Running head: GENDER ROLES IN THE ARAB WORLD
Eliminating Traditional Gender Roles in the Arab World Rand Amin American University of Sharjah
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Abstract This research paper argues that the implementation of traditional gender roles should be abolished because they limit children’s learning opportunities, career opportunities and strengthen rape culture. Traditional gender roles prevail strongly in the Arab world and are implemented on children at a very young age causing the learning experiences from a young age to be limited and restricted according to the child’s gender. It also limits their learning opportunities when they grow up and go to school as it limits their options of subjects to choose from. After they graduate, they start looking for jobs and settle for a job, and again the gender roles and stereotypes limit their options- discouraging them from working or creating barriers to succeeding in their careers. Traditional gender roles also strengthen rape culture by the way parents raise their girls differently than the boys, unconsciously putting their children in danger – even though the intent was to protect them. Keywords: gender roles, gender stereotypes, education, rape culture, Arab world
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Rigorous Implementation of Gender Roles in the Arab World “The girls didn’t let me be on their team, and the boys didn’t let me on their team and so I sat all alone at lunch time.” A little girl was crying to her mom about a game of catch, and how she does not want to go to school the next day. “Quit crying, it’s all your fault anyways. If you listen to me, and act like a girl for once, this wouldn’t have happened,” the mother replied, leaving the girl as hopeless and frustrated as ever. The implementation of traditional gender roles on children in the Arab world has severe consequences on future generations that the society is failing to recognize. Gender role is the set of characteristics prescribed by a culture and communicated through direct communication and through media (Wood, 2012, p. 20). Each gender has a set of constructs in which they are expected to behave in. For instance, in order for boys to be categorized as masculine, they need to be dominant, aggressive, unemotional, and rational, whereas girls are perceived as emotional, caring, and thoughtful. The issue of gender roles and gender stereotyping plays a key role in shaping the society that we live in, which is why it is very important to pay close attention to this issue. Because gender roles have become ingrained in the Arab culture, people no longer question them, instead blindly accept them, and implement them on their children. Parents’ lack of awareness is harming their own children and the society they live in. Therefore, traditional gender roles in the Arab world should be eliminated because they limit learning and educational choices; they restrict career opportunities and strengthen rape culture.
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Limiting Learning and Educational Choices The learning process of a child starts way before they go to school and these early learning experiences are crucial, but they are restricted and biased when parents raise their children differently according to their gender. Another important learning experience is education and that is restricted in the Arab world due to gender stereotypes and early marriage. Limiting Girls’ Imagination and Early Learning Experiences The enforcement of gender roles starts at a very young age and parents are ignorantly limiting the learning experience of their young girls. For instance, buying them gendered toys may seem like a simple task, but when we compare girls’ toys, with boys’ toys, we can start to see how such a simple and innocent gesture has a major impact on a child’s mentality and future. To start with, girls’ toys tend to be domestic items, like miniature kitchen sets, dolls and doll houses, whereas boys’ toys tend to be more spatial temporal toys, such as shape sorting toys, clocks, magnets. Just by listing the majority of the toys for each gender, a great difference between the two can be observed. Although some might see a similarity in the sense that both genders have somewhat of a doll, there is a vast difference between the two. Both toys do encourage imagination, but the difference lies in the kind of imagination that is. Action figures encourage imagination outside of the reality that we live in; it pushes boys to come up with new and exciting adventures and ideas as they play with their different action figures, ranging from outer space figures to cowboy figures. This allows boys to grow up as innovative and creative members, and instils the confidence in them that anything is possible. Meanwhile, girls’ toys encourage imagination that takes place in domestic life- such as a girl imagining she is cooking a meal or washing the dishes. This can lead to in girls becoming less innovative and creative than the boys.
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Another important difference to take into consideration is what comes with the toys. Action figures come with weapons and instructions on how the action figure should use them, whereas Barbie dolls come with accessories related to the appearance of the doll such as combs or shoes (Blakemore & Centers, 2005). This teaches young girls to primarily focus on their appearance and consider it a priority along with domestic tasks, as that is what they are surrounded with on a daily basis, whether it is the toys they play with or what they see in their household. Girls see that their mother does the major, if not all the domestic tasks. Research provided by Maria and Antoni (2007) demonstrates how girls contribute much more to the domestic tasks than their brothers. This could result in situations where a girl would sacrifice playing a game outdoors or building a volcano for instance, in order to avoid getting dirty or messing up how she looks, leaving her to miss out on a lot of socializing and educational opportunities. This leaves girls lacking not only in the educational department, as they are not exposed to “fun” ways of learning subjects such as science, but it also leaves them lagging in the extra-curricular department. Boys, on the other hand, are more likely to excel in both, due to the educational and spatial temporal toys they receive. Limiting Educational Choices School subjects are heavily categorized into masculine and feminine and this restricts the students’ choices of subjects based on their gender, thus limiting their current and future potential. This results in girls limiting their choices to the “feminine” subjects such as Arts and Humanities and steering clear from subjects such as sciences and mathematics and vice versa for the boys. This is the first step in which a student, unconsciously, limits his or her potential and their future as a lot of universities accept you based on what classes you have taken in high school. For instance, if you have taken Arts and Humanities in school, the chances of you being
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accepted in medical school are very low, and if you are accepted, you will be left behind and will have to take prerequisite courses. Therefore, what is seen as a very simple and minor decision actually has a major impact on a student’s future and must not be determined based on false stereotyping. Martino & Meyenn (2002) observed that many times schools try to modify the curricula to suit boys or girls, and instead of challenging and abolishing these stereotypes, they reinforce them. Impact of false stereotyping on girls. An example of inaccurate and false stereotyping is the impression that girls are relatively weak at mathematics. Research suggests that there is no biological difference in mathematical abilities between boys and girls (Else-Quest, Hyde, & Linn, 2010). This results in girls thinking that they cannot excel in science, engineering, and mathematics, thus avoiding taking these subjects in high school, as they become older (Dai, 2002). According to Paechter (1998), mathematics is a subject that is primarily rational, unemotional, and depersonalized, and all these features are constructed as masculine. In Egypt, the percentage of women in engineering was only 28 percent (Megahed & Lack, 2011, p. 13). These are very low numbers if compared with the research carried out by Else-quest, Hyde and Linn (2010) in regards to the differences in mathematical skills. Meanwhile the percentage of women in Egypt in 2010 enrolled in humanities was 72 percent, Arts 73 percent, and Education 72 percent (Strategic Planning Unit, Ministry of Higher Education 2010, p. 30). This goes to show the power of stereotypes, regardless of whether they are true or not. It is important to keep in mind that one of the most powerful factors in keeping a stereotype alive and allowing it to affect students is that the parents believe and support stereotypes such as these. Impact of false stereotyping on boys. Another harmful stereotype regarding school courses is the stereotype that English or Literature are not masculine and this has negative effects
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on boys. This has been further discussed by Ivinson and Murphy (2003) who observed a school in England which was experimenting with single sex schooling. The boys in these single sex classes did not have any romantic genre books - as the school administration believed that it would not be suitable for boys to read. Of course, this scenario is an extreme. But what if we look at a scenario which does not seem extreme to the naked eye, but looks completely just and normal? The same school also offered co-educational classes. One of the girls wrote a paper about a popular romantic fiction, that the teacher accepted and responded to as “steamy,” On the other hand, a boy in the same class handed in a similar paper but it had more action and humor in it however, the teacher did not accept it. Ivinson and Murphy (2003) comment: Consequently, through his engagement with the English task, Adam came to a renewed understanding that certain practices were not legitimate for boys… [The teacher] projected a social representation of masculinity onto the ‘low ability’ boys that made it essential to police and maintain the boundary for Adam by steering him away from femininely marked writing practices (p.121). This goes to show, how important the supporting members of a student are, ranging from teachers and parents, to peers, and how if they are raised under false stereotypes and restricted gender roles, the chances of bias, unjust treatment and unnecessary discouragement are very high. Early Marriage It is also important to keep in mind that for many girls, especially in the Arab region, the option of not going to university and getting married instead is a widely accepted option, and in some areas, it is even encouraged. This is demonstrated by the statistics provided by the Arab Knowledge Report (2009) that show that high illiteracy rate of women in addition to low enrollment rates (specifically in higher education) are very high, further indicating that there is a
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problem of gender inequality in the Arab world. The option of getting married instead of receiving an education should be eliminated as it does more harm to the girl than imagined. It leaves her completely dependent on her husband for emotional and financial support and will not be able to achieve a life of her own, thus limiting all her opportunities in the future. Limiting Women’s Career Opportunities Gender roles should be eliminated because they restrict a woman’s career opportunities. A woman’s career is central to other aspects in their life, such as independence and satisfaction. That is why it is crucial to not restrict women from working, whether it is their family or the work place environment that discourages the women. Arab Female Labor Force versus Global Female Labor Force Women are held back and their potential is restricted when they are discouraged from pursuing jobs that are not deemed feminine. Research shows that gender roles largely result in the discouragement of women pursuing employment, outside the home and outside the traditional spectrum of feminine jobs, such as school teacher, nurse or secretary (Simmons, Duffy & Alfraih, 2012). These gender roles and stereotypes are based on broad assumptions regarding the characteristics of a woman (Simmons, Duffy & Alfraih, 2012). Although there has been progress and there has been an increase in the female labor force, the Arab world is definitely lagging behind. The female labor force in the Arab world does not surpass 20 percent whereas the global participation of women in the labor force is 40 percent (Mostafa, 2005). These numbers can be easily traced back to the reluctance of abolishing traditional gender roles and the traditional perspective of women staying at home, to primarily take care of the children and the house (El Rahmony, 2002).
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Since gender roles also decide what fields they should go in to, girls will also blindly follow that path, as there are no other options provided- or that it is just easier for them to follow the traditional path- with the exception of marriage. The traditional jobs that suit the female gender roles consist of relatively low paying jobs, such as being a secretary or a nurse, leaving them to either struggle financially or end up depending on someone else, usually a husband. This dependence makes a woman weak, and restricts her freedom. The Glass Ceiling It is important to keep in mind, that these women working at low entry jobs do not have the same advantage as the men, working in low entry jobs. This is because men have a much higher chance of being promoted due to the existence of the glass ceiling in many job environments in the Arab world. The glass ceiling is something that prevents someone from getting a more important position in his or her organization ("Definition of GLASS CEILING", 2016). Eyering and Stead (1998) found that there is unwillingness and hesitation to employ women as managers or in higher-level jobs. This reluctance results in women being given relatively less important tasks that have a lower rate of prominence. These tasks usually mean that women do not have much of a chance to make valuable contacts that would help her accelerate in her career. The struggle to shatter the glass ceiling discourages women from working, which may explain the high unemployment rates of women and the heavy contrast with the unemployment rates of men in the Arab world. The World Bank (2009) shows that in 2009, Jordan’s percentage rate of unemployment for young women was 48 percent, whereas the percentage rate for men was only 24 percent. In Syria, the unemployment rates for young women and men is 39 percent and 21 percent respectively, and in Egypt it is 40 percent and 21 percent respectively. This difference in numbers shows that we cannot blame “bad� economy for the
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unemployment of women, and instead we must look at other factors, such as the implementation of traditional gender roles that restrict and hold back the women in the Arab world. Strengthening of Rape Culture Gender roles should be eliminated because they strengthen rape culture. Rape culture is the way in which society blames victims of sexual assault and normalizes male sexual violence. This is done through the gendered upbringing, that is a very strong tradition in the Arab world, as well was societal reinforcement of these values.
How Girls Gender Roles Reinforce Rape Culture The way girls are brought up and the ideas that they are raised upon help reinforce rape culture and puts young girls under the risk of harassment. The majority of rape incidents are against girls, so one would assume that it is the men’s traits and gender roles that result in such a strong rape culture, but the way girls are raised also leads to the strengthening of rape culture. A common idea that is taught to young girls is that they should be flattered when boys are mean to them, because the boys have a crush on them. This teaches girls to accept, and even get flattered by harassment instead of teaching them to not accept it from the very start, as one form of harassment can lead to another. As these girls grow up, they make a habit of being friendly or ignoring the harassment as they were told to not be threatened, and instead, flattered by it. This can be demonstrated by research that states girls often tolerate or do not recognize sexual harassment when it occurs (Witkowska & Gadin, 2005). This acceptance or silence strengthens rape culture and does not encourage women speaking up. Parents in the Arab world believe that by being strict with their girls, such as having curfews and not letting them go out as much as boys, they are protecting them, but this does
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more harm than good. By hiding girls and sending boys out to run errands, for example, it sets the idea that girls being out reflects badly on them because it seems as if they are out despite knowing that they are at risk of being harassed. This makes it seem acceptable for males to harass the girl with the idea that they are complimenting her. The male dominant argument of “she asked for it” comes to play in this scenario where a girl leaving her house translates into the blame game where somehow the female is blamed. However, it does not end there; by hiding girls from public places, they become more susceptible to harassment simply because the sight of a female in a public place becomes foreign. This would then lead to subconscious stares that would make females generally uncomfortable leaving their house. This concept of “protecting girls” reinforces harassment and does not teach young girls to be independent and strong but instead it teaches them to hide themselves or rely on men, such as their father or husband to keep them safe.
How Boys Gender Roles Strengthen Rape Culture Boys are taught, during childhood, to be dominant, aggressive and are excused for violent behavior with phrases such as “boys will be boys.” The teaching that aggression and dominance is what makes up a “man,” makes boys eager to have these traits, as men constantly try to prove their masculinity. This desperation to prove one’s masculinity can grow into something dangerous. Men start to feel entitled to this dominance due to strengthening of sexism and the support of parents, media and peers. Research has shown that gender role stereotyping and male dominance play a key role in sexual harassment (Russell & Trigg, 2004). This research also indicates that men who had stereotypical “masculine” traits were more likely to assault women both verbally and physically. These men use dominance and manipulation tactics when they are
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attempting to lead women on (Russell & Trigg, 2004). Teaching boys to be aggressive and dominant is not the only factor that strengthens rape culture, the tolerance of male bad behavior is a major element. Society, being male dominant, gives males more freedom to exert their dominance and it excuses their aggression. Let us take catcalling for example, men do not always hit on women to get a response, rather it is to exert dominance. Women, feeling threatened, have little to nothing to do about being harassed and therefore have to carry on and not evoke the harasser in fear of being physically harassed.
Opposing Argument Some argue that gender roles should be implemented as they serve the interest of society by providing balance. They believe that there is a fundamental difference between male and female genders, which extend far beyond physical features, into hormonal differences, which manifest in generally different ways of behaving. Gender roles are always going to exist because they benefit society. If a person attempts to fill every role possible, they would fail miserably because we count on one another to pick up the roles that we cannot, and dividing roles into genders is a simple and efficient way to operate. This is embodied in the concept of collectivism where the society’s wellbeing as a whole is prioritized over individual fulfillment. However, the notion that males and females should fit into certain roles is abstract, because gender is socially constructed. In some societies, matriarchy is prevalent, such as Mosuo, Akan and Garo societies (Garrison, 2016). These societies are spread all over the world, Mosuo being in China, Garo in India, and Garo in Ghana. This is because females were raised to be dominant even though they are biologically the same as women here in the Arab world but their roles are entirely different because of the different expectations society has of them. In both
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cases, societies function according to the fundamental values they share. Therefore, it is insufficient to say that gender roles should be enforced because they provide a form of division of labor because division of labor can be established in a number of ways. If anything, eliminating gender roles would provide a much more efficient form of division of labor, as it will allow much more symmetrical family roles, instead of burdening the father with all the responsibility of bringing all the money into the family and the mother with all of the responsibility of the housework and taking care of the children. If the parents were not raised according to gender roles then they would specialize in what they naturally excel at, not what society has told them they should excel at. This could result in both the father and the mother sharing all the responsibilities and avoiding the dilemma of the power struggle because only one of them is the breadwinner and only one of them stays at home. Instead, they can both work and bring money into in the household, and both take care of domestic tasks and the children. This also benefits the children as they get to see both the parents and gets equal amount of attention from them.
Future Action To conclude, the enforcement of traditional gender roles has a variety of side effects that are harming the Arab world. Parents are limiting their children’s educational and learning experiences and their future career opportunities. They are also strengthening rape culture, which is widely common in the Arab world, but is considered a taboo topic which is why it is not given
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enough attention or thought. The need to hold on to tradition by Arabs is actually holding them and their children back, which is why it is about time parents think about this topic thoroughly before they raise children on false stereotypes. Therefore, it is safe to say that abolishing these gender roles is a good idea if we would like to establish a much more liberal and free, safe and nurturing environment for the next generations. Parents should give children the freedom to decide what colors they like, what toys they would like to play with, what subjects they would like to study and what career aspects they can go into it.
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