More than our genes, our family, friends, and society make a massive impression of what it means to be a boy or a girl, therefore placing rigid expectations on children from such a young age. Recently there are many vast amounts of Studies that have been focusing on health inequities that result from enforced gender roles upon children. Some of the most popular gender roles that Most children hear are as follows; boys are strong, girls aren’t, football is Only for boys, pink is for girls and blue is for boys, boys are dumb and girls Are smarter, Real boys don’t cry. All of the statements I’ve listed should. Not. matter. Who says Girls can’t be strong? Who says boys Can’t like pink and girls can’t like blue?
Every single one of those statements sounds stupid to us now. But When we were 5 or 6 they were things we believed in. A study published by Purdue and Northwestern Universities found that gender stereotypes affected the way people responded to others’ mental illnesses. Men are more likely to be stereotyped as violent, which is often linked to something like alcohol abuse. While women are more likely to be stereotyped as dependent, which is more closely linked to issues like depression. In the beloved novel To Kill a Mockingbird By Harper Lee the main character Scout does not understand her Aunt’s obsession with her clothing.
Aunt Alexandra repeatedly tells her that she cannot be a lady if she does not dress like one, and that she should engage in more ‘girly’ activities. Aunt Alexandra also says that as a girl, Scout should “be a ray of sunshine” in Atticus’s life, reinforcing the expectation that all girls must be positive continuously and brighten up the lives of their husbands or fathers. We live in a more progressive time compared to the past with regards to a few issues concerning sexual orientation, yet we have to recollect that gendered expectations are still very much still ingrained into our twisted society and it is subtle to the point that we scarcely even notice. There are some extremely straightforward ways we can help stop its impact, for example, making safe spaces for men to express the full range of their emotions and telling ladies that their voices matter. Regardless of how somebody wants to act no matter their gender,there is no difference in our ability to create a change.
