The Hierarchy Of Gender Roles And Personal Identity

Throughout history, there has always been at least one group of people that have had more power and control than all the others. Whether it was royalty, a communist dictatorship, or the Nazis, one group had the most power, with groups below them with less and less power. This hierarchy is known as stratification. Schaefer defines stratification as, “a structured ranking of entire groups of people that perpetuates unequal economic rewards and power in a society” (Schaefer, 2016, p. 179). This ranking has can either be forced suddenly, or subtly worked into place over time. Stratification can apply to groups of people with race, religion, ethnicity, but most importantly it applies to genders. Gender affects one’s societal experiences and personal identity through the the roles of genders, the dominance of a single gender, the lack nonconformity tolerance, .

Males tend to be the dominant gender, with females always considered the submissive one. Further, females are seen as nurturers and child bearers, while men are seen as the money makers and the hunters. Once a necessity for survival, society created these gender roles and norms, and treated each gender differently. These roles have stuck with society for almost all of human history. Genders roles, as defined by Schaefer, are the “expectations regarding the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females” (Schaefer, p. 259). The gender roles of males and females are not inherently independent, the behavior and attitudes of males greatly affect those of females, and vice versa. Through the roles of genders, many different stereotypes and inequalities have