Gender Roles in Todays Marriages
A gender role is a behavior in accordance with the set of certain social regulations. People are addressed by society depending on their sex. This attitude is manifested in the appropriate behavior or gender appropriate appearance, such as speech, manners, gestures, and spheres of activity. Starting from biological and psychological especially-traditional feminine gender role prescribes that women have to be caring, emotional, sensitive, and show interest in problems of other people. Masculine gender role requires action, aggressiveness, domination, and ambitiousness (Neuman). Despite the fact that many studies and social campaigns on the gender roles in family have been conducted, it still remains true that certain stereotypes of feminine or masculine behavior have a firm ground on which they are based (Grossman 747). The issue here is that gender role in marriage affects the well-being and routine of both parties in all aspects of life, starting from the opportunity to be engaged in social life of the community and possibility to enjoy the style of life preferable to the person in their family life.
Origins of Sexism
In the most ancient world religion Buddhism a woman and her husband, in general, are recognized as equal. However, there is an unspoken tradition that secures the spheres of high spirituality for men and defines the destiny of women, first of all, as support of the family and caring for the daily meal (Marks et al., 223). Cultural-historical analysis allows making the conclusion that the current problems of attitudes towards women in society take their origin in the patriarchal religious heritage. It is in religions that wives are under undivided male domination in the public and spiritual spheres, as well as the majority traditional prejudices in the perception of women, assuming a limitation of their activity in life and existing of different rights and opportunities for men and women (Marks et al., 223). Therefore, certain aspects of the gender roles issue are connected closely with sexism in the society.
Current Issue
Modern woman, who has to perform both household and professional roles, is extremely burdened. Completely new roles were added to traditional family-household roles, including the manager of the budget, psychotherapist, and a chief educator (Neuman). The difficulties associated with combining professional roles and family roles, in many cases, affect women as they are not enough represented in creative and rationalizing activities and in the work of public organizations (Neuman). The same difficulties often generate conflict situations in the family. Women traditionally are supposed to take care of children and keep the household clean. This perception, of course, hinders their versatile cultural development and leads to a decrease in their social activity.
