Crespi (n.p) notes that gender socialization is a process where individuals slowly learn and evaluate the expectations, ideals and attitudes of a particular sex. Through gender socialization, it is possible to identify the reasons why males behave differently from the females. Ideally, the differences in the social roles that individuals have tend to show the unique differences that different sexes have. Due to sexual orientations, different people learn from different sexes. For instance, the girls learn from their mothers while boys learn from their fathers. The variances in the roles that males and females play govern their future careers. As such, the parental attitudes, school attitudes as well as interactions between individuals, mass media and the peers determine the gendered differences.
In a society, males and females behave in different ways. Through gender socialization, boys develop different ideals from the girls. Based on an individual’s sex, characteristics and personality define gender socialization. Studies have indicated that the biological differences that people have are not responsible for the gendered differences. Experts have also noted that both nature and nurture cannot lead to the differences between the males and females. Biological studies have reported that the male brain is different from the female brain. As such, it is that the females have unique communication skills compared to men (Crespi n.p).
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"Gender Socialization and Gendered Division of Paid Work".
Gender socialization starts from the families where the children identify with either of the parents. Male children often identify with their fathers as the female children identify with their mothers. However, every family tends to have a unique culture that determines how the gender socialization occurs. In most instances, families end up with gendered children unconsciously. Certain ideas of families and the societies culture children according to the sexes. In as much as parents may try to avoid gendered parenting, most are children gendered automatically due to the effects on the families, schools, and the society. For example, girls have dolls to represent the small children. These dolls help girls to learn how to care for children and become good mothers in future. In contrast, boys do not play with dolls because they do not identify with their mothers. The alterations in the roles played by children at their tender ages influence their future gendered roles (Lips 87-106).
The educational systems also play pivotal roles when it comes to the gendered socialization and gendered pay gap. Several studies have revealed how their teachers short-change the girls in schools. While teachers tend to encourage boys more than girls in particular areas such as science and mathematical studies, the resulting difference determines the future of the children. Although, the current educational designs used in most schools have favored more girls than the males. Due to the biased curricula, boys drop out of school and avoid schools. Boys have more physical power than girls do. As such, there are certain roles that are specific to the boys (Mason n.p).
Gender socialization also affects the career choice in the future. The cultural expectations have particular needs of the children. Every child must have a specific need for a career aligned with the cultural expectations. For instance, girls learn the culture of nurturing and caring for the children and others. This learning makes the girls grow with an art of nursing and caring roles. As a result, this is why many girls fit into nursing, social studies, counseling and teaching purposes. Girls who aspire to be engineers may be condemned in particular cultures. The boys fit into individuals who are capable of taking up tough roles such as engineering, scientific studies and strenuous sporting activities (Elson 611627).
The gender income difference results from gender socialization. Aspects such as career choices discriminate hiring, differences in the educational opportunities, differences in the job positions and differences in salary negotiations. Some of the reasons men are paid differently from women are due to differences in the nature of jobs they do. For example, the males are often used to do hard tasks that involve high levels of risks necessitating the large pays for the men compared to the women. Differences in the amount of work and work experience also lead to the differences in pay. As such, the pay gap is not attributable to explicit discrimination alone. Women’s career choices are one of the commonest reasons for the gendered wage gap (Lips 87-106).
However, there are significant changes made to bridge the gap. In as much as there are girls who have started joining the roles and careers left for the males, the gendered gap reduces. Smithson et al. (115-135) agree that gender equality issues have raised the concerns about how the males and the females earn equally. Analysts say that the differences are due to the career choices seen among women. Women prefer certain roles and jobs making them oriented in specific roles that do not reward as high as roles played by their male counterparts.
