Gender Stereotypes - The Main Cause for Gender Inequality

Gender stereotypes are ideas about appropriate and inappropriate behaviours for males and females. Gender stereotypes is the topic for this essay where we will see how this kind of stereotyping promotes gender inequity and may lead children to believe it is ok to have a power imbalance between the sexes later in life. Common gender stereotypes can include: that it’s not ok for men to cry; that men are naturally aggressive; that females should be submissive and be told what to do. Adolescents are conscious of gender stereotypes by this age and have begun to just accept a few of these as universal truths.

Lets just take one example of a true gender difference that adheres to all the above. ‘Men don’t cry’ we all know that men do have emotions which means they’re capable of crying and do so. We also know that men aren’t as emotional as women and don’t cry as easily. So then we know that men and women’s emotional centres are different and it’s reasonable to infer that there would be a difference in emotional makeup and altogether likelihood the behaviour of crying.

Crying has almost been completely destigmatized across the genders. Men know they can cry as much as they can wear the colour pink. But do they allow themselves to tear without viewing themselves as weak or inferior? Tragically, not often. If men weren’t made to cry, they wouldn’t have tears. Men can cry, they can cry when mourning the death of a close friend or family member, they can cry if they are hurt. This hardened view is what makes many men hurt silently inside then the hurt gets manifested in harmful ways on others. it’s okay to be human. Find your corner, cry sometimes. find solace in your woman, breakdown in her embrace sometimes. it’ll assist you to heal and live. As stated in ‘The Drover’s Wife’ by Henry Lawson “One day she sat down to have a good cry”, sometimes it’s good to sit down and have a good cry.

In conclusion, to create a healthy culture for men to express emotions better, they have to feel safe expressing them in the first place. Crying must not be related to gender roles. Men don’t cry because they’re weak, they cry because they have been strong for too long, they cry because crying—like other emotions—is a normal expression for all people. Confronting and processing emotions is what makes us human and crying is a fundamental emotion for all sexes. It’s time to alter how society perceives emotional responses in men. This macho view of masculinity is primitive and should be abandoned.