Introduction To Anthropology Sex And Gender Creative Writing Essay

Sex and Gender
Name
Institution
Sex and Gender
Culture greatly impacts gender roles in any given society. Standards and behaviors that are deemed acceptable for men and women have been informed and understood from a cultural perspective. However, as times change, these standards set by society may also change. As Lindsey (2016) reveals, gender roles are “performed according to social norms, shared rules that guide people’s behavior in specific situations.” Thus, as the situations change, so do gender roles, and evidently, culture plays an imperative role in driving those changes. For instance, despite being in this age and era where gender equality is being advocated for across the world, elements of a patriarchy society are evident because the traditional gender roles are still guiding people. The article “Iceland’s forgotten fisherwoman” is proof enough that as society is trying to move towards gender equality, there is a lack of uniformity as some areas are being neglected. This article examines how cultural conventions regarding customary laws, the division of labor, gender labeling, and intersexual relationships influence gendered identities and roles.
Custom dictates how we live, what we do and how we do it. This is well evidenced by the Iceland women whose ways of life and gender roles have changed over time. Kwok (2017) reveals that during the 19th century, custom dictated that women could not work on farms unless they were willing to go to sea too. The role of women, thus, was transformed to include fishing during that era, something that could not have changed if custom dictated otherwise. Women who would not partake in fishing were forced to do so by the custom of Iceland people, case in point the disabled woman who also suffered seasickness. This point is well illustrated by Lindsey (2016), who reveals that other than dictating marriage partners and access to education, customary laws can also dictate what occupation men and women pursue. However, as society gets exposed to different ideologies, the culture of the people also changes and new gender roles are assigned to men and women. Such is the shift from customary ideas and adoption of a new way of life of the people of Iceland, which dictated that women roles were confined to the house. Kwok (2017) notes that women were applauded for performing domestic roles such as cooking and those who focused on fishing and hunting were viewed as manly. In this sense, cultural conventions influence gender roles because changes in the way of life of a society determine what roles are manly and what roles are feminine. In most western cultures, there has been a shift in gender roles where women join corporates and in turn, there has been a rise in the number of stay-at-home dads. This shift in culture, which has been influenced by a change in ideologies, has changed how roles are allocated between the genders.
There exists a strong relationship between cultural conventions and the division of labor along gender lines. As Lindsey (2016) reveal, traditional attitudes and cultural beliefs have time and again influenced the division of labor, not only in the house but also in the workplace. This explains why in Iceland, women became less and less involved in fishing activities because they had to put more attention to domestic chores. Kwok (2017) reveal that in the 1900s, labor was mostly divided along gender lines where women were left at the shore while men went into the sea. As the society progressed, more traditions came into place that allocated fishing roles to women even harder. In most cases, women have to choose between family and work. The Iceland women could not, at some point, join men at sea because the trawlers could stay for more than a month, yet women had family and children responsibilities (Kwok, 2017). This indicates a strong division of labor along gender lines that force women to make choices, not because of lack of ability but because of traditionally defined gender roles. Clisby and Holdsworth (2016) posit that choosing between family and work is a choice only available to women. Men do not need to choose between the two because automatically, domestic roles have been traditionally assigned to women and no other role can take precedence. Cultural conventions have a great impact on the division of labor in society and in most cases; labor is divided along gender lines based on the accepted gender roles.
There is also the cultural assumption that women and men cannot interact in a non-sexual way. As a result, any interaction between men and women is labeled by society, thus influencing gender identity. Take for instance women who were labeled as lesbians or promiscuous in Iceland just because they went to sea against the society’s prescription (Kwok, 2017). Evidently, at some point in the Iceland history, the cultural conventions dictated that women had no business going to sea and those who went against these conventions were treated harshly by society. Culturally, behaviors that are termed as acceptable when it comes to men and women ...