Week 3 DQ: Gender Roles

I spoke to my best friend's grandparents since mine have passed on.  When I spoke to them they said that men and women were not really seen as equal and had different gender roles at that time.  Men were considered to be the "breadwinners", and expected to bring home food and profit to the family.  Women were to marry, provide a clean house, and take care of the children.  They told me that this was the way of living and social statuses at the time, and there was really no other way of living.

I also interviewed my best friend's father and mother as well since my father is an Alzheimer's patient, and isn't able to carry a conversation to an extent like this.  When I spoke to his father about what it was like to be a man in his 20's he told me that women were still seen as a stay at home wife and mother.  This was still the status of most women even though they were able to have jobs in the work environment.  Even though he didn't women in this light this was how he was raised, and was told to finish college and get good paying job to support the family.

His mother was raised a bit differently even though she knew the stereotype of what women were to be in their 20's.  She agreed with her husband in the way how men and women were portrayed in society at the time, but she considered herself outside of the stereotype of women.  She was a very independent woman, and wanted to finish school to get a career job, and help support her family.  She believed that women had the same rights and responsibilities as men do.  She would stay at home when she had her kids, but when she able to return to work she took advantage of it.

With today's men and women in their 20's it is nothing like it was twenty and forty years ago.  Today, men and women have their own independent goals.  This can range from graduating from college, finding a career job to make money, starting a family, being a stay at home wife/or husband, etc.  This is because men and women have the same rights as each other according to our rules.  Anyone has the right and freedom to make whatever decision (good or bad) they want to make as long as they are willing to deal with the consequences and benefits that come with their decision/s.  Men and women are free to also express themselves however they want too.