|
|
Human beings are deeply influenced by and involved with other people. Through socialization people adapt and learn to modify their behaviour, thoughts, feelings and attitudes according to the requirements of their culture and society. Through socialization gender roles are learned and developed. Gender roles greatly influence how we think and behave. According to traditional stereotypes men are strong and dominant, whereas females are submissive. Gender stereotypes disadvantage and discriminate women in the workplace, at home and in society as a whole. Gender stereotypes create bias and prejudices against women, which in turn, can create tokenism. Gender stereotypes mainly constrain women in that in society there is an underlying belief that a woman has to be ‘masculine’ to succeed in a male world. People are adaptable and learn to modify their behaviour, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes according to the requirements of their culture. Every society trains its young to function within its own view of the world and according to the rules and regulations that control that world. Every society tries to raise its young so that they will accept the ideas and values of that society (Romer, 1981, p.15). The name given to this process that insures the next generation’s adherence to the society’s ideas and values is socialization. Most people eagerly participate in the process of socialization: they want to fit in, to be like other people in their social world (Romer, 1981, p.15). This is especially true of children who are constantly trying to make sense of the world around them. Most children do not cast judgements on their socialization experiences as much as they willingly accept them. It does not take long for people to grow accustomed to the society into which they are born and to monitor their own behaviour, thoughts and feelings so as to be in harmony with their surroundings (Romer, 1981, p.16). In turn, individuals are likely to go on to influence and socialize others as they have been socialized themselves. Socialization experiences in childhood prepare people for the social roles they will be expected to assume as adults. In almost every society, gender is one of the most basic and important social categories. Gender, of course, is also a biological category. It becomes a social category when a society requires certain behaviour of women and men that is directly attributable to their biological differences. Almost every society has fashioned a division of labour around sex that goes far beyond childbirth and nursing. Socialization involves acquiring a gender role. Gender roles refer to traditional or stereotypic behaviours, attitudes and personality traits that society designates as masculine or feminine (Plotnik, 1999, p.340). Gender roles greatly influence how we think and behave. The formation of gender roles has occurred over centuries. The expectations of what it means to be masculine and what it means to be feminine have been moulded, changed, and redefined, as men and women have dealt with new settings, new environments, and new cultures (Forisha, 1978, p.20). Although gender roles are dynamic, they have become institutionalised in each culture and are thus difficult to change. As children grow and change, their needs, experiences, and ways of organizing their thoughts about the world change. Their understanding of the social world in general and of gender roles in particular becomes more sophisticated and complex (Romer, 1981, p.18). According to social learning theorists such as Bandura (1979), children acquire their gender identities and gender-role preferences in two ways. Firstly, through direct tuition, children are encouraged and rewarded for gender appropriate behaviours and are discouraged or otherwise punished for behaviours considered more appropriate for members of the opposite sex.
|
