I'm a Korean immigrant who is thirty years old
When I was seventeen years old, I came to the US. Despite the initial difficulties I succeeded in overcoming and achieving my objectives. I was a veteran of the US Air Force, but I went back to school to expand on my understanding. In order to achieve my optimal goals, I plan to scale up further and optimize my potential. Moreover, I'm a heterosexual male straight.
Gender biases
With regard to gender, I have some biases. From social presentation and the description of the norm, the conclusions need to be drawn. Additionally, some of the prejudices are from a personal point of view and the reflection of how various attributes are supposed to be in line. Not mentioning that, there are some of them that I conform to and others that I challenge. The one's that I challenge come from the point of view in shifting my thinking. On the other hand, the ones that I support seem to hold valid arguments. Examples of the prejudices are in the below discussion (Eagly, & Koenig, 2008).
Gender roles
Each gender is supposed to have specific roles to be strictly abided. Males shouldn't participate in any household activities. Their role is to be breadwinners out there eking a living so as to support their families. Naturally, they possess the strength that enables them toil and endure long working hours. Females are supposed to tender to their younger ones on top of ensuring other household chores are properly attended. The decision is as a result of the reason that they are naturally care givers and have the ability to multi-task. Also, they tend to easily empathize better than their counterparts hence home and nursing children duties suit them.
Equality in payment terms
The other prejudice is that there shouldn't be equality concerning payment terms (Weber & Zulehner, 2014). Male more often than not struggle much as compared to their counterparts. Requirements and expectations placed on the shoulders of men are high than those of females. With this in mind, despite the similarity in the working conditions, a difference in pay needs to be noted so as to compensate the gap. More often, females are offered a silver platter in their undertakings due to the consideration of their fragility. The advantage limits difficulties upon their paths thereby easing their endeavors. Male work themselves need to achieve their goals and are expected to struggle since society is designed to be against them in every aspect. Therefore to cover up for this, parity needs to play out.
Contraceptives
Contraceptives are to be taken by females only. Since the issue regarding conceiving is primarily women geared, they are the only ones who should take charge. The subject of birth is a woman's affair. Society labels a woman as a mother and puts all responsibilities on her. On that fact, she should be the one who majorly puts the contraceptives topic in mind and follows it up. Male need shielding since that’s not their principal objective, therefore, needn't even bother. Birth control and everything that appertains to them are on to the female side.
Women in leadership positions
Women are not to hold elective posts and other top managerial positions. Based on the nature of the tasks they are to fulfill, they need to be in subordinate positions and other minority vacancies. Due to the inability to adequately abide by the ideal worker requirements, they should steer off the competitive workplace environment (Weber & Zulehner, 2014). Furthermore, they don't have the ambition, motivation, and drive that are to enable them to fit in the shoes. Naturally, society perceives them as weak creatures hence making them vulnerable to uncertainties. Intensive commitments coupled with long hour demands aren’t the best environment to subject them. It would cause the disintegration of family bonds which is crucial.
Same-gender relationships
Relationships composed of the same gender should not be allowed to exist. It’s because the whole issue is immoral and just a concept meant to propagate immorality. The LGBT group should not exist as it sends wrong and worrying trends in the society. People have come up with numerous and creative ways so as to defend immorality. They hide behind the lenses of gender and other societal issues to forcefully make others follow their ways. The prime goal of humanity is to be heterosexual in nature as this permits generation continuity. Additionally, values such as perseverance and tolerance are in calculated into individuals' lives that turn out to be of the essence. On the contrary, similar gender didn't have any documented and surveyed positive outcome.
Men exhibiting emotions
Men are not supposed to cry nor show emotional feelings no matter the level of agony and pain that is deep within them. As expected, men are hardy creatures. They are meant to thrive in the most intolerable situation feared by their counterparts (Eagly, & Koenig, 2008). The thought of showing weakness and fragility is hence not expected. As heads, they should conquer and be courageous enough to face any situation. Emotional feelings are to be expressed in solitude and not in public as this betrays the set norms. Consequently, they are to fight with their inner self in isolation and not show it to the society.
Women in business and male-oriented fields
Women can't operate businesses, and specific courses such as engineering are not for them. The conclusions come from a school of thought that women aren’t confident enough to strike business deals and lack the necessary skills. They, in turn, shy away from such opportunities since a preconceived mentality of failure conceives in their minds. They fear to take the bold step and risk so as to materialize their dreams. Some courses tend to be perceived to be hard and male oriented frighten women. Propagated rumors in addition to shoddy surveys lead them to shy away. They question their capability and bow down to the rhetoric thus settling for less than expected of them.
My perspective on gender norms
About the gender norms, I partly conquer and challenge them at the same time. Matters such as division of roles, and the issue of disregarding same-sex relationships I conform to them. The decisions are as a result of a need to enhance clarity in the separation of functions. It would sound weird if there were no clear separating line thereby creating uncertainties and a disorganized setting. Pertaining same gender relations, I find them just as a hideout to propagate immorality. No clear defined benefit results from the engagement thus questioning the validity of the matter.
Conversely, I challenge some of the gender norms. I find them restraining the progress of an individual and for that reason go against them to explore new waters (Eagly, & Koenig, 2008). It’s beneficial as it opens up one’s mind to numerous opportunities and possibilities that lie untapped and underutilized.
Conclusion
Summarizing, gender norms depend on an individual. You have the option to choose what to do or not to according to your preference and suitability.
References
Eagly, A. H., & Koenig, A. M. (2008). Gender prejudice: On the risks of occupying incongruent roles. Beyond common sense: Psychological science in the courtroom, 63-81.
Weber, A., & Zulehner, C. (2014). Competition and gender prejudice: Are discriminatory employers doomed to fail?. Journal of the European Economic Association, 12(2), 492-521.
