Gender Roles

Subject of my paper: What factors, biological or social and cultural, are more important in shaping gender roles?
My Major (Nursing) and why writing about this topic will be beneficial to me: The topic addresses existing gender theories, demonstrating how modern society perceives gender. The study of factors that shape gender roles will help me make my nursing practice more gender-diverse and avoid common gender biases.
My thesis: Social and cultural factors are more important in shaping gender roles than biological ones since they are driven by social interactions, embedded values, and cultural specificity that are unique for every society.
Approach to the subject of my paper: The research paper will provide the definition of the terms “sex” and “gender” to explain why the biological approach to gender roles is irrelevant in nursing practice. The paper will also present the opposing views that consider biological factors more important than social and cultural aspects. These studies will be compared and contrasted to the central claim of the current research.
Intended audience: The target audiences of the paper are nurse practitioners and a general audience interested in gender studies and the existing issues in gender roles.
Graphs or charts: The paper will contain charts from credible sources to present the current division of gender roles.
Kinds of sources I will use and why they will benefit my paper: The paper will incorporate both primary and secondary sources to provide strong argumentation to the central claim of the research. The definition of the key terms will be taken from the World Health Organization website. “Doing Gender” by Don H. Zimmerman and Candance West and Eleanor E. Maccoby’s “Gender as a Social Category” are the main primary sources used to support the thesis statement. The results from quantitative and qualitative studies of the role of cultural factors in shaping gender in Africa, India, and western countries will be utilized to show how the difference in worldviews affect people’s perception of gender roles. The articles “Biological Limits of Gender Construction” written by J. Richard Udry and “Sex Steroids and Human Behavior: Prenatal Androgen Exposure and Sex-Typical Play Behavior in Children” by Melissa Hines will be included to provide opposing views on the issue. Some background information and charts will be used from Esteban Ortiz-Ospina’s publication “How Well Do Biological Gender Differences Explain the Gender Pay Gap?”

Works Cited
“Gender and Health.” World Health Organization. www.who.int/health-topics/gender#tab=tab_1. Accessed 26 January 2022.
“Gender and Human rights.” World Health Organization. www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/gender_rights/sexual_health/en/. Accessed 26 January 2022.
Hines, Melissa. “Sex Steroids and Human Behavior: Prenatal Androgen Exposure and Sex-Typical Play Behavior in Children.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol. 1007, 2003, pp. 272–282. doi:10.1196/annals.1286.026.
Maccoby, Eleanor E. “Gender as a Social Category.” Developmental Psychology, vol. 24, no. 6, 1988, pp. 755–765. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.24.6.755.
Nanda, Serena. Neither Man nor Woman: The Hijiras of India. Wadsworth, 1990.
Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban. “How Well Do Biological Gender Differences Explain the Gender Pay Gap?” Our World in Data, 29 Feb. 2018, ourworldindata.org/biology-pay-gap.
Panella, Amanda. “Gender Roles: Hindering the Potential of Women in Africa.” The Borgen Project, 19 July 2016, borgenproject.org/potential-of-women-in-africa/.
Rubio-Bañón, Alicia, and Nuria Esteban-Lloret. “Cultural Factors and Gender Role in Female Entrepreneurship.” Suma de Negocios, 2016. doi:10.1016/j.sumneg.2015.12.002.
Udry, J. Richard. “Biological Limits of Gender Construction.” American Sociological Review, vol. 65, no. 3, 2000, pp. 443–457. doi:10.2307/2657466.
West, Candace, and Don Zimmerman. “Doing Gender.” Gender and Society, vol. 1, no. 2,1987, pp. 125-151.