Gender & Gender Roles: Feminism gave rise to the battle of the genders and the superwoman who felt she could and   "should" have it all. Feminism has forever changed the roles of men and women.

Gender & Gender Roles: Feminism gave rise to the battle of the genders and the superwoman who felt she could and   "should" have it all.

Gender & Gender Roles

Feminism and Men & Women
By Lori Anderson

Before the feminist movement, the traditional American female was confined to role of homemaker and controlled by her financial dependence on men, particularly her husband.

Before the feminist movement, the traditional American male was valued for his competitiveness and his ability to produce money. The men and women of yesterday measured a man's success by his ability to win and provide for his family.

The business world supported the hard-working, self-sacrificing, competitive, "corporate man"  in order to work this man into an early grave.

They even supported the "little wife" at home, whose efforts allowed this man complete freedom to work, work, and work some more.

Feminism gave birth to two components:

• The battle of the genders which still rages in the minds of many men and women.
• The superwoman, determined to have it all and do it better than her mom or grandmother.

Many women heard the message, "You should do it all."

Although many of these super women still tended to define their lives in terms of their man, they went out to compete in a man's world and with man's definition of success.

Many encountered the glass ceiling, and learned they could never have it all.

Many realized they would have to accept men's values and definitions of success. The very process of this acceptance meant women could never have it all because men did not and would not ever have it all either.

When this happened, the  newly independent woman actually began to have it better than their mothers and grandmothers.

By changing the way men and women relate to each other and to work, feminism and feminists have forever changed the world.

The second wave of the women's movement is emerging in force. It is supported by both men and women and is based on the values of balance, quality, and meaning.

The new women's movement is creating new ways for men and women to relate even as it changes our standards of success.

Feminism has changed our definitions of masculine and feminine. These new roles are changing the way men and women relate as well as the way men and women work.

More information about gender and gender role differences.