It’s common nature to call a man masucline and a woman feminine, it’s common nature for a man to play football and a woman to wear makeup… that is gender roles. But, there is an overwhelming resurgence of gender roles and gender stereotyping in today’s society and it needs to be stopped. 

“Throughout life, people are taught (explicitly, implicitly, and vicariously) which behaviors are desirable for men or women in society (Bem, 1981). Examples include experiencing that women usually take care of children while men work.” Gender roles can affect the way we view ourselves, the expectations we hold for ourselves and our values. “Across different domains, gender stereotypes implicitly impact the expectations we have about the qualities, priorities, and needs of individual men and women, as well as the standards to which we hold them.”

Gender stereotyping is a harsh way to allow people to “conform” to a non integral way of living, to fit into a mold of right and right with absolutely no wrongs. In which, this way of thinking and conforming to a certain rule can lead to loss of self-esteem and motivation for everyday revenues. “Depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms and high rates of comorbidity are significantly related to interconnected and co-occurrent risk factors such as gender based roles, stressors and negative life experiences and events.” 

 “Gender is a critical determinant of mental health and mental illness”… mental health and gender correlates to the latter stated above, mental health in today’s society is a big factor in the way people think and behave within gender roles and stereotyping which affects all parts of this drastically. “Gender determines the differential power and control men and women have over the socioeconomic determinants of their mental health and lives, their social position, status and treatment in society and their susceptibility and exposure to specific mental health risks.”

When I was little I was viewed as more of a feminine guy, the way I acted, the way I talked and the way I behaved around others within an educational setting. I was always made fun of and seemed to be a little boy raised on different “morals” than other kids. Therein comes another factor: gender stereotyping affects basic human rights like education, discriminatory acts and violence. 

“Gender stereotypes act as a barrier for girls to access quality education.” Education, a very important tool to allow students and children to learn and to grow within their minds and overall mind sets. Gender stereotyping doesn’t allow for all kids (especially girls) to gain full potential of the education system. Girls are often socialized to assume domestic and care responsibilities, with the assumption that they will be economically dependent on men. The stereotype of men as breadwinners leads to the prioritization of boys’ education. It’s an overwhelming occurrence in today's society. Education is prioritized for bigger groups of people and not minorities; women, people of color and people in the LGBT+ community. Education is a very important tool as stated above that allows us to perform better when we do graduate, whether that be in college or in high school. 

In conclusion, gender roles and gender stereotyping has affected the way we as humans are viewed as a society. Gender stereotyping affects our mental health, causing doubts of self-esteem and depression. Gender stereotyping also affects the way we are given education which is a form of basic human rights. Overall gender roles doesn’t allow us as teenagers and as adults to be the way we want to be, when people judge us on the way we act and look we look down on ourselves and that is why gender roles and stereotyping is bad for society.