Gender in Families

    Right now, gender is a very controversial topic. No matter where you are, there is a lot of confusion and contention around the concept of gender. There are a few very interesting topics to think about that have to do with gender. One, gender roles, gender expectations, and how they each affect the other. All of these ideas are changing drastically as time goes on. So, what are these changes and are they good changes? 

    Gender roles are the parts people are expected to play based off of their gender. For example, women are expected to play the role of a mother, staying home, and caring for the children. Alternatively, the men are expected to play the role of a father, going to work, and providing for the family. However, as of recent times, gender roles have been changing. More mothers are working, and more fathers are staying home. These changes are not necessarily bad. Sometimes, a family's situations require the members to step out of the usual gender roles. Gender roles also include how people of different gender are supposed to act, think, feel, and interact with another gender. For example, women are thought to be more emotional, social, and aggressive in a verbal way, whereas men are thought to be more physical, to have a fix-it attitude, and to be aggressive in a physical way. These roles are very different, but they compliment each other in many ways. 

    Gender expectations are the expectations that society has for a person of a specific gender. Depending on the community around you, these expectations can be different. Compared to gender roles though, the expectations of society tend to be the opposite. For example, a role for a woman is to be a mother. However, society encourages women to not marry and to not have children. A woman's roles tend to be more emotional and social as well, but the expectation is for women to become stronger, more aggressive, and less emotional thinkers. This is seen in men as well. A man's role tends to be more physical, more hands-on, and more aggressive. But society can expect men to be less aggressive, less physical, and more emotional. 

    It is interesting to see how the roles and expectations of gender play off of each other. Each gender is expected to almost be the opposite. Women are more encouraged to be like men, and men are being encouraged to be like women. While the roles and expectations are not necessarily bad, it is important for each individual to find their own role to play. A mother can work outside of the home, and a father can work at home. What is important is that the family functions well, and is happy. Be who you want to be, and do not let the expectations or role of your gender decide who you are.

    Gender also plays an interesting role in Autism. For every girl with Autism, there tends to be four boys with it (spectrumnews.org). Why is this? We don't actually know for sure. Autism is not very understood, and we are learning a lot in recent years as studies are finished, technology is improved, and we build off of previous knowledge. Studies also show that the symptoms of autism are less prevalent or obvious in girls than boys. Because more boys have autism than girls, most research studying autism applies mostly to boys. One example of this has to do with brain structure. The brain of a man will grow and develop differently than a woman's, so the signs of autism in a man may manifest differently in a woman. There are many, many studies coming out in recent years that evaluate how men and woman are affected differently by autism. As knowledge increases, we may come to more understanding of how autism is presented in different genders. 

 

Sex/gender in autism | Spectrum | Autism Research News (spectrumnews.org)