First of all, let's understand that sex and gender are two different things. It drives me absolutely crazy when I am filling out a medical form and under the "gender" column I am given the options "male" and "female". Female and male describe sex, or biological differences between humans. Gender, on the other hand, is a socially constructed concept. So in reality, if the form was asking my gender I might answer "masculine" or "feminine".

These socially constructed ideas are pushed on us at an early age. A baby girl is dressed in pink, and more often celebrated for their cuteness. A baby boy is dressed in blue, and more often celebrated for their achievements. As the children grow up, these socially constructed shackles are tightened more and more. Little boys are told not to cry, and encouraged to play with toy guns, or G.I. Joe's. Little Girls, on the other hand, are encouraged to show emotion, and play with tiny kitchen sets and ponies.

One major problem with these norms that we create for our children exists in the mixed messages we send them. When a parent tells their little girl that she can do anything, and then encourages her to play games that lie within certain boundaries it can, obviously, confuse her. The same juxtaposition exists for little boys. They are taught that they should treat girls as their equals, but it is more often than not taught in a manner that implies the boys should take care of the girls because they are weaker and need protection.

These gender roles continue throughout kids' schooling and into adulthood, and end up having an extraordinarily detrimental affect on the workplace. Regardless of what improvements women have made in recent years in the work place, (and there have been huge improvements, don't get me wrong...) women are still statistically more likely to work in jobs that are stereotypically designated "pink-collar" such as health care or teaching.

So what do we do about this? The usual mantra is that women should have what men have. I, however, take issue with this idea. I think that rather than set what men have as the gold standard, and constantly reiterate that women need to reach that echelon, we as a society need to completely restructure our idea of what it means to be a "man" or a "woman". After all, without the preconceived ideas of what a woman should be or a how a man should act, the barriers that exist in the workplace and even in everyday life wouldn't exist.

Now, I am by no means saying I know how to go about doing this, or that I am "above" seeing men and women as society does. That would just be hypocritical, seeing as I too was raised with these socially constructed norms. I'm just trying to point out what I think a major issue is in our society today. After all, what would blogging be without a few "this is a problem, but I haven't the slightest how to fix it" kind of posts.