Gender 3
Gender 31.0 History:
In the last thirty years, there has been considerable changes in the way men and women's regard each other's roles and their image. The sixties, with the liberation of the pill and unisex fashion, it meant that men and women started to present themselves in very similar ways. Men adopted feminine styles of long hair, floral patterns and paisley. Women wore boyish clothes and gamine haircuts.
In the seventies, women started to 'power dress', wearing clothes that sometimes made them look like imitation men.
The eighties had men and women conforming and becoming conservative, as the number of women in the workplace began to show it's effect. We saw a softer 'new man', with terms rising such as 'SensitiveNewAageGuy'. Woman would now dress in tailored clothes, with often long flowing locks.
The nineties contains a further growth in female employment and increasing concern with green issues, with the prediction of a further blurring of traditional sex roles between man and women.
2.0 Cultural Differences:
Some Eastern nationalities, where they generally show very little emotion and little facial expression most of the time, apart from when in grief. In our culture, women are generally considered more emotionally expressive.
In the East, women are conditioned to make little direct eye contact, giving them the impression of subordination and having little self-confidence
3.0 Society:
Society still associates power with masculinity causing many to find it difficult to connect power and femininity. Therefore a large man in society will find it easier, than a small man as size tends to be equated with power and significance. Similarly, it's easier to be a small women than a large one. Small people generally appear vulnerable and make others want to protect them in society's standards. Society seems to like men to be the strong, silent type and expect them to have decided views and opinions and clear goals. Men are seen as being less concerned with what others think of them, and are more achievement focused.
Women on the other hand, are brought up by society concerning themselves more with relationships. '....They are expected to make themselves look physically attractive, and to be responsive to the needs of others. The roles of mother, wife and daughter require them to develop their caring and nurturing capacities, and they often define them as much in terms of family relationships as by what they do....' ('Your Total Image', Philippa Davies). Women are generally thought to do well in jobs requiring people skills. This may have come about from years of conditioning, where the focus is on others which results in women tending to have a greater awareness of non-verbal signals compared to men. Women are encouraged to be expressive and responsive and therefore often reveal far more effortlessly what they are thinking.
Familiar with the term 'Little boys don't cry'?...
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