Although men and women differ in many important biological characteristics, every society goes beyond biology to establish fundamental gender roles associated with being male or female. Because gender roles are socially constructed, they differ from socie

Running head : GENDER ROLES AS SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION

Gender Roles as Social Construction

[The name of the writer appears here]

[The name of the institution appears here]

ABSTRACT

Lives of people around the world is governed and dictated by socially constructed norms and beliefs . These norms and beliefs are manifested in their culture and can be seen in their daily lives . No culture is alike and this means that how people view a particular reality depends on his stand point and context

This is focused on the differences in gender role

perspective of different people around the world . The Dinkas and Amhara people 's view on gender role goes beyond biological make up . This is evident in men 's duty of providing for the family and the women 's duty of preparing food for the family . If we will connect this to the biological make up of men and women , men can certainly do the chores of the women and the women can also do the chores of the men even in taking care of live stocks . In the study by Nanda in 1990 about the Hijras which are also known as Aravanis that are located in Tamil Nadu , South India , it was learned that Aravanis dress like women . Aravanis are men that act like women that challenged the conventions of other societies

Given the reality of differences in contexts that gave birth to differences in cultures , people around the world differ from their perception of being men and women . Such perceptions even went beyond the biological characteristics of men and women as seen in the live of Dinkas in Southern Sudan , the Amhara people of Ethiopia and the Aravanis of Southern India . Gender roles are therefore socially constructed . It only evolves in the culture of a particular context or place . Gender is one of the universal dimensions on which status differences are based . Unlike sex , which is a biological concept , gender is a HYPERLINK "http /aifs32 .aifs .org .au /institute /afrc7 /francis .html social construct specifying the socially and culturally prescribed roles that men and women are to follow (http /www .trinity .edu /mkearl /gender .html

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION AND CULTURE

Social constructs are institutionalized entity or artifacts in a social system , invented or constructed by participants in a particular culture or society that exist because people agree to behave as if it exist , or agree to follow certain conventional rules , or behave as if such agreement or rules existed (wikipedia .org . Social constructs are perceived maxims of people that were put into convention to be transformed into social beliefs that will influence people with their actions . Some of social constructs that greatly influenced people 's lives are religion , morality , sexuality and social class

As having great influence to people 's daily lives , social constructs became an integral part of people 's lives . The lives of people became always intertwined with these sets of beliefs . Social constructs dictate the lives of people . How people act depend on the set of...