The Effect of Gender Roles on Relationships

Extract

[...] Through socialization and modeling, we're groomed to expect that all men should be macho and all women should be sensitive. Gender roles are learned through a variety of different ways, some are passed on through family traditions and beliefs, others are tied up in religions, but many gender roles can be seen in the media. Through film, television, music, books, newspapers and magazines, our images of the qualities a man and woman should possess are being burned into our minds. [...]

[...] One woman, married for eleven years, said that the hardest part of her marriage has been the expectations her husband has of her, based on his upbringing and conservative religious beliefs. Raised on a farm with a family of five women and two men, Angela said that she was taught to be independent and learned to do “masculine things” that her husband doesn't expect her to, such as changing the oil in her car or fixing the washing machine. “It's difficult because he doesn't want to come home from work and have to fix all these things, so I figure it's easier if I she said. [...]

[...] According to “Intimate Relationships,” researchers believe that gender roles actually be responsible for much of the incompatibility that causes relationships to fail.” With such strong expectations for gender, it is common that we often become disappointed with those we are in a relationship with as well as ourselves. In fact, in a study performed by Ickes and Barnes (1978), partners who fit into traditional gender roles had less to talk to than partners in which one or both people were androgynous. [...]