Introduction
Gender stereotypes and roles are an essential part of modern society and remain a somewhat controversial topic for discussion. These postulates are based on the distribution of responsibilities between men and women, which are inherent in them by fixed norms. However, with the development of society, these aspects change and acquire new characteristics. Particular attention should be paid to how gender roles and social values are transformed. This work aims to study this problem to contribute to the already existing literature on the topic of intersex roles and stereotypes.
Before proceeding to the discussion, it is necessary to clearly understand what the problem under study is. Hence, gender roles are the framework that determines how people act and function in society. This aspect concerns communication manners, appearance, and other vital parameters. The most primitive example is the fact that women are obliged to wear dresses and men – trousers. It is especially worth noting that gender norms and perceptions may vary depending on the society, ethnic group, or culture (Oláh et al., 2020). Moreover, these transformations can be strongly influenced by time and people’s interests.
There is such a thing as a stereotype in a close relationship with sexual roles. It consists of a simplified and, in most cases, false representation of one of the sexes. Furthermore, stereotypes are often negative and have a detrimental effect on society. Sexual stereotypes can manifest themselves in seemingly innocent actions such as jokes (Cendres et al., 2019). They lead to a decrease in the level of equality in society and the development of unfair treatment of people. The main types of gender roles are character traits, everyday behavior, professions, and appearance (“What are gender roles and stereotypes?”, n.d.). These indicators can vary greatly depending on the transformation of social values. Hence, earlier women could not hold senior positions, and men were forbidden to show weakness and emotions inherent in the strictly weaker sex.
Therefore, gender roles largely determine how the sexes behave in society. Moreover, they are directly dependent on the values formed in society and may be subject to time. However, it is worth noting that in some modern societies, there is no such separation between gender identifications. This is because men and women have the opportunity to perform the same essential tasks, thereby eliminating the increasing appearance of gender-specific behavior.
The main question of the research is “How do social values influence the formation of gender stereotypes?” Despite the vastness of various literary works on the topic of differences between the sexes, this aspect is not always given sufficient attention (Eisend, 2019). That is why the analysis of the necessary information and concluding can help fill the hole in knowledge on the chosen topic.
Hypotheses
The central hypothesis of this study is that “the formation of ideas about the functions and roles of men and women are in direct relationship with social values and change with them.” The main expected results of this scientific work are to confirm the hypothesis derived and obtain practical, valuable information. This knowledge will contribute to further research on gender differences and stereotypes and their influence on the current state of social development.
Method
Participants
For the best study, participants from the local community can be recruited. The optimal age group can be men and women 25-30 years old. This group is characterized by almost complete adaptation to society and has access to a variety of technologies and opportunities. Thus, it can give helpful insight on the topic of gender roles and how they have changed with the time of their growing up and changing values. Ideally, it would be better to involve at least three representatives of different peoples concerning race and ethnicity. Hence, it is possible to analyze how culture and worldview influence the formation of ideas about the problem.
In the course of the study, not only the problems of the role of the sexes can be touched upon, but also gender identity and orientation since they also affect human behavior in society. The geographical location may be limited to one locality and one of its communities to reduce financial and time costs. Since the problem under investigation does not require specific strict criteria, participants can be selected by random sampling.
Materials and Procedure
Ethics is also one of the critical aspects of researching the population. This is especially true of scientific works involving various ethnic and racial groups. Thus, this study will, at the beginning of its work, carry out work to obtain informed consent from all the people involved. An essential point in this process is the Institutional Review Board approval. It is defined as a group that reviews and monitors scientific research directly involving people (Kane III & Gallo, 2017). Obtaining this permission will allow researchers to conduct the study with the confidence that it will not cause harm to the participants.
Before proceeding to the experiment stage, it will be necessary to conduct a preparatory stage. At this step, goals, objectives, expected results, and possible study problems are formed. The basis for collecting information from participants will be conducting a particular survey using online questionnaires. This method can be considered especially effective considering this epidemiological situation; that is, this choice will reduce the occurrence of risks for participants and researchers. All men and women will need to do are answer 10-15 questions about values, the influence of gender on society’s perception and gender stereotypes, and the roles they have encountered in life. After receiving the data, their qualitative analysis will be carried out to test the hypothesis put forward.
Study Implications
It is worth emphasizing that, depending on the society, group and culture, sexual roles and stereotypes may differ significantly. This aspect provides an even greater justification for conducting scientific work on this topic. This is due to such a wide variety of definitions of sexual roles and how they are formed and transmitted in a particular culture. The study’s only limitation may be that personal perception related to sexual roles is quite challenging to measure.
The conducted research can have a significant contribution to the cultural and scientific aspects of society. This is because it includes analysis and consideration of the relationship between social values and gender roles. The unique feature of the study is a narrower focus on the influence of worldview and social norms on gender-related prejudices. In the real world, the data obtained can be used to work on further research on this topic in the sociological and psychological spheres of people’s lives.
References
Cendra, A. N., Triutami, T. D., & Bram, B. (2019). Gender stereotypes depicted in online sexist jokes. The European Journal of Humour Research, 7(2), 44-66.
Eisend, M. (2019). Gender roles. Journal of Advertising, 48(1), 72-80. Web.
Kane III, E. I., & Gallo, J. J. (2017). Perspectives of IRB chairs on the informed consent process. AJOB Empirical Bioethics, 8(2), 137-143. Web.
Oláh, L. S., Vignoli, D., & Kotowska, I. E. (2020). Gender roles and families. Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics, 1-28. Web.
What are gender roles and stereotypes? (n.d.). Planned Parenthood. Web.