The recent presentation on gender roles was a good exploration of the gender stereotypes that are pervasive in western society. I thought that the survey the group did was a really good idea, because it focused not only on personal opinion but also on personal history. Beyond that, though there were some criticisms of the survey, I thought that, though it wasn’t perfect, it definitely did cover a lot of area and was applicable not just to heterosexual relationships but to all kinds of relationships.
One point about the survey that I did agree with is that personal family histories have become greatly complicated by the rising rate of divorce and single parenthood. However, I think a lot of what the survey results indicated (that women typically do more household work; men typically do more ‘outside’ or ‘handy’ work in relationships) does show what a majority of relationships in the U.S. look like. But what was encouraging is that, even though stereotypes may be slow to change, the reality of gender roles is changing at a very fast pace. A lot of people who took the survey said that their parents shared the work; and many also said that they would want an egalitarian marriage or at least something very close to egalitarian.
Hopefully the group’s research showed a positive prognosis of gender roles, and that we are moving towards a more egalitarian society. Of course, Jessica Valenti has good points when she says that feminism isn’t over, that we as a society still must fight for total gender equality, as well as equality in other areas. But it’s hard to deny that a lot of progress has taken place in the past few decades. I hope we can continue that progress.
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