WHAT: the set of social norms that dictate how a person's behavior or choices should be, based on their actual or perceived gender; centered around the concept of femininity and masculinity

WHEN: the term was first created by John Money in 1955 but the concept has existed since the dawn of civilization

WHERE: all around the world in any culture/civilization

WHY: to describe the means of which individuals expressed their status as a male or female with no biological assignment

WHAT: being a married woman under Jesus Christ has made her a better wife and knowing her role as the wife has changed her marriage positively

WHEN: after becoming a strong Christian woman

WHERE: Christianity should be followed by anyone and everyone all over the world

WHY: as told in the Holy Bible, Eve was created from Adam's rib which means woman is to be submissive under man; woman were created for man

WHAT: men were seen as the core of the family; gender was discussed in terms of yin and yang: women are yin (passive, soft, receptive, and yielding) while men are yang (assertive, hard, active, and dominating); yin and yang stress that the differences are part of the natural order of the universe

WHEN: traditional Chinese time period: Shang/Zhou dynasty to the early 1900's

WHERE: China

WHY: the societal rules were taught by Confucius

BIAS: traditional Chinese people follow the teachings of Confucius and their society strictly followed the rules

WHAT: observed the gender roles of 14 year olds and their interactions between each other

WHEN: article posted August 7, 2014; study over a course of 3 months: not specified when

WHERE: Lisbon, Portugal

WHY: because "masculine" and "feminine' roles can be detrimental to people's physical and mental health

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/08/07/3468380/gender-roles-health-risks/

WHAT: explains how women and men create adbsurd expectations for everyone

WHEN: posted March 13, 2015; since Disney has created movies

WHERE: in Disney movies, where it is more prevelant in the United States

WHY: because men are created to look strong and brave and very handsome, while women characters need to be saved, beautiful, skinny and submissive. http://huffpost.com/us/entry/6856186

photo on tumblr

Here we have the famous actor, Jaden Smith wearing a dress and a flower crown. He's a very interesting individual (via jaden's twitter 👀) but on his own terms he has chosen to wear a dress. According to society, dresses are specifically for women but Jaden has chosen to ignore the social construct of gender roles by going on his own terms and wearing what he likes and feels comfortable in. Personally I think he looks awesome and he's werkin' it. #idwearit (but seriously it's from topshop who wouldn't)

The photo shows a male and female watering the flowers on one another's heads. In my opinion the photo represents the human and the ability to let one another grow. We should strive to let one another grow without boundaries. The concept of gender roles restrict a people, it can be more harmful to an individual more than another. When someone is afraid to speak their mind, act or dress how they want, it becomes limiting because they are afraid of how others may think of them or how they may treat them. Without hurtful gender roles I feel some people would feel more comfortable with being who they are and showing their true colors if not shown already.