Gender Definitions

We have very prescribed definitions of gender in our western society. Men are seen as dominant and having to provide for the family. Women are seen as nurturing and homemakers. Heaven help anyone who dares to disrupt those gender boundaries too much. For example we can look at the presidential election that we just went through and see the our traditional boundaries of gender very clearly. Sarah Palin a mother of young children was criticized by some for daring to run while she still had child rearing duties to attend to. For Hilary Clinton it was more acceptable to run because her daughter was an adult. We can see our definitions of gender at work yet we can also see change. We had two women running for two of the highest government posts in our country which even ten years ago would have been an unsuccessful endeavor.

I implore that we look at our definition of gender and continue to blur the lines. Women and men can seek to take on each others gender characteristics. Men can be nurturing and women can be authoritative. We see men and women break these prescribed gender notions all the time. I also call for a more complete explanation of women in the world. Because we are put in the home the work that we have done there has been absent. It does not have an economic value. However this no longer holds true. Women have been making social networks, responsible for grass roots change and contributing to the economies of the families since the advent of civillization. Yet they have been written out of our traditional definitions.

Below is a youtube video that does a great job of explaining the western definition of gender. I apologize upfront for the explicit music, you can mute it.