The History and Future of Gender Roles

As a child we learned that cats “meow” and cows “moo”. It would be silly for a cat to “moo” because then it wouldn’t be a cat. But as a child we also learned that girls play with barbies and boys play football. If a boy played with barbies then he wouldn’t be manly, or grow up to represent the ideal norms of masculinity.

While this seems irrelevant to the larger issue at hand, this engrained stereotype is one of many when it comes to the enforced gender roles in our society. Why is it that from the time we are toddlers, certain behaviours are encouraged and others are dismissed based on our gender? To delve into this question we must begin at the origin of gender roles, which interestingly enough, is rooted in our biology.

2.5 million years ago marks the start of the Paleolithic era and lasted all the way until roughly 10,000 B.C. Survival played a large role in the lives of early humans here, who lived in caves and sought after food. Their priorities lied in staying alive, where societal standards were the least of their concerns. One thing to note was that women and men served different roles, although they were considered absolute equal members of society. The reason for this difference in tasks was reproduction. Because women were genetically capable of growing a baby, as well as providing food for it, this was prioritized. Men on the other hand, spent their days hunting and gathering food, as suggested in the name hunter-gatherer, as they were not tied to the responsibility of pregnancy, or feeding children. And so, the paleolithic era allowed women to forage for food within the surrounding area, produce clothing and cook the food that was brought back. In order to maintain protein in their diet, men then took on the role of hunting, which would have been considered a more dangerous task. The misconception of women not going out to protect or hunt simply because they were weak is false. While they were more than capable of performing these tasks, it was not suggested or efficient as it would not be a safe environment for the babies they carried. It could be suggested that the origin of gender roles begin here, where it is interesting to observe that millions of years ago, they only existed in order to survive.

It is not until the Neolithic Era that we see a decline in women's status. Because of advancements made at the time, such as the start of agriculture, society became territorial. For the first time, not everything was about survival, although it was definitely key. Those who were large in size and quick to attack were praised for their ability to keep agricultural settlements safe. Reasons mentioned in the Paleolithic era, largely equating women to children and plowing the fields, meant that men became dominating leaders. They were the ones who travelled in order to trade, and so politically as well, men took charge. This would eventually develop into the very heavily stratified gender roles we see in later societies, as well as the oppressive use of gender roles, where some used them as a means of justifying oppression of one sex (usually women) as less. Society and hierarchy started to rise in popularity, and from then on, a series of events have led to the awful differences in gender.

It is important to realise that gender roles were not always inherently a bad thing, in fact they were originally devised in order to survive. Gender roles were almost formulated around the creation of babies, who could take care of them best, how could they compromise tasks in order to keep babies safe? It is when we left the era of cavemen and early humans that things took a downturn, because women were still tied to only taking care and feeding babies as well as staying home to please family.

This brings us to hundreds of years later, with the rise of television and newspapers. Society slowly became a man's world, where women lost the right to vote or even obtain an education. Much was dictated by males and this is reflected in advertisements of the 1950s. One ad from “Van Heusen Ties” in 1951 depicts a man laying in bed, while presumably his wife kneels next to him like a servant, giving him his breakfast. The caption reads, “show her it’s a man's world”. It is difficult to believe that just a few decades ago, young girls and women were brain-washed to believe that they were less than their male counter-parts. The damage of thousands of people viewing such sexist adverts allowed men of the time to believe they were superior to their wives, who accepted the oppressive attitudes towards their gender. Another advert from 1953 pictured here, reads a horrendous caption, questioning the strength of women; “You mean a woman can open it?”. Alcoa Aluminum's bottle caps advertised that they could open "without a knife blade, a bottle opener, or even a husband." Once again, young girls of the time were forced to believe that they should be lady-like, and not strong.

This is why it is important for today’s generation to be influenced by a multitude of different people who break the gender stereotype, who prove that women can be powerful leaders, or play a sport. Same goes for men, where they should not feel obligated to behave “masculine”. Representation in the media should also include men who present feminine or go into feminine fields.

With the mention of fashion, different clothing was only enforced based on if you were a girl or boy after companies could capitalize it. In the present day, a girl’s section may entail rows and rows of pink, and endless dresses, while the boys section may contain an overload of blue. However, this was not always the case. In fact, it was not uncommon for young boys in the 1800s to wear dresses. This photo, taken in 1884, is of Franklin D. Roosevelt. At the time, long hair on a boy was the norm, not having their first haircut until about 6 or 7. Dresses were considered unisex and convenient on children who needed consistent diapper changes, and as for the colour, white was easy to bleach while still preserving it’s original state.

Likewise, just before WW1, the colour pink was for all intents and purposes, considered masculine while the colour blue was considered feminine. Blue was the color assigned to girls, because it was seen as dainty, and pink was seen as a stronger color, so it was assigned to boys. This is a fascinating concept because it shows us that many of these gender roles and stereotypes started to have nothing to do with our biology, and were created to cause yet another divide. What would be wrong if a girl wore pink at the time? Since it is now considered the standard colour for women, we have proved that what we perceive as feminine or masculine is simply a societal construct, and things evolve. Nothing will stay the same, so why is it that girls and boys, from the time they are babies are supposed to fit into their assigned role.

In recent years, our society has become better at representation in the media, as well as trying to eradicate the gender roles that we are often born into. Gender reveal parties have aimed to switch up the colours of pink and blue, and oppression among women, while most definitely prominent, is much less than a few decades ago. It is without a doubt that the reason for this change is people as a collective. Activism online, and in the streets has created change among many, and hopefully, if this is to continue, every gender on the spectrum is able to express themselves freely. Hopefully the future allows for a more inclusive society with less prejudice. No woman should feel that they live with the purpose of pleasing their family, and no man should ever feel that they are not “manly” enough. Some stereotypes are truly outdated.

Alma Mahmood 11D