Problem:
I learned my earliest ideas about gender through my family, though no one ever sat me down and explained what "gender roles" were. Instead, I absorbed them through the way people behaved, the responsibilities they carried, and the emotional tone of our home. When I was young, my parents divorced because my father was abusive toward my mother, my brothers, and me. My mother made the incredibly strong decision to take us out of that environment, and I am grateful every day that she did. Growing up, I saw how my father's behavior was shaped by the way he was raised, in a household where discipline was harsh and emotional expression was discouraged. Kang et al. (2017a) explain how gender expectations are passed down through social systems, and I can see now how those expectations shaped the men in my family in painful ways.
After the divorce, my home life changed. My mother remarried, and my stepdad showed me what a father could be: steady, kind, and present. My mother never spoke badly about my father when I was young, but as I got older, I learned more about what she endured. Seeing her navigate all of that taught me more about gender than any direct conversation ever could. Goerling and Wolfe (2022a) note that we often learn about gender through the roles people take on, and my mother took on every role she needed to, the protector, provider, nurturer, without ever labeling it.
My mother grew up in a traditional household where my grandmother handled the cooking, cleaning, and childcare. My grandmother was the one who taught me how to knit and bake, and my mother encouraged my creativity because of what she learned from her own mother. These women shaped my understanding of what it means to be a woman: strong, capable, expressive, and able to have a voice even within traditional expectations. Kang et al. (2017b) discuss alternatives to binary systems, and looking back, I can see how my mother and grandmother quietly expanded what "womanhood" could look like, even if they didn't use that language.
Considering gender is important because it influences how we see ourselves and how we move through the world. Goerling and Wolfe (2022b) remind us that understanding sexuality and identity requires recognizing the diversity of human experience. My childhood taught me that gender roles can be both limiting and empowering, depending on how they are modeled. The women who raised me showed me resilience, creativity, and strength, and those lessons continue to shape how I parent, how I love, and how I understand myself. Need Assignment Help?