#7: What About the Boys?

The conversation about gender roles is so commonly focused on women, but now we are going to discuss how men handle gender roles.  This article by the LA Times points out how ‘men are stuck’ in gender roles.  Today, it is much more common to see a women pursuing a career that may have previously been viewed as a ‘mans job’ than it is for men to be pursuing what is perceived as a ‘woman’s job’. For instance job areas such as business or law were once seen as jobs primarily for men, however now women are breaking into it, but men have been slower to break into jobs such as nursing or teaching.  There are various statistics that point out the delay in growth for male gender roles such as the fact that a working mother these days is nothing out of the ordinary, however stay-at-home dads only exist in 1% of marriages with children under 15.  Another study held by the University of South Florida showed that the stigma of men staying home to take care of their children goes as far as people believing that it is less masculine for men to want a flexible schedule as employees.  By this day and age women have realized that there is nothing stopping them from pursuing whatever job field they want, but it seems that men have yet to make that realization.

The rut that men seem to be stuck in reflects a negative message to young boys today.  If grown men are too worried about what society will think about them if they take a ‘feminine’ job, how will young boys ever realize that it is okay to break the mold? There is no going against the fact that it is viewed as less acceptable today for men to partake in ‘womanly’ activities, than it is for women to partake in something that is viewed as manly.  A quote that really stuck out to me from this article is “If girls call themselves tomboys, it’s with a sense of pride…but boys make fun of other boys if they step just a little outside the rigid masculine stereotype.”  The negative connotation for boys stepping outside of their gender norms seems to be a never-ending cycle that follows boys throughout their entire lives.  Breaking gender norms for boys has to be something that happens across all generations.  Once there is a change in the way breaking gender norms is perceived in men later on in life, it will become much easier for younger boys to follow.  This is a change that will be just as hard as breaking female gender norms, and just as important. Men need to realize how much gender roles affect them, and they have to join the fight against them in order to make a more acceptable society for young boys.