The social construction of gender through roles and rules has been a hotly debated topic over the years due to its associated negative effects not only to women but men as well. The essence and consequences of such rules have informed many empowerments and social sensitization endeavours that have characterized the struggle against gender disparities in many spheres of life such as education, health and economy. Of particular concern is the gender imbalances in men and women which have been argued to influence the cognitive development as well as the wellbeing of male and female genders inappropriately (Risman " Davis, 2013). In this paper, the construction and significance of such rules, as well as the consequences of gender, is discussed to bring out the underlying issues of gender and sexuality.
Firstly, gender stratification is the unequal assumption of social or economic power on the sole basis of sex. Social rules are therefore formed to propagate and entrench such stratifications as well as allocate roles according to culture and values. In the ancient societies, men and women were allocated roles in accordance with their sex which served to disadvantage women in various aspects of social, political and economic lives. The construction of masculinity and femininity has been observed to traverse sexuality and gender values into harmful stereotypes, inequalities and constraints. Therefore, the primary reasons for the creation of such rules such as role allocation and specialization are overridden by the immense demerits that are associated with the construction of gender (Seidman, Fischer " Meeks, 2016).
The consequences of such gender constructions are profoundly negative and particularly targeted at the female gender although males are also victims of such gender imbalances (Seidman, Fischer " Meeks, 2016). For instance, the rules lead to negative stereotypes which constrain the abilities and cognitive development of children. Under the concept of proliferation, certain capabilities are subdued due to the prevailing belief systems, entitlements and gender inequalities. For example, male students have been observed to exhibit more confidence and increased performance in public speaking and mathematics respectively even in instances where the competence and qualification for such are equal in both men and women.
Also, inequalities in gender have been accused of disadvantaging women through subordination and mistreatment such as limitation of roles, physical mutilation and lower pay at the workplace. Moreover, despite the world composition of women being half of the total population and women being involved in active work, more property ownership has been accorded to men with women being subjected to smaller roles in the home and gendered advertisements. Sexual objectification and harassment have also been a major consequence of the gender issue which perpetuates timidity and submission in females and aggressiveness and courage in males (Risman " Davis, 2013). In this way, the conventional definition of masculinity and femininity is manipulated to favour the male sex.
However, males have also been victims of these constructions of gender especially through inadequate mental health support, social stigma and depression. Such negativities have been propagated by depictions of males as unemotional and tough across many cultures. Therefore, males are not expected to express emotion or seek open social support which often leads to depression, stress and suicides especially among teenagers and young adults (Seidman, Fischer " Meeks, 2016).
In conclusion, the construction of gender rules and the associated consequences is of paramount importance not only to men but also women. This is because the accruing negativities cut across the two sexes in a big way. It is therefore important that the gendered rules and roles be assessed critically to ascertain their usefulness and mitigate their negative impacts.
References
Risman, B. J., " Davis, G. (2013). From sex roles to gender structure. Current Sociology, 61(5-6), 733- 755.
Seidman, S., Fischer, N. L., " Meeks, C. (2016). The social construction of sexuality. In Introducing the New Sexuality Studies (pp. 59-66). Routledge.
