Gender Roles Blur Potential Goals

 

From: Sarah

Gender roles have consistently defined what people “can” and “can’t” do starting from a
very early age. As a child girls must play with feminine, delicate, or more “weak” toys, boys
must play with masculine, tough, and “strong” toys. These unspoken rules and standards affect
how children view themselves, others, and how their society works.

A lot of “girl” toys do not teach women to strive for goals beyond having gendered jobs
such as teachers, nurses, or maybe even a stay at home mom. In “The Smurfette Principle”
Katherine Pollitt states that “Girls exist only in relation to boys.” (Pollitt 4). Girls are not as
encouraged to be more than just girls, many women are encouraged to live lifestyles that only
contribute to a man's uprise, that's why women aren't usually seen in the leading position of
power over men. This imbalance still occurs in our society today and with less gender impacts on
children, the more there will be an even playing field between men and women.

When I was a little kid, I wanted to do everything like a boy. I cut my hair short like a
boy, dressed like a boy, played with action figures, and I even insisted on having the “boy toys”
from McDonalds. This was all ok until my mom started having a say in what I wore, the
activities I did and how I was to act. I know that my mother was trying to come from a good
place so it would be easier for me to fit in but influencing a child by forcing gender roles upon
them can be limiting and confusing as a kid. I complied for so many years but during those years
I felt like I wasn't actually doing things for myself, I just did things to fit in with what other girls
my age did. For most girls it is hard to break the path of least resistance due to impacts from
their parents and this can almost “blur” their outlook on life for an equal future. I’m lucky that
the impacts from how I was raised by society's expectations did not have a heavy impact. I
joined the military at 17 years old. Most of my female peers called me crazy and said that they'd
never even think of joining the military. This common misconception that women don't belong in
the military or aren't “strong enough” to join the military is ignorant and not backed by facts.
This opinion is one example of many that cause women not to be able to have a perspective that
they are capable of anything a man does to extents that are both physical and mental.