Gosh Darn Gender Roles

The readings this week talked a lot about the origins of gender roles.  In Chapter 5 of  Gender Stereotypes and Roles Susan A.Bosaw came to the conclusion that it was the difference in labor that created gender roles.  The fact that men were more suited for hunting and women gathering and working on horticulture started placing the importance of men above women.  I find it sad that even though in some cultures woman are equal than men, in no culture were woman dominant and men submissive. I don't believe that anyone should be submissive but the fact that woman are currently dominated makes me wish that at one point women had the power to be the "bigger man".  The shaping, sustaining, and changing of gender roles is all about power. In line with the postmodernist view I belive that gender is ever changing. The writers of the articles we read this week seem to have the same view. They believe that the way to change this power difference is through women having more economic power in the household, women no letting themselves buy into exploiting their bodies, and empowering themselves in times of war.  This idea as war as a catalyst for good is a hard one. War kills, it causes rifts through societies and is usually not carried out for the benifit of the collective. However, as Bridget Byrne says, war one of the opportune times for women to change their role in society.  I wish we, as collective women didn.t have to wait for times as catastrophic as war to change what is so obviously wrong. Being submissive and being the entertainment for men is so ingrained in us that we don't think to revlot.