Research project gender roles

Gender Roles and Household Tasks Tessa Turnbow Gender Roles: Diversity (Soc 235) Erica Dixon March 13, 2010 Topic The topic that I decided to study for this research project is gender roles. More specifically, are gender roles still stereotyped as they were years ago when it comes to household tasks. What I am most interested to see is if the younger generation, i.e. ages 16-18, are seeing changes in the stereotypes because this generation is who will ultimately see a change if there ever is one, and they we are the ones that could work to make a change happen. Background In order to understand gender roles and how they change over time, it is important to look at the history. In the early 1900s it was unheard of for women to work and in some cases it was illegal. In 1930, in fact, it was against the law in 26 of the 48 states for married women to be employed (Gender Roles ). Married women, instead, were expected to stay home, cook, clean, and take care of the children while their husbands were at work. And once their husbands returned home, dinner was expected to be done, the house clean, and children well behaved. Women were also not supposed to “nag” their husbands once they got home and silence was expected, since, obviously, their husbands had such a hard day at work. Thankfully, this started to change over time. In the 1970s, about 50% of women ages 25 to 54 worked outside of home and in the work place, and in 1995, 76% of women worked outside of home (Gender and Society ). These are great strides that we have made as a society, bringing the work place more equality. Now, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 45% of white men, who used to control the workplace, make up the total workers and 47% of women, even though men still make more money. With this change in who is working more, gender account for the total workers (She Works. They’re Happy). However, research has also found that when women work by themselves they are less successful than men (Martinot,D). In my opinion, this is probably because women are not always given the same chances to work alone and be successful as men are. There are obviously still some drawbacks, but overall women have begun to dominate the job market. With this change in the work place, gender roles have also changed at home. According to a recent study from the Pew Research Center, women are now the primary breadwinners in marriages and roles have also shifted. Many would assume that the role shift would create conflict in a marriage; I mean what kind of guy would possibly want to stay at home and clean the house while his wife works and makes the money? However, divorce rates have actually gone down since this role shift. In 1970 there was an average of 23 divorces per 1,000 couples, and that has dropped to less than 17 divorces per 1,000 couples (She Works. They’re Happy.). This may be because, as many experts point out, women no longer are looking for a husband that, simply, has a lot of money but looking for someone that better suits them based on their personality. Also, I believe that the divorce rate has gone down because with women becoming more independent men have more respect for them, and respect is one of the most important parts in relationships. It is obvious that we have made strides as a society when it comes to gender roles, so it will be interesting to see if the opinions of my peers match these strides when I finish my research. Hypothesis My hypothesis is that even though our society has taken great strides in changing gender roles, people my age will still stereotype men and women into certain roles because of what they have observed growing up and in today’s society. Methods The method I used to carry out my research was a survey. Since this was a correlation study I distributed the survey to as many different people as I could. It was hard; however, because I only take one class at my high school, and since that is the age group I am working with, I had to go into other classes to distribute the survey. My subjects were all students at Olympia High School ages 16 to 18. I did not let my close friends fill out the survey because I wanted it to be as random as possible so that I could not predict the results. I surveyed 46 students of varied genders, ages, and backgrounds. In the beginning of my survey I simply asked for the subject’s age, gender, and who they were raised by, for example married parents, single parents, etc. These questions are basic, but they helped me to see if their answers had a certain bias. For instance, a person who is raised by both parents may have more stereotypical ideas of gender roles, while a person who has been raised by a single parent may not have those ideas because there has only ever been one person to do certain tasks. After the personal questions I listed several household tasks, such as washing the dishes, mowing the lawn, and cooking dinner. I instructed the subjects to indicate if they thought each task is usually completed by a male, female, or both. After I completed the research, I divided the surveys into three sections; ages 16, 17, and 18, then I recorded the results for each section and figured out the average for each task. Results For my results, I divided everything into three sections: ages 16, 17, and 18. On each section I calculated the percentage for each personal question for example, on section one 27% of the subjects surveyed are female and 73% are male. I rounded each percentage to the nearest percent. On the opinion section I figured out how many people chose male, female, or both and then calculated the percentages to the nearest tenth. For instance, on section one: washing the dishes, five out of the eleven subjects thought this was a task that a female should do which equals 45% and six believed that it was a task for both making that 55%, and finally zero people thought it was a task that just males should do. I also rounded these results to the nearest percent. The results for all of my research are presented below: Section One- Age 16 (11 participants) Gender: Female: 27% Male: 73% Who Were You Raised By: Both Parents: 91% Single Parents: 0% Grandparents: 0% Other: 9% Opinion Section Washing Dishes: Female Task: 45% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 55% Mowing the Lawn: Female Task: 18% Male Task: 55% Task for Both: 27% Cooking Dinner: Female Task: 55% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 45% Sweeping: Female Task: 55% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 45% Doing the Laundry: Female Task: 64% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 36% Cleaning Vehicles: Female Task: 27% Male Task: 36% Task for Both: 36% Weeding: Female Task: 55% Male Task: 9% Task for Both: 36% Making the Bed: Female Task: 45% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 55% Mopping the Floors: Female Task: 45% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 55% Vacuuming: Female Task: 45% Male Task: 9% Task for Both: 45% Fixing Appliances: Female Task: 9% Male Task: 55% Task for Both: 36% Taking Out Garbage: Female Task: 36% Male Task: 18% Task for Both: 45% Planting Flowers: Female Task: 64% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 36% Cleaning the Bathroom: Female Task: 55% Male Task: 9% Task for Both: 36% Section Two- Age 17 (13 Participants) Gender: Female: 69% Male: 31% Who Were You Raised By: Both Parents: 69% Single Parent: 31% Grandparents: 0% Other: 0% Opinion Section Washing Dishes: Female Task: 46% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 54% Mowing the Lawn: Female Task: 0% Male Task: 69% Task for Both: 31% Cooking Dinner: Female Task: 38% Male Task: 8% Task for Both: 54% Sweeping: Female Task: 69% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 31% Doing the Laundry: Female Task: 38% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 62% Cleaning Vehicles: Female Task: 16% Male Task: 38% Task for Both: 46% Weeding: Female Task: 46% Male Task: 23% Task for Both: 31% Making the Bed: Female Task: 8% Male task: 0% Task for Both: 92% Mopping the Floors: Female Task: 69% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 31% Vacuuming: Female Task: 38% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 62% Fixing Appliances: Female Task: 0% Male Task: 84% Task for Both: 16% Taking Out Garbage: Female Task: 16% Male Task: 38% Task for Both: 46% Planting Flowers: Female Task: 84% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 16% Cleaning the Bathroom: Female Task: 38% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 62% Section Three- Age 18 (22 Participants) Gender: Female: 45% Male: 55% Who Were You Raised By: Both Parents: 82% Single Parent: 14% Grandparents: 4% Other: 0% Opinion Section: Washing Dishes: Female Task: 32% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 68% Mowing the Lawn: Female Task: 18% Male Task: 64% Task for Both: 18% Cooking Dinner: Female Task: 64% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 36% Sweeping: Female Task: 55% Male Task: 4% Task for Both: 41% Doing the Laundry: Female Task: 45% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 55% Cleaning Vehicles: Female Task: 14% Male Task: 36% Task for Both: 50% Weeding: Female Task: 32% Male Task: 36% Task for Both: 41% Making the Bed: Female Task: 45% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 55% Mopping the Floors: Female Task: 59% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 41% Vacuuming: Female Task: 36% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 64% Fixing Appliances: Female Task: 14% Male Task: 55% Task for Both: 32% Taking Out the Garbage: Female Task: 18% Male Task: 32% Task for Both: 50% Planting Flowers: Female Task: 68% Male Task: 0% Task for Both: 32% Cleaning the Bathroom: Female Task: 41% Male Task: 14% Task for Both: 45% These results show that the participants in section one thought that females should be the ones to cook dinner, sweep, do the laundry, weed, vacuum, plant flowers, and clean the bathroom. They felt that males should be the ones to mow the lawn, and fix the appliances. Finally, they believed that both the male and female should wash dishes, clean the vehicles, mop the floors, and take out the garbage. The results for section two were quite different, they showed that the subjects believed that both males and females should do all of the tasks except for mowing the lawn and fixing appliances, which is what males should do, and sweeping, weeding, mopping the floors, and planting flowers, which is something that females should do. In section three, the results were a lot like section one. The participants indicated that the female tasks are: cooking dinner, sweeping, cleaning the vehicles, weeding, mopping the floors, and planting flowers. The tasks they thought that were something males should do are: mowing the lawn and fixing appliances. The tasks indicated for both male and female are: washing dishes, doing the laundry, making the bed, vacuuming, taking out the garbage, and cleaning the bathroom. These results varied significantly, but the one thing that was the same in each section is the tasks that the participants indicated that the males should do. Every time it was mowing the lawn and fixing appliances. I was not surprised by this because these are the most stereotypical male tasks; however the other results did surprise me. For example, I was shocked at how many tasks were considered to be done by both females and males; I was expecting it to be either male or female. Conclusion: Throughout this research project, my hypothesis was both supported and refuted. I hypothesized that even though our society has taken huge strides to end inequality between men and women and change the gender roles stereotypes there would still be the stereotypes because of what the subjects have observed as they have grown up. I was correct that there are still some stereotypes, the most obvious is that in each section of results the participants believed that mowing the lawn and fixing appliances is something that males should do. When I wrote this survey, I knew that these would have been male stereotypes, but I did not think that they would still be so obviously assumed to be a male task. Also, sweeping, weeding, and planting flowers are all tasks that in every section it was indicated that females should complete those tasks. The fact that there are still tasks that are obviously gender stereotyped supported my hypothesis, however there were several tasks that the participants thought both males and females could complete. In each section washing the dishes, making the bed, and taking out the garbage were all considered to be tasks that men and women should do. These results refuted my hypothesis because it shows that tasks that would be considered a female stereotype (i.e. washing the dishes) are now something that both genders should do. These results definitely surprised me. I was expecting the subjects to indicate that every task except mowing the lawn and fixing appliances should be completed by females. This is because even though our society has come long ways there are still so many things that stereotype men and women into traditional gender roles. If I were to do this project over again I would do several things differently. First, I would broaden the age range. If I added people to the survey that are in the older generation I would be able to compare and contrast and see how much of a difference has actually been made. I would also ask more questions in the background section. For example, I would ask about religion and relationship status. These could help me to see if the answers are more bias toward one side or the other for a reason. For instance, if someone is really religious their answers may lean more toward the traditional gender stereotypes. This study made me question if we are really doing enough as a society to change the stereotypes of gender roles. I would have liked if my hypothesis was totally refuted and that every task was considered to be something that males and females could do. This research may help sociologists who are trying to figure out what we still need to change as a society and how much we have already changed in the area of gendered stereotypes. This could be used as an outline for someone to teach their children about gender roles. For example, they could show them that males and females can do the same tasks around the house. If children in the future generation know that gender roles are not stereotypes then we, as a society would be able to take even bigger strides toward equality. This research is, over all, important to the study of gender because it shows that we still have a long ways to go when it comes to men and women being considered equal. We have taken small strides, but it is obvious that much still has to be done. I am very happy with this research project. Even though I could have done some things differently, I am proud of my work and found the results, both informative and surprising. References: Gender and Society. Retrieved Feb 22, 2010, from http://www.trinity.edu/~MKEARL/gender.html Gender Roles. Retrieved Feb 25, 2010, from http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/8/Gender-roles.html Martinot, D., & Viallon, M.L. (June 2009). The Effects of Solo Status on Women’s and Men’s Success: The Moderating Role of the Performance Context.(24)191-205. Retrieved Feb 26, 2010, from Ebsco She Works. They’re Happy. (2010, January 24). Retrieved Feb 27, 2010, from The New York Times’ website: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/fashion/24marriage.html?pagewanted=1

Research project gender roles

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