (Wolska). Stereotypes sometimes produce a false image of the actual photo. It’s customary to think patriarchy is the way to go with a family. Because growing up they’re gender roles being placed on us. As kids we’re being programed to know and believe these gender roles, by the time kids reach the ages of 3 or 4 children they start to identify the stereotypes of male and female (AdvertEnticement). The main way these roles and stereotypes are fed to us through media consumption. As kids girls are giving Barbie dolls with cooking at home play sets. Young girls start to accept this stereotype. Boys are given G. I. Joe â€Å"Action Figures† with military weapons like rifles and grenades don’t forget the cars. The clothes we wear, the colors we like, are all programmed into our heads before we’re in grade school. A boy cannot wear a dress without him being looked down on and being teased and made fun of (AdvertEnticement). The way they do it through media is through commercials. Boys and girls have set stereotypes of their own â€Å"More and more commercials are directed to children. They indicate ‘the proper place’ in the society for girls and boys. Girls are shown as babysitters nursing dolls or cleaning house with a pink cleaning kit, whereas boys do sports or play computer games† (Wolska). Commercials are a huge way of aiming products at people and they follow the stereotypes of sexism. â€Å"Commercials are the vast source of gender stereotyping, because they are adapted to the specific, either male or female target, and are ‘the reflection of the recipient’. The aim of the modern commercial is not only the satisfaction of needs but also their creation. † Women and Men are targeted differently when it comes to commercials. â€Å"Women are more often presented in commercials, because they are seen as responsible for making everyday purchases. Men generally advertise cars, cigarettes, business products or investments, whereas women are shown rather in the commercials with cosmetics and domestic products. † (Wolska). Women are usually shown in doors as a man is shown outdoor. A common commercial for women is â€Å"a housewife obsessed by a steam on a new tablecloth or a woman whose main problem is lack of ideas for dinner. † Men as shown as â€Å"athletic, successful, professional, seducer with a beautiful woman by his side. He also has a branded car and a smartphone. † In media men are shown as big and strong, supplier of the family. Commercials still see the world as a patriarchy, mass media, and uses gender stereotypes because, they are well known to everyone and help the receivers to understand the content of the message. (Wolska). During World War II men were sent to war and women were in charge of maintain things while there were gone. This created an idea where these roles of man working and women at home customary. Women didn’t start seeing any change in their rights until the 1920s with the 19th amendment giving them hope helping out the suffrage movement gave women independence. Fast forward 20 years men are going to war and commercials and ads are different. During World War II women have to start doing the â€Å"manly† jobs women become factory workers. Different advertising being release with the icon of women like Rosie the Riveter strong and hard working. â€Å"When the United States entered the war, 12 million women (one quarter of the workforce) were already working and by the end of the war, the number was up to 18 million (one third of the workforce). While ultimately 3 million women worked in war plants, the majority of women who worked during World War II worked in traditionally female occupations, like the service sector. The number of women in skilled jobs was actually few. Most women worked in tedious and poorly paid jobs in order to free men to take better paying jobs or to join the service. The only area that there was a true mixing of the sexes was in semiskilled and unskilled blue-collar work in factories. Traditionally female clerical positions were able to maintain their numbers and recruit new women. These jobs were attractive because the hours were shorter, were white-collar, had better job security, had competitive wages, and were less physically strenuous and dirty. The demand for clerical workers was so great that it exceeded the supply† (NSP). Women can only work factory jobs when men were out to war. Prior to the war women had nursing jobs or were just domesticated. Once the men leave for their â€Å"superior role† women start doing the factory work. They still had to do a double shift in the sense that they had their at home job, taking care of the kids and, their job, job. Even though we now have women working and supporting the family we still have the gender roles applying here on a bigger scale. The men would leave the country to support the country while the women would stay in the country taking care of the kids and making sure everything was still in place when the man came back. â€Å"After the war, the cultural division of labor by sex reasserted itself. Many women remained in the workforce but employers forced them back into lower-paying female jobs. Most women were laid off and told to go back to their homes. †(NSP) After the men came back women were just kicked out. Nothing changed and that’s the problem with sexism everyone is brainwashed into thinking these things it suggest are real and it’s impossible to break the norms.