Are Gender Roles because of Biological Differences?

Traditional gender roles in today’s American society have affected both men and women by giving each gender a stereotypical lifetime responsibility. As the divisions between men and women become increasingly equal in society today, the same basic gender roles will always persist because of the biological differences between the genders. A major gender division has been in the human household and the marriage arrangement. This set up has created the male-dominated families and marriages, but is also an example of how human nature has enabled this dominance to take place. In the American workplace, the traditional gender role that is present is that the males are usually at the head of each job/business and the women either assist these men in the tasks to be accomplished or do not work at all. Even though women in the 21^st century have been given increasing amounts of opportunities to establish a high level career, it has been harder for them because of the stereotypical gender role that is still present in society. Due to the male dominated workplace hierarchy, the men have also become in charge of the majority of household finances, finances within the government, and also the education system. The various traditional gender roles that persist in today’s American society are still present because society has subconsciously divided the aspects of traditional male and female roles in order to fulfill the basic needs of a traditional human establishment. 

The genders of a male and a female are the result of multiple biological differences that are present at the time of fertilization. The one variance in the X and the Y chromosome is what leads to the entire biological and gender role differences in humans. The human male, who contains the Y chromosome, develops into a taller and stronger individual than the human female does. The female usually does not grow as tall and as strong as the male and has more of a fragile body. These biological differences in the male and female are the result of the tendency for animals to display larger males than females in order to show dominance for the purpose of reproduction. Because humans are indeed an advanced portion of the animal kingdom, there is a necessity for the two genders to have one sex to be biologically dominant. This biologically stronger male was used thousands of years ago to protect the females within their lifespan and also to ensure reproduction. Now that society has developed and humans are now more intelligent than they were thousands of years ago, men are still seen as the dominant gender both mentally and physically, and in a way, there needs to be a dominant gender for society to work correctly. If men and women had the exact same body structure and the same minds but only differed in sexual organs, the “traditional gender roles” would be drastically different.  Men and women also differ in their minds and viewpoints on various aspects of life. Men are usually more aggressive and tend to have a mindset that makes them want to control things such as marriage and companies. Women usually are better at problem solving and are less aggressive than men. In order for society to have the basic needs fulfilled, both the male and female qualities of mind must be taken into account. This is because there has to be variations between ideas and life views and the two separate sexes allow these to take place. Because of the biological differences in both male and female bodies and minds, there are traditional gender roles that persist in today’s society because of the human’s animal-like tendencies to be male dominated.