Role of Men and Women in Society

Both men and women are constrained by the binary gender system. Men and women are labeled in society. Men are made to prove themselves in society. To show just how powerful they are and that they are expected to do more than women. Society label men as independent people. That they do not need help from other people especially women. In the binary system the masculine side is valued whereas the feminism side is undervalued. The hierarchy favores men over women.

Because of the foundation of hierarchy, men had a dominance over women.Men were able to control and objectify women. Men could set their dominance over women and see them as just sex toys.

In the hierarchy Women are able to do whatever they want but it comes at a price. Meaning they have to behave as a well-proper-raised women in society, need to be dependent on men’s privilege and power. Out in society they still have to listen to men even those that are not their husbands and fathers. The hierarchy not only favors men and devalues feminism but it makes it so that masculinity is better than feminism. Masculinity has always been proven that it is better than feminism. Society believed that only males were able to get jobs, make payments, give direct orders to others. Especially the men that grew up in higher class in society. Because of this it creates a rift between feminism and masculinity. Women are able to do masculine traits. Such as jobs, clothes, and activities. In some cases women were able to lift 30 lbs, get jobs in the government,become doctors, nurses. The big job that women had was flight attendants in planes, but the downfall on that job was once they were 30 they were fired. They were only hired because of their looks. But for men they are only able to do masculine things and if women take over they have to find something else that is seemed masculine.

In contemporary American society, men are encouraged to avoid femininity and women are strongly encouraged to embrace both femininity and masculinity. Women used three phenomenon to help them. Those phenomenon are called Emphasized Femininity, Emphasized Sameness and Gender Equivocation. Emphasized femininity is that men have more power and resources than women. Emphasized sameness is when women try to be “one of the guys”. A way for women to gain more power as an individual and society. The last one is Gender equivocation. Gender equivocation is when women alternate between emphasized femininity and emphasized sameness. Women normally used gender equivocation because gender equivocation incorporated both the femininity and sameness when it was needed and culturally expected.

The three examples helped women to stand up and show that they can act and be just like men. They have proved that labels have no meaning and no power over them. Women used all three to get what they wanted. Which was being able to be “one of the guys” and get the power as both an individual and as a group. The biggest example that helped women embrace both femininity and masculinity was gender equivocation. Gender equivocation helped women to be something that at the time was hard to achieve. Because of gender equivocation women were able to gain power, respect, responsibility and choice. They had the choice if they wanted to have kids and have a family or have a job and not starting a family. It was a big change for women when they started gaining what they were pushing for.

Women make patriarchal bargains in order to maximize their autonomy to reduce sexism, androcentrism, and subordination. Whereas men make bargains to some degree in the masculine hierarchy. Women used gender equivocation to prove that they were “one of the guys”.”

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