gender roles

• 'traditional' gender roles

  • during the 1950's, gender roles in the UK were very traditional. boys and girls growing up in this time were usually socialised in very traditional ways.
  • television programmes and films normally presented men as action heroes, authority figures and breadwinners.
  • women tended to be shown as mothers and housewives who were dependant on the men in their lives, emotional, caring, sexy, and mostly interested in romance
• • girls were usually expected to become housewives and mothers. if they did go to work, it was likely they would be expected to work in areas that fitted in with traditional gender roles, such as nursing, teaching, cleaning, or childcare
  • boys were usually expected to aspire to be the main breadwinner and do tradition male jobs which involved manual work or being in charge.
• labelling

  • labelling has been a very powerful idea that started in sociology and has become well known even to non-sociologists.
  • the idea is that the parents, teachers and other people, including friends, expect boys and girls to follow certain roles
  • the children are constantly told these expectations which they live up to
  • the label attached to the boy or girl by the parent becomes true
  • the media has a strong influence on the labels or expectations that people have of eachother