Gendered behavior denotes fundamental expressions of gender socialization and identity through an individual’s various developmental phases. Thus, gendered behaviors refer to the ways persons behave according to their respective male or female genders (Au & Rudolfsdottir, 2021). One of the prominent gendered behaviors instilled in me during childhood was that women are the primary cooks in the home. Hence, from childhood, I learned how to prepare food for the family, unlike most male relatives around. Even the movies mostly depicted women as the cooks in the home.
Perhaps the gendered role that I quickly adopted/ accepted from childhood was the idea that women are natural caregivers. The function depicted women as noble people who consider the plight of others in the home and society and consistently seek to alleviate suffering. Women are warm, nurturing, and caring. Thus, many regarded professions that require empathy like nursing and teaching to the women’s domain.
The idea that women are more humane and caring appealed to me and caused me to accept the role. In my mind, the part admitted what many would prefer to ignore/ deny: women play critical roles in retaining sanity in the world. For me, the role meant that women could play vital functions in stemming the tide of oppression, suffering, and cruelty evident even from childhood. Therefore, the idea that women are more caring and naturally nurturing appealed to me because it placed the gender on a nobler pedestal.
Despite the perceived nobility of the gendered role that women are more nurturing and caring, specific adverse consequences emerged regarding employment opportunities, as previously highlighted. In many ways, many subsequently considered women to be unfit for specific job descriptions like piloting, engineering, and doctors, which were better paying (Samidha, 2019). On the other hand, societies restricted women to courses like nursing and teaching. Most patients assume women caregivers to be nurses rather than doctors in the care centers. Hence, the role may cause conflicts when deciding on career opportunities.