Men and Women: Fact and Fiction

Written by Dave Johnson

The roles of men and women have been under careful consideration for years. Some women think that they are treated unfairly and some men think that women shouldn’t be treated half as well as they are. Why are opinions so conflicting? Is it simply the differences in gender that cause this so-called "gender gap?" The roles change from culture to culture and from one society to the next but it seems that men play the dominant role in most, if not all, of them. Finding the reason for this seems to be about as elusive as catching the bar of soap that falls in the shower. Every once in a while, you think you’ve got a grasp on it only to see it slip away and glide to the drain.

Christa Wolf attempts to place the blame of the world’s problems on the male gender. Supposedly, all was well when the women were in charge. There was no warfare and everything was peachy. She wants the reader to believe that everybody, male and female, ran around all day chasing butterflies and playing games. But then came the male deities and the female deities got pushed aside. Very simply Wolf can then sum up the events of the history of the world. Men took over. They created warfare. (Hence The Iliad) They continued to mistreat women (everything from rape to being underpaid) and from all this we have come to nuclear warfare. There can be no other logical reasons. Women are the greatest thing ever to happen to the world and men are the thing that pushed them aside and created the horrible place that we today call Planet Earth.

Many people agree that women have been drawing the short stick for years but most (I hope) would not go as far as Wolf to say that men are soon to be the downfall of the human species. A strong argument, or weak for that matter, cannot be made saying that women are given the same opportunities as men. One can argue, however, that there are reasons for the differences in which women and men are treated in and out of the workplace. For example, it is a known fact that women are paid about seventy-six percent of what men are paid for the exact same job. Women are not paid less because they are less competent or because they do put forth less effort. Rather, how often do you hear about a man taking paternity leave? Certainly it happens, but not anywhere near as often as maternity leaves. It is somewhat of a risk for companies to hire women because they can potentially need to leave for a while to raise a child and then come back and expect the same job back. What does an employer do? Is he or she supposed to hire a person for the span of about a year while the woman raises her child?

The solution may be to pay the women less. That will keep them out of the work place, won’t it? It certainly has its merits from the business point of view. If women are not paid a wage that seems worth their while, they will not look for a job. Now the problem of maternity leave is solved and we are brought to recent patterns of thought: Men should bring home the bacon while women stay home and raise the kids. Unfortunately, with this generalization comes more generalizations of gender roles. The women are seen as the ones who do the laundry, cook, clean, and vacuum while the men are at work in an office somewhere. And the arguments start all over again.

Other gender roles and identities come directly from this. When a child is injured or sad, who does he or she look for? The mother. This is because they spend time together during the day and the child knows that care can be found in the mother figure. However, if the child wants to play, who does he or she look for? Usually, they will go looking for the father. This is because the father has a different bond with the child. The father spends the day at work and comes home and it is playtime. His day of work is over and it is time to relax with the children (usually while the mother is cooking!). In this way, the bond with the father is different than the bond with the mother. From this, society sees women as caring and generous while men are looking for excitement and recreation.

Stereotypes extend outside the house. For example, women are seen as less capable drivers. This may very well be true and that is why the male usually picks up the female for a date. There is no reason to risk a man’s life for a first date. As with every generalization, there are a few exceptions but they are irrelevant to the content of this essay. Men are also seen as better athletes and having more physical strength which is a physiological fact. However, some women claim that women should be able to play with men at professional levels. These women are completely wrong. While some women can most definitely outrun, out lift, and out play men in many sports, there is no way they could compete with professional male athletes. Just one question can stop an argument on this topic. How many women have ever dunked in a basketball game of college level or higher? One! Just one! Elizabeth Blackwell dunked in a college game years ago. That is the only one. There is no way that they can physically compete with men on that high a level. They will have to be content with the WNBA for now.

Other stereotypes can just as easily be negated about the sexes. For example, women are sometimes seen as the less intelligent sex. This is so because of the roles that they play in relations to jobs. Women stay home so many people (who are actually the less intelligent ones, with no particular sex being predominant) think that the women can do nothing except cook, clean, and wash dishes. The fact, however, is that lower wages make working less than appealing for females. The amount that they would be paid for there time and effort would not be worth sending the children to day care or the drive to work every day. Women, therefore, are not less intelligent, only under appreciated.

The roles of men and women are not clearly defined and are constantly changing. The roles are sometimes accepted as fact instead of receiving the scrutiny that they deserve. If people would think about why things are instead of just saying that things are the way they are for various reasons, roles could be better understood. Women are not dumb and men are not the cause of international warfare. Women may be paid less, but they are no worse than men at what they do. Men may support the family but where would the family be without somebody to care for the children and take care of the home. The sexes complement each other making a harmony that makes everything work. It works just the same if the man stays home and the woman works or the other way around. The roles are not set in stone. Rather, every now and again, somebody jots them down on a giant Magna-Doodle and revisions are made frequently where the human race sees fit.