Men’s Gender Role in Society

1. Et. All (1986) Gender-Role Conflict Scale: College Men’s Fear of Femininity. Sex Roles,
Vol. 14, Nos 5/6, 1-2.
This article states, “Gender-role conflict exists when gender roles have negative
consequences for people.” I like this quote because it simply explains how, in today’s
society, we give gender role violations negative consequences. Significant gender-role
conflict differences were found for men who were instrumental, expressive, or both.
These findings indicate that men who don’t confine themselves to the expectations of
their gender often experience gender-role conflict. Men’s in today’s society face this
dilemma, especially in the U.S., although more and more men are breaking the
boundaries around their gender roles.

2. Greig A, Kimmel M, Lang J (2000) Men, masculinities and development: broadening

our works towards gender equality. United Nations Development Programme.
Monograph No. 10, p 35.
This paper was written to discuss the role of men in redressing gender inequalities by
exploring the use and meaning of masculinity. Uses of masculinity are examined in the
context of power and patriarchy. A quote from the article states, “Continued efforts
should be made to publicize and advocate for the importance of men’s responsibilities
and roles in work towards gender equality in the international for a, local and national
policy debates and development programming.” This quote concludes one major point;
discussions on masculinity provide a place in which men can challenge inequalities in
gender and other social relationships. I thought this article touched right into my topic
because men today deal with inequality and typically are afraid to feel vulnerable so
getting them to get involved in a solution is hard to do.

3. Liana C. Sayer (2005) Gender, Time and Inequality: Trends in women and men’s paid
work, unpaid work and free time. Social Forces, Volume 84, Issue 1, p 285-303.
This article was an analysis time diary data gathered from 1965, 1975 and 1998 to
examine gender differences and trends. Although women still do more household labor
than men, the amount of time men spend doing the same tasks has dramatically
increased. Women and men are tending to do more unpaid work time that construct
family life and spending less time in routine tasks. This may suggest that the symbolic
meaning of unpaid work may be shifting. Men’s role in today’s society has evolved as he
has become more involved at home, although access to free time has emerged as a new
form of time inequality.

4. David M. Mayer (2018), How men get penalized for straying from masculine norms.
Harvard Business Review.
This article discusses how men in today’s society are penalized for straying from
masculine norms. One question I found was very interesting to think about, it states
“When women behave in ways that don’t fit their gender stereotype – for example, by
 being assertive, - they are viewed as less likable and ultimately less hirable. Does that
same hold true for men? Are they similarly penalized for straying from the strong
masculine stereotype?” The answer is yes. “Men face backlash when they don’t adhere
to masculine gender stereotypes – for example, when they show vulnerability, act nicer,
display vulnerability, display empathy, express sadness, exhibit modesty, and proclaim
to be feminists.” This article really dives into how men are rewarded for being more
masculine and conversely, punished if caught behaving more feminine. Men are
groomed in today’s society to be more masculine while women are groomed for being
more feminine.

5. Jane Porter (2014), Yes, gender equality is a men’s issue. Fast company.
This article was inspired by Emma Watson’s HeForShe campaigns to stop gender
inequality. In Emma’s speech, she urged the need for men to get involved in the fight
and speak out against the violence and discrimination faced by women and men all
around the world. She explains that gender inequality isn’t a feminist issue, it’s a human
rights issue. Men are indirectly affected by gender inequality because when women are
put in a box, men have extra responsibilities, crippling responsibilities expected of them.
Stated in the article, “As Watson stated in her speech, “Its time that we all perceive
gender on a spectrum, not as two opposing ideals.” It can be argued that in today’s
society men who are more open to gender equality face less health risks than men who
are more masculine and don’t share gender role responsibilities.

6. Chloe E. Bird A, Patricia P. Rieker b (1999), Gender matters: an integrated model for
understanding men’s and women’s health. Social Science & Medicine, Volume 48, p
745-756.
This article explains different health research examined and tested by researches,
clinicians and policy makers to explore the combination of social and biological sources
of the differences in men and women. Although men and women are commonly
differentiated by genetics, prenatal hormone exposure and natural hormonal exposure
as adults, there are underlying health differences that are harder to understand without
further insight. Researchers, clinicians, and policy makers could gain better
understanding of the health differences in men and women from an integrated model
that studies biological and social differences together rather than separately.

7. Will H Courtenay (2000), Constructions of masculinity and their influence on men’s

well-being: a theory of gender and health. Social Science & Medicine, Volume 50, p
1385-1401.
This article suggests that health related beliefs and behaviors are the means for
demonstrating masculinity and femininity. Men in the U.S. suffer severe chronic
conditions, have higher death rates, and die 7 years younger than women. Ethnicity,
economic status, educational level, sexual orientation and social context are all things
that contribute to men’s masculinity but also contribute to different health risks among
men in the U.S. It is suggested that the social practices that compromise men’s health
are often traits of masculinity and tools men use in the negotiation of power and status.
 In today’s society men’s gender roles and the way they demonstrate masculinity and
use those traits to gain power can undermine their health in many ways.

8. Jay C. Wade (1996), African American men’s gender role conflict: The significance of
racial identity. Sex roles, Volume 34, p 17-33
This paper is a study of 95 African American men ages 23-80 years old. It focused on the
relationships between racial identity attitudes and gender role conflict. Many of the
participants contributed in the 1981 Black Racial Identity Attitude Scale and the 1986
Gender Role Conflict Scale. This study examines the significance of racial identity and its
impact on African American men’s conflict associated with traditional male gender role
expectations. The findings suggested that racial identity attitudes were differentially
related to patterns of gender role conflict when racial identity was externally defined
but not when internally defined. African American men in today’s society face conflict
with traditional male gender role expectations when racial identity is defined by
someone other than themselves.

9. Younjoo Chaa, Sarah Thebaud (2009), Labor markets, breadwinning, and beliefs: How
economic context shapes men’s gender ideology. Online, Volume 23, p 215-243
It is argued that labor markets shape men’s gender ideology and this paper analyzes
whether or not that is true. The authors predicted that men’s breadwinner status would
have more impact on their gender ideology in rigid labor markets because their
employment status was less volatile. This proved to be true after a multilevel analysis of
27 countries demonstrated that men’s dependency on their partners influenced their
gender ideology more strongly in rigid labor markets. Men’s role as a breadwinner in
today’s society has more impact on his gender ideology in rigid labor markets because
he can expect less fluctuation in his employment.

10. Jane Riblett Wilkie (1993), Changes in U.S. men’s attitudes toward the family provider
role, 1972-1989. Gender & Society, Volume 7, issue 2, p 261-279
This article examines men’s breadwinner status and attitudes toward sharing provider-
role responsibility using data from the National Opinion Research Center, General Social
Surveys for 1972 until 1989. It studies a period in modern society when the U.S. was at
war and went through an economic downturn. During this period men who faced
challenging experiences such as financial hardship would be forced to share the provider
role and in doing so caused them to have more of an egalitarian attitude about sharing
provider-role responsibility. The findings indicate that structural change in economy of
the family changing men’s experience as breadwinners is the major driving force behind
the evolving gender expectations about family roles. Being forced to changing provider
role responsibilities in the past has caused men’s attitudes today to be egalitarian than
they have been in modern history.