Cultures Culture Plays an Important

¶ … Cultures

Culture plays an important part in defining gender and gender roles in society. In fact, even within the same culture there may be considerable differences that occur due to the cleavage between urban and rural settings. Generally speaking, a rural environment usually follows tradition rather than modernization which is equal to traditional gender roles. The traditional gender role in the case of women implies taking care of the household and offspring, which is eventually conducive to a certain degree of confinement and isolation primarily due to being unemployed. In this sense, the most concise and clear expression of the traditional gender role can be encountered in early twentieth century Germany, where women's activities were reduced to the "three Ks" which stood for "Kinder, Kuche, Kirche" i.e. Children, Cooking and Churchgoing (Adler: xix). In fact, even in modern times things have not changed dramatically, even in industrialized and highly evolved societies. According to some sociologists, the most significant progress has been made by the United States and Canada where men have taken more active roles in child care and household chores (Ibid.). Thesis: This paper looks at the situation as far as gender roles in two dramatically different cultures, i.e. American and African, and consequently strives to provide an assessment of the impact of these differences on society as a whole, and on the individual. An immensely culturally rich society as the American one offers a very interesting model of gender roles. Moreover, one must also consider the economic character and opportunities that have contributed to shaping this particular gender role pattern. The biggest influence on gender roles can be found in the 1960s when the wave of student protests, civil rights movement, and sexual revolution was very strong generating an incredible shift in values which ultimately led to a change in mentalities. The advent of birth control, along with economic recession led to a decrease in birthrates and a considerable increase in the rate of women entering the labor force. Another important factor was that more and more jobs that had been traditionally reserved for men became available to women. In fact, there was a higher degree of openness between genders in the sense that more women were getting access to previously male-dominated fields while more and more men turned to traditionally 'women's professions' such as nursing and teaching. In order to be able to understand gender roles as adults we need to look at the role gender plays during childhood and young adulthood. For instance, one needs to take into consideration that as children, we are given gender-typical toys: dolls for girls and toy cars for boys; also, we are assigned gender-based chores, and our extracurricular activities are also - to a large extent - determined by our gender although this latter practice has seen a high degree of improvement over the past decade, with girls joining football teams and boys taking dance lessons for example. From childhood, gender contributes to boys and girls acquiring different skills and interests. Studies have shown that girls develop very good verbal communication skills whereas boys develop the ability to move and manipulate objects which later leads to their better coordination and technical skills. This could explain the widely spread stereotype that girls tend to be better at solving problems using especially verbal communication while boys undertake independent and more practical action. In fact, it is precisely this stereotype that has led to the perpetuation of the idea that girls are less practical and more passive than boys which translates to the same kind of stereotype when children reach adulthood. These differences based on gender definitely lead boys and girls having different notions of work, career path, etc. And might also influence their strife for success as they tend to take on jobs and tasks that are perceived as suitable for their gender. Similarly to the rest of the developing world, Africa encounters many problems as far as gender roles which have not improved significantly in recent years despite global action undertaken by international organizations. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has very little value in Africa because the ideal it is based upon, i.e. equality is not something to be found in the African society. The Declaration emphasizes the individual and largely neglects grounds whereas in Africa things are exactly the other way around as power belongs to groups. Gender roles in Africa are determined precisely by those criteria that the Declaration claims should not be used to label or harm the individual. In fact, African societies strongly rely on these differences that determine gender roles and are the main element which determines differentiation rather than equality as stated in the Declaration. Here, biology is the key to understanding social structure and consequently, gender roles which also vary among representatives of the same gender according to membership in groups.

In Africa, traditions are central to the group which fights to maintain its individuality. The macroeconomic situation of most African countries - with huge percentages of the population of the continent living in conditions of extreme poverty - along with a low level of education (even compared to other developing nations on other continents) are also factors which determine the very slow rate of progress made here. Women are powerless to a great extent. The best example of the power relations that exist in African society are illustrated by a common practice which relies on female genital operations that are harmful as far as health and incredibly painful and cruel. Despite international human rights laws, this practice is still widespread and is based solely upon tradition. Women are forced to undergo such procedures and are victims of domestic abuse, rape, and isolation, all in the name of tradition which supports the idea that both society and family are led by man. Even more worrisome is the aspect of the spread of deadly disease such as AIDS. About one quarter of the total population of the African continent is HIV positive with people dying every few minutes (SIDA: (http://www.sida.se/sida/jsp/sida.jsp?d=1313&a=1420&language=en_US).Unfortunately, these frightening statistics also rely on gender roles which in turn, are determined by tradition. Women are not allowed to make decisions and this includes their own body and health. Furthermore, they are obligated to consent to sexual intercourse even if it is unprotected. In fact, most African women do not have knowledge of methods of protection from sexually transmitted disease, and even in the cases when they do, things cannot be changed as men are the ones deciding whether or not protection should be used (Ibid.). And of course, in most cases, the answer is negative which accounts for the terrible statistics.