Abstract
The work is devoted to the gender role development. The purpose of paper was to study theories associated with gender stereotypes, introduce practical surveys and prove that the childhood is influenced by gender stereotypes. It considers Albert Bandura's Gender Role development theory, gender stereotypes, gender identity, gender-typed behaviors and provides real-life examples. The paper reveals that gender stereotypes are popular in modern society despite the fact they were absent earlier. The first idea is that children experience prejudices about "male" and "female" behavior since early childhood. Then, Albert Bandura suggests that people behave in a certain way because they are encouraged to follow common path by their children. The third idea is that culture can influence a gender stereotype and examples of modern singer prove it. After all, the paper concludes that the Paleolithic period didn’t provide men with any advantages over women that proves that gender stereotypes, gender-typed behaviors and gender identity are formed by people and do not really exist in society without their activity.
Before the turn of the century it seemed that only technology can evolve in the future world, but the modern world appeared to be far from ideal. Even after the invention of the sixth iPhone people still continue to dress the boys in blue clothing and girls - in pink clothing, and when they grow up the society expects them to follow principles of "male" and "female" behavior. Nevertheless, there is a steady process of revising the existing standards and relationships. People talk a lot about the search for harmony with each other, but to learn to accept and love the diversity and uniqueness of people in a multicultural global reality is as important as overall comfort. However, this process is impossible without an understanding of the existing model of gender relations that exist as "right" or "traditional".
Albert Bandura's Gender Role development theory is the most accurate theory of gender role development. The concept of self-efficacy is the basis of the theory of Albert Bandura. He focuses his attention on the role of learning and social experience in the development of personality. According to his ideas, people follow a special system that deals with attitude, capabilities and mental abilities of people. It provides a major impact on the way how people perceive situations and behave themselves. It is the best theory to explain gender role development because there are numerous gender stereotypes and problems that determine people’s behaviors. According to Albert Bandura, gender role development is acquired in two ways. At first, children are encouraged to behave in a certain way and they are punished for inappropriate behavior. Next, they follow commonly accepted behaviors of special sex models. Then they repeat the same in their day-to-day activities. Thus, the main idea that children are forced to follow a common path as the result of their everyday activity (Bandura A., 1977).
The important idea is that gender refers not only to a social gender identity but to an interpersonal system that creates and reproduces basic categories of male and female roles in society. There are a lot of different stereotypes, including gender stereotypes that are culturally and socially constructed ideas about the qualities and standards of conduct of men and women. I also was influenced by gender stereotypes in my childhood. Everything comes from the idea that it is enough to analyze the life of a modern person to understand how much a behavior is dictated by gender roles (Golombok, S., & Fivush, R., 1994). Of course, if a person does not live alone in the forest, the surrounding is likely to expect the behavior that follows a well-known system of values and concepts. Strong son and attentive daughter, disciplined husband, and calm wife, authoritative father, understanding mother, a strict boss - - all these things mean that people unconsciously follow the widespread system and I also was expected to act according to these ideas in my childhood. The next idea is that drama comedy and tragic base on gender roles. For example, the episode of "Friends" tells about a male nurse: everyone feels more comfortable when a woman becomes a nurse, not a sentimental man with the perfect education and incredible performance, or to recall Betty in "The Crazies" when a single mother who divorced her husband and worked hard, arrived at the peaceful village where mostly housewives lived. My childhood was the same because parents dressed me in closing according to my gender and expected from the behavior according to the common standards and were surprised if I didn’t like to play in certain games and according to the perceptions about my gender.
There were instances from my childhood that represent gender-typed behaviors. Everything comes from the idea that people get a minimum of rules at the moment of birth. They are the social markers that will determine the gender role of a child in the life. This is also related to social gender (male or female), social status (the child), citizenship (nationality), name, etc. There were obvious non-verbal differences in handling me children in the nursing home because mothers and fathers often touch the newborn sons more than daughters. During the first three months of life of the mother take on the hands and kiss sons more often than daughters that was a true thing for me. While mothers more talk to their daughters, they are more sensitive to the mood of the sons. Thus, I also experienced such behavior from my parents.
Gender identity is an aspect of self-consciousness that describes the experience of a person as a representative of a particular sex. Modern psychology does not always distinguish sex and gender identity because the scientists often use the term "gender-typed behaviors" to consider sexual differences. However, when people say "man and woman", "boy and girl", "girl and boy", they mean sex differences and biological features. It should be noted that sexual identity often relates to the biological sex and gender from the social point of view. From the other point of view, studies of social anthropologists reject the idea of gender identity and provide examples of systems where gender domination and patriarchy were absent. Talking about my family it should be noted mother affected the formation of feminine qualities in girls and fathers influence the formation of the male gender characteristics. This idea suggests that the parents have a significant influence on gender identity.
Culture can influence a gender stereotype. For example, Conchita Wurst should be recalled. There were bearded women, and female impersonator shows, and cross-dressing, but the appearance of a man in the old-fashioned competition was a news number one in Europe. Advertising specialist can prove that Conchita can only sell the news in the modern world, but cannot sell any product. The next idea is that culture can influence gender. Dialogues between men and women in the forums or in the comments are based mostly on the basis of gender roles (Midlarsky, E., 1985). Gender theme is constantly repeated in contemporary art and news, but most of the news has the aim to spread special content, reproduce already existing meanings and rarely pay attention to the other side of the problem.
Most historians agree that the Paleolithic period didn’t provide men with any advantages over women. It should be noted that physical force was not the main factor because many women were able to participate in the hunting, the development of their skeletons show the same parts of the body and similar muscle activity in different sizes and weights. Women also ensured two main tribal survival conditions: procreation and food because the gathering was a regular and stable source of strength for the entire community, but success in hunting depended on the case. Families were not patriarchal, they did not compete with each other and not fight over limited resources (Johnson, K. A., & Burman, H., 1999). The cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt provided a relative freedom to women because in ancient Egypt the women could own property and provide trading. Women who were residents of ancient Persia, involved in the war, received benefits for the birth of the child, and also had the right to live in partnership with a man without marriage and conduct religious ceremonies. This proves that culture impacts gender roles and gender stereotypes exist only in people’s minds.
References
Bandura A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological
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Golombok, S., & Fivush, R. (1994). Gender development. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Johnson, K. A., & Burman, H. (1999). Gender roles: Their function in society and application to
the stage.
Midlarsky, E. (1985). Gender roles. Detroit, Mich.?: Michigan Psychological Association.
