GENDER ROLES QUESTIONS 2

Gender Roles Questions

1. Watch video, ‘How Parents Influence Kids\’ Gender Roles’ under the Week Five
   Content. Summarize the major ideas, and your reaction of the video.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swSy6pdAS-0&feature=youtu.be
   The major idea of the video is that children’s views of gender roles are shaped by
   what they see not just from their parents but also from the society in general. For
   instance, children learn that girls are supposed to be sensitive while boys should be
   strong. From their parents they learn what is expected them when they grow older as
   fathers and mothers. The gender roles and expectations influence their perception of
   possibilities available to them.
   When watching the video, I could not help but wonder how strong a role parents
   and society played in shaping how children perceive themselves. I have long thought that
   such perception would be shaped by what children are directly taught by adults around
   them. It turns out that they mostly learn in subtle ways through observations.
2. Watch video, ‘Closing the Gender Gap in STEM,’ and ‘Inspiring the next
   generation of female engineers’ under the Week Five Content. Summarize the
   major ideas, and your reaction of the video.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVVDasLOKDk&feature=youtu.be
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEeTLopLkEo&feature=youtu.be
   In ‘Closing the Gender Gap in STEM’, the main idea is that the gross
   underrepresentation of women in STEM fields is due to lack of mentors, lack of career
   awareness, and absence of early exposure to STEM experiences. When these three
   conditions are present, girls can succeed in STEM fields just as much as men.

GENDER ROLES QUESTIONS 3
The second video ‘Inspiring the next generation of female engineers’ also
examines the issue of female underrepresentation in STEM fields. It argues that the main
reason for underrepresentation of women in STEM fields is not because women are
biologically incapable of doing well in such fields but because of culture and
socialization which makes many young women to believe that such fields are for boys
from a very early age. It, therefore, goes that when young girls are made to develop
interest in STEM fields early, they are likely to specialize in STEM fields in adulthood.
My reaction to the two videos was one of shock at the extremely low figures of
women representation in STEM fields and admiration for the two women who have
excelled in the fields that are male dominated and are working hard to bring in more
women on board. I certainly agree with both of them that having mentors and stimulating
the interest of girls in STEM subjects at an early age will help in increasing the number
of women in STEM fields.

3. Explain the inequality in housework and childcare in contemporary U.S. culture
   or other countries and how it is related to gendered expectations. How has this
   social arrangement impacted on children?
   Across the US and in many other countries across the world, women shoulder a
   majority of childcare and housework. This is largely because of gendered expectations
   which require women to do household chores and look after children while requiring men
   to keep off such work. This kind of social arrangement has an impact of children. Boys
   and girls learn their roles in families by observing the roles of their mothers and fathers.
   Thus, with their mother performing the bulk of household chores, children learn that such

GENDER ROLES QUESTIONS 4
role is to be performed by women. When they become parents themselves they are likely
to view their roles in the same manner that their parents did.

4. Discuss the problems of contemporary family life in particular regarding the
   increasing fertility of teenage women, and fatherlessness.
   Increasing teenage pregnancies has resulted in many children growing up without
   fathers. With little education at the time of their pregnancy, many teenage mothers are
   often forced to bring up their children in an environment of economic difficulties. The
   stressed conditions in which the child is brought up in and the lack of a father usually
   result in children brought up in these circumstances have problems in adulthood. For
   instance, they may be rebellious, have anger control problems, and become substance
   abusers.
5. Personally, how can you define the family? Explain the difficulties with
   establishing a comprehensive definition of family that includes everyone who is in a
   family, while not including anyone not considered family.
   My definition of family is a social unit composed of husband and wife with or
   without children. This definition certainly does not apply to all types of families. Families
   composed of homosexual couples or single parents may not fit this description. The
   difficulty of having a comprehensive description of family, therefore, is borne from the
   fact that families keep on evolving.