Caste, race, status, religion, and many other things are constructed by society. For example, though the sex of a person is scientific and denotes whether a human being is a male or female, gender, on the other hand, is a social construct.
Like society created gender and defined how a woman or man must act, what their characteristics must be, and how they should be, they also created gender roles. As per society, gender roles are tasks and characteristics that are bifurcated based on the sex of the person.
According to the socially constructed gender roles, females are supposed to wear feminine dresses, dress in a way that makes them look beautiful, should be thin, be silent or talk less, etc., While males should look masculine, be loud, be muscular, not cry and much more.
However, as society wasn’t satisfied with just that, it created tasks based on their sex. Women ought to do cooking, handle house-related responsibilities, take charge of household chores. At the same time, it’s made compulsory for the men to do heavy work, go out and earn money, be responsible and take charge of their family, and much more.
I agree that gender roles were created for both sexes. However, gender roles favour men and exploit women. Here’s an example: men are supposed to leave for work in the morning, earn money, come back home, and relax, as they get tired.
On the other hand, women are supposed to wake up earlier than their male counterparts, cook food for themselves and their families, do household chores, take care of their families, etc. So what’s the difference between the two?
The difference is that men are supposed to do a 9 to 5 job and are allowed to rest in the latter half of the day. On the contrary, women start working much early and keep working till late. Men do get leaves, but the women don’t. It is much worse for working women because they have to manage their professional lives and personal lives.
Agreed that women are ‘sheroes’ and can manage all of this smoothly, but isn’t it harsh and depressing to see our females constantly working while males get the time to rest?
Along with that, gender roles have limited the tasks performed by women and have bound them inside the four walls of their homes. So we think it’s weird when women are successfully managing a business or are handling the finances of their house, doing heavy work, are good drivers, live on their own money, etc.
The sad truth is that all of this isn’t weird, but we find it weird just because gender roles were ingrained in our minds, and when these gender roles aren’t being adhered to, we think that it is weird. However, it is not, and we must normalize the same.
It’s the 21st century, and it’s time for us to break the biases and barge out of the gates controlling us. It’s time for us not to adhere to gender roles and liberate ourselves by doing what we wish. Let’s make it a point not to bifurcate tasks based on a person’s sex and be equal with one another. Gender roles must be defeated, and equality must triumph!