Introduction: Gender Roles and Inequalities in Society

The different gender roles assigned to boys and girls prepare them for their future roles as men and women. Most societies value men and women differently. The roles women play and the work they do are usually valued less than the roles men play and the work they do. Further, inequalities between men and women emerge in the area of work too.

Discrimination Starting at Childhood: Early Gender Roles and Their Impact on Adulthood

• Gender Distinctions in Society: Societies make clear distinctions between boys and girls based on traditional gender roles.
• This distinction begins from a very young age. 
• Example, given different toys to play with. Boys are usually given cars to play with and girls’ dolls. 
• Early Toy Differentiation: Toys become a way of telling children that they will have different futures when they become men and women.
• Normalise Behaviour: This difference is created in terms of the smallest and most everyday things.
• Gender Norms: How girls must dress, what games boys should play, how girls need to talk softly or boys need to be tough.
• Preparing for Adulthood Roles: All these are ways of telling children that they have specific roles to play when they grow up to be men and women, adhering to predefined gender roles.
• Impact on Education and Careers: Later in life, this affects the subjects we can study or the careers we can choose, perpetuating the influence of gender roles.
• Unequal Valuation of Roles: In most societies, including our own, the roles men and women play or the work they do, are not valued equally. Men and women do not have the same status, reflecting deeply ingrained gender roles in societal structures.

Inequalities Between Men and Women in the Area of Work: Examining Gender Roles and Valuing Housework