Are There Still Strict Male/Female Stereotypical Roles In Society?

We've certainly come a long way in society of gender specific rights and roles.

At one time women were not allowed to vote, not allowed to seek employment out of the household, etc.There was a general assumption that women were too emotional, not as intelligent as men, and needed protection from the cruel world.

They were supposed to be barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen. (I still know a few men who think this way.)

Today we have men as stay at home dads and women with powerful political careers. Times have indeed changed.

I am a stay at home mother with a husband that works long hours. I cook, clean, do the laundry, and do all the yard work, etc. While I hold a fairly traditional role, I also do things that were/are considered the man's "job". (I also know women who still feel this way.)

Stereotypically speaking dishes are a woman's job, and mowing the lawn is a man's job. While we can all pretty much agree that this line of thinking should be obsolete, I wonder how many still agree with gender specific roles.

Today most couples both work. And the household duties are shared equally (or should be ). Even when these duties are shared in my experience it is still gender specific. The woman may fix dinner and wash dishes while the man mows the lawn or washes the car. Both sexes can complete these tasks easily, so why is it still mostly done this way?

My father in law still blames divorce rates on women entering the work force and would probably starve to death if he had to fix his own plate of food. He is very old school in his beliefs.

So is "coming a long way" an assumption? We talk about equal rights, but are they?

I am really interested in whether other members see this occuring and if they themselves still do gender specific chores/duties. Is there anything wrong with thinking that there are specific female/male roles? How do you operate in your household?

Thoughts please.

Due to the nature of my work I have times when I'm mr mom, when I'm home everything gets done dishes,laundry, all the housework. She makes good money and has a job that can be stressful at times. When she gets home all she has to do is sit back and relax. It shouldn't be about male/female, things just need to get done and we work as a team. When we're both working we share the housework but most gets left until the weekend lol. I also feel that if your kids are old enough to help with chores that helps a lot too.

My husband and I are both pretty staunch feminists. In other words, we believe strongly in equal treatment and equal rights for men and women. It just happens that the roles we play are very traditional. He works at a job and makes the money to support the household and I do the work that maintains the home.

When we met, I was working, too. We both did housework, etc (although truth be told, I did most of it). At some point, we decided that it would work better for us if one of us brought in the money and the other took over the household maintenance. Since he made more than me, it was decided that he would do the money thing. There's no way I could make as much as he does, unless I went back to school.

There are still male/female roles in society, but I think it's easier and easier to break away from them without feeling like something is 'wrong' or that we're not fulfilling our duties. We have come a long way, but I don't think it's equal yet. Someday...

I work in the emergency medical field as an Information Systems specialist, and the one field I've seen is firefighter. The field is fully open to both sexes, most of the fire departments in my area highly welcome female applicants for open positions, but very few women want to or can pass the physical testing to do the job.

yes

For some people, there probably still are. For most, it's no longer much of an issue. And in either case, it's a pretty personal decision that really doesn't concern anyone else until and unless someone tried to inflict it on them.

Also, the firefighter example. Even that is not a stereotypical role. It is a job open to whoever can qualify for it. Many men cannot meet the physical or mental requirements. The fact that more men or more women either gravitate toward or can qualify for a specific job does not mean that that job is either restricted to or prohibited for a certain gender. No real issues here. I do think we've moved past this as a society.

I believe that there should be no gender roles in society; I'm a firm believer in meritocracy.

I have hardly hidden my disgust on ATS for feminists and their warped agenda of getting the best treatment for women and coercing women to conform to their own narrowly-defined roles.


I think that any male or female stereotypical roles are largely defined on a personal basis, rather than on a societal level.

For example, I personally don't like seeing women drinking like a navvy and stumbling around all over the place on a night out. Yet, there is no onus on them from society to not behave in that manner, and neither there should be, even so I personally don't like it. I'm not the moral police.


As for household chores, then that will vary from family to family, and it's up to each household to agree amongst themselves how they share and assign the jobs.

I don't think it's anybody else's business what each family decides to do around the house !


Also, in terms of gender roles, natural differences between the two genders can't be ignored.

Physical and manual labour will always be considered ''male'' jobs because men are generally stronger than women and will occupy most of these jobs. Similarly, a man will always be expected to step in and help a woman in distress or being harassed, because of his general physical advantage.

So, in general, everything should be based on merit, but we shouldn't be too surprised when general differences remain in some roles between the genders - not because of discrimination - but because men and women have some different biological and social needs and wants.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Your story sounds similar to mine. I always held a job as well. It took quite a while for me to get used to not working outside the home.

Thanks for your view.

reply to post by Sherlock Holmes


I pretty much agree with your entire post. You mentioned drunk women and I had to laugh. Even thouh I am female, I must say it does look worse when a woman acts that way. It disgusts me to see either sex sloppy drunk, but society has taught us it is more acceptable for a male to behave that way.

I noticed a few years back that when my mother and I would go out together, she would either remain in the car to finish her cigarette or put it out before she got out of the car. I asked why she did this. And was told that my father considered it trashy for a woman to smoke in public. I guess the older generations still cling to some stereotypes as well.