Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

After reviewing the many different -isms, I chose to focus on gender roles and sexism. The reason that I chose this is because in the past, I received comments about some of the work I do being a man’s work, not a woman’s. Some have questioned my intelligence in certain areas while others have made comments about some of the work that I do and how it should be done by a male. Some people automatically label women that have children as a “stay at home mom” who should be cooking and cleaning rather than working outside the home. I have never been one to want to stay home and raise my own children twenty-four seven. I love my children and my time with them, but feel that I was given the opportunity to go to school and become an educator and offer my time and talents with other children in my community. It truly bothers me to hear families talk about the girls in their families doing “women’s” work. I feel that because of the stereotypical comments that were made to me, I try even harder to prove them wrong. I have a hard time with parents who communicate these stereotypical ideas to their children separating “men’s” work and “women’s” work. This could cause me some conflict as I try to teach children to respect others when it comes to gender roles and sexism. This post reminds me of a media segment that was shown in one my classes at Walden. This mother worked hard to make sure that her son did dishes and laundry just like her daughter. I grew up mowing the lawn, taking out the trash, doing dishes, doing laundry and helping clean the house. I now have three boys of my own and they do each of these chores as well. Some women were meant to be stay at home moms and some were not. I want children to know that chores, no matter what they are, are meant to be shared and not to be categorized as women’s vs. men’s work.