SOMETHING ABOUT GENDER

Productive work of women is valued less that the one performed by men, even though it is paid and generates income. In Ukraine women hold less prestigious and lower paid jobs, there is a lack of women in top management, especially in the sphere where important decisions are made, even though there is plenty of women doing entry level jobs and holding middle management positions, where salaries are lower. There is an unspoken prohibition to do certain jobs for women and men.

Such activity requires long hours and much efforts. Reproductive labor in Ukraine is performed mainly by women as it is considered by the society as a duty of women and girls and their “natural” function. As a consequence, this type of work is usually disregarded, unpaid and disrespected by the society, even though reproductive labor is extremely important for survival of mankind.

These kinds of activities take too much time, quite often is performed as volunteering, and is very important for spiritual and cultural development of a community. Women and men are equally engaged in these activities in local communities, even though gender distribution of work exists here as well. If local communitiy work is being paid, chances are this work is performed by men. In election process or political activities at the lower level the managerial positions are held by men, although the biggest part of job is performed by women.  

Gender roles of women traditionally include activities in three spheres: productive and reproductive spheres, volunteering for community. And they are considered the roles of women.

Gender roles assimilation starts even before the birth of a child with expectations of a family regarding sex of a child soon coming to this world and further bringing-up in correspondence to her/his sex. Apart from that mass media, educational institutions, army and church significantly influence gender socialization of a child. These institutions expand, strengthen and engrave gender stereotypes that make an impact on overall performance of a person in a community.

As a rule gender stereotypes regulate either appearance of men and women or gender roles in a society. The patriarchal society demands women to be tender, beautiful, nurturing, to take good care of her body and face, her house and that having kids is mandatory. Men should be breadwinners and protectors. These ideas form distribution of household chores. It is implied that the main function of a woman is to give birth and take care of a house, and man in his turn should provide and be a good master and protector of his family. Thus cultural background and certain beliefs and traditions form gender stereotypes. People do not change their points of view easily, because they don’t want to comprehend that such ideas are outdated and can’t be applied to current situation and are no longer actual in modern world. This causes fixation of men and women on the recommended roles, which in its turn strengthens gender inequality and leads to gender discrimination.