The term “gender role”, was first popularized by John Money in 1955 and is defined as “the role or behaviour considered to be appropriate to a particular gender, which is defined by cultural norms”. The issue and discussion surrounding modern and past gender roles play a topical and relevant role within our day-to-day society.
Throughout history, there has always existed a gap in the expectations between the two biological genders. Because of this expectation, both biological genders' roles have been limited to lie within these boundaries. For example, women are expected to be nurturing and family-orientated, historically limiting their careers and creating power imbalances within relationships. These boundaries have been purely reflected by the nature viewpoint.
A famous anthropological figure who challenged this historical nature viewpoint was Margaret Mead. Mead stated, bluntly, that gender roles are not necessarily created by biology, but by societal influences, saying that “(human nature) is almost unbelievably malleable”. What led to this conclusion was her research into the various tribes in Papua New Guinea, which lasted two years. One tribe, the Arapesh tribe, has a distinct, unique pattern of male and female behaviour. Males and females are expected to both be gentle and mild, setting them as societally equal. This social equality was contrasted against her observations of the Tchambuli tribe, where women were seen as dominant over men. Her conclusions therefore supported the nurture viewpoint. As, although biologically identical, men and women had different gender roles within different tribes.
A figure with a contrasting viewpoint is Francis Galton, who said that “there is no escape from the conclusion that nature prevails enormously over nurture”, and came to this conclusion by studying twins and found that people born of similar traits affected a large part of their early development. This therefore agrees with the viewpoint that gender roles are predetermined from birth.
The discussion of whether gender roles are determined by biology or upbringing is a hugely debated and complex topic within cultural anthropology. On one hand, the development of a child can seem to shape their way of thinking, and viewpoints. However, on the other hand, the same can be argued from the biological viewpoint. Therefore, anthropologists prefer to take a holistic approach. Arguing that the ideas that gender roles are purely determined by nature and purely determined by nurture are incorrect, as they both are interlinked with each other.
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