Gender Phycology: The Role of a Man and Woman
Studying psychology of the man and the woman, their differences from each other, has a direct relation not only to the person, but to all society as a whole. The questions connected with features of a sex of a person and its psychological distinctions, recently often are included into number of most actively discussed problems in a society. The main reason for this is that the role of the man and the woman in the public environment undergoes considerable changes today. The social psychology of a gender is a huge field for studying of installations, prejudices, discrimination, social perception and self-perception, self-esteem, occurrence of social norms and roles.
In psychology the gender is socially biological characteristic with the help of which people make definition of concepts “man” and “woman”. Social psychologists consider that the two principal causes why people try to correspond to gender expectations are a standard and information pressure. The term «standard pressure» describes the mechanism of how the person is compelled to be arranged under public or group expectations so the society would not reject it. Punishment for refusal following gender roles can be severe. Ajatolla Khomeini, the governor of Iran with 1979 to the middle of 1980th has cancelled all the laws giving to women any rights, and has sentenced to the death penalty in the general complexity of 20 thousand women which did not observe the accurate rules regulating their clothes and behavior.
Rudiments of differential socialization can be seen before a birth of the child. As an example, the desire of parents and surrounding people to know who will be born, the boy or the girl. Much depends on this: as they will name him, what clothes, toys will buy, as he will bring up. Already in 3 years children with confidence carry themselves to a man’s or female gender, it is called as gender identification. At this time children start to notice that men and women try to look, be engaged differently in different activity and are interested in different things. In the course of differential socialization the role of children’s toys is very great. Toys and games help girls to practice those kinds of activity which are connected with preparations for motherhood and being a housewife, develop ability to communicate and skills of cooperation. Boy’s toys induce to invention, world around transformation, help to develop skills which will lay down in a basis of spatial and mathematical abilities later, encourage independent, competitive and leader behavior.
Part 1. The restrictions, imposed by a traditional woman’s role.
One of the considerable restrictions imposed by a traditional female role presently is that the working woman continues bearing the burden of household chores and responsibility for children. The working woman carries out on the average 69 % of housework. The increase in a share of time which women devote to work has led to only small reduction of their house duties, but the quantity of time spent on caring about children remains invariable. In work a woman has usually lower status than a man. The majority of the most prestigious trades in our society like science officers, doctors, professors of universities are literally occupied by men.
Women, which try to create a career, sometimes face such phenomenon as «a glass ceiling». This metaphor expresses the fact that in some organizations there is an invisible ceiling above which women cannot promote. The standard stereotypes, assuming that men are much better leaders than women, are partly responsible for existence of “a glass ceiling».
Many people consider that everyone in this life deserves what receives and receives what deserves. We are necessary for believing that it is so. This concept «such is a life», as a social psychologist of M.G.Lerner says, often helps men and women to justify obvious social inequality about which we speak. This concept leads to occurrence of negative stereotypes where women are considered as a “weaker sex” on purpose to explain their lower status and low payment of work.
Part 2. The restrictions, imposed by a man’s role.
Today a few researches exist concerning restrictions, which are imposed by a traditional man’s role. Psychologists have started to study a woman’s role after the attention of a society has been involved by feminist movement of the low social status of women.
For the last some years the man’s role has used escalating attention of researchers. The structure of role norms of the man develops from three factors. The first is connected with expectations that men win the status and respect of others (norm of the status). The second factor, norm of hardness, reflects expectation from the man of intellectual, emotional and physical hardness. The third factor is an expectation of that the man should avoid female employment and activity kinds (norm of antifeminity). The norm of success (status) – a gender stereotype asserting that social value of the man is defined by size of its earnings and success at work. Variety of restrictions is connected with this norm for the man.
Men are inclined to choose work and career depending on how many well it is paid. Financial pressure especially burdens those men, whose wives keep the house and do not work. If some persons depend on you economically, it seriously presses on mentality. The point of view is that the main duty of the man in a family –to bring the big salary regularly and of course it negatively influences on the execution of parental functions.
Also there is an assumption that the fear of feminity occurs from fear of homosexuality and is caused by a social context which usually attributes homosexuality to men with lines of feminity.
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How great is the difference between men and women? From all aforesaid it is possible to draw a conclusion that gender distinctions are not too great as it is considered to be. We cannot tell with absolute confidence in any way that gender distinctions can be proved biologically. Our gender role is influenced by a large quantity of external factors since the birth. We observe the behavior of our parents and other adults, try to imitate people of the gender, we play certain games. Mass media create stereotypes of feminity and courage which we cannot disregard in our society. We grow, trying to correspond in the majority to our role, to be the real man or the real woman, but not always agreeing with the things which a society orders us.
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One Comment to “Gender Phycology: The Role of a Man and Woman”
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Very nice blog. I totally agree with your thoughts.