Gender Role Socialization: Family, School, and Media

Introduction

Gender roles are the behaviors, traits, and expectations linked to women and men through socialization, according to Janice Lee and Amie Ashcraft (2005). Gender roles define what it means to be a feminine or masculine person, and throughout one's lifetime there is an enormous amount of social pressure to conform to them (Lee, 2005). This paper examines the gender roles learned from family, school, and the media. People who fail to behave according to gender stereotypes are judged as less likable, competent, and attractive than those who display the traits and behaviors considered appropriate to their gender (Lee, 7).

Gender Role Socialization in the Family

Individuals begin to learn their gender roles not long after birth, absorbing the values and beliefs associated with masculinity and femininity from their families. The mother typically models care-giving for daughters through acts of "nurturance, compassion, and dependence" (Lee, 2005, 7). Males, in turn, learn gender roles from fathers that include "aggression, dominance, and assertiveness."

Growing up in a patriarchal household, sociologist John Lie recalled being told by his grandfather that "a man should never be seen in the kitchen." He also recalled seeing women's liberation demonstrations on television and dismissing them as "slightly crazed, bra-burning man haters" (Brym et al., 2009). Everything he read, heard, and saw within the family context led him to believe that the gender division of labor was natural. From the perspective of patriarchal family role association, gender stratification assigns occupations such as doctor, pilot, and professor to men, while teaching and nursing are considered women's work (Brym, 288).

Gender Role Socialization in Schools

Gender differences are on full display in public schools. Males learn gender roles partly through the fact that shop and auto mechanics classes are designated for boys, while home economics and cooking classes are largely intended for girls. Even in teacher-student interactions, teachers react differently to girls and boys: male students receive more attention in class and are given more time to speak. Boys are called on more frequently than girls, and they are eight times more likely to call out answers. In addition, boys receive more precise feedback from teachers — whether praise, criticism, or help with answers given in class (Long, 7).

School counselors also participate in the gender role socialization process by channeling male and female students into stereotyped fields. Girls are often discouraged from taking college preparatory courses in mathematics and the sciences (Long, 8). Regarding gender stratification, women are frequently blamed for the inequality they experience in society. Rather than directing efforts toward structural social change, proposed solutions tend to focus on changing women themselves — for example, suggesting that young women act more aggressively if they want to be truly liberated (Long, 8).

Conclusion

Whether in schools, at home with the family, or through the media, gender role socialization processes are very powerful in American society. Males and females are portrayed in different contexts on television, they occupy different roles at school and in the home, and these patterns collectively shape expectations about gender from an early age. While none of this is surprising in isolation, it is deeply pertinent to broader discussions of fairness and understanding in matters of gender.