Since the beginning of the feminist movement, the idea that culture might influence the development of gender roles has been quite well-documented in the literature (Best and Williams). Gender is also something of a sticky philosophical issue in and of itself; the definition and the very idea of gender has been shaken since the inclusion of transgender people into the umbrella of protection offered by the queer and feminist movements as a whole. While gender used to refer to the idea of one’s birth sex, today, gender is widely accepted as an identification or alignment, while sex is the term that refers to one’s biological identity (Best and Williams). For the purposes of discussion, this analysis will be concerned with the binary forms of gender—that is, the gender that one presents outwardly to the world. This is to avoid the complex discussion of transgender rights and politics—an important discussion, to be certain, but one that would add too many complexities to this particular issue (Phillips).
As the cultural perception of gender evolves, so too does the culture itself. For instance, two decades ago, it would have been completely unheard of for female military personnel to serve on the front line; today, the first women have graduated and become active duty armed combatants on the front line. But while it is common to think of the changes that are occurring in the context of societal advances for women, there have also been changes for men: while cultural expectations used to prescribe that men enter traditionally “manly” or “masculine” fields, male nurses and teachers are becoming more and more commonplace (Phillips).
However, there can be negative effects of gender roles on culture as well. In traditional Chinese society, women are seen as burdens on the household because they will go to live with their husband’s family; this is a cultural tradition (Best and Williams). However, when the one-child policy was introduced, these traditional gender roles caused female babies to be killed and aborted at alarmingly high rates—rates so high that today, China is experiencing a significant cultural difficulty with unmatched men and a shortage of women (Best and Williams). In this case, gender roles played a very destructive role in society and in societal development; it is currently unclear what the potential solution for China is, and although the Chinese government has relaxed the one-child policy in recent years, the problem persists for this generation of Chinese people.
Traditional gender roles—and even non-traditional gender roles or changes in gender-based expectations—have a formative influence on society. Society is made up of the people, of course, but there are currents and shifts constantly occurring in every society around the world. As globalization becomes a more and more important factor in people’s everyday lives and people are exposed to more ideas than ever before through the growth of technology, the cultural shifts that are occurring due to conflicting cultural gender roles are very interesting. In some Asian countries there has been a slight shift away from the traditional ideas of beauty in both women and men, for instance, and these ideals have shifted more towards the western standards. In addition, the traditional view of females as homemakers is also slowly shifting out of favor in many parts of the world. It will be fascinating to track these changes in the long term.
Works Cited
Best, Deborah L., and John E. Williams. "Gender and culture." The handbook of culture and psychology (2001): 195-219. Web.
Phillips, Anne. Gender and culture. Polity, 2010. Web.
