Gender Issues
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How did society expect him to act because of his/her gender? Select this Topic to outline his/her thoughts about and experiences with men's and women's roles in society. This topic also includes popular issues of the day, such as voting rights and abortion.
Were gender issues important to him?
- Did his/her ideas about what was and wasn't acceptable for men and women to do agree with society's ideas? How did he/she express his/her objections, if he/she had any?
- What were society's perceptions about the proper roles of women when he/she was growing up? Were women meant to stay at home and care for the family or could they have jobs? Were any jobs strictly for males?
- What were the acceptable roles for men? Were men supposed to be the heads of household? The breadwinners? The disciplinarians? What kinds of work were acceptable for men? Were any positions strictly for females?
- How did clothing styles reflect society's ideas about men and women? What was he/she expected to wear? Hats or gloves? Did he/she have to wear long sleeves all the time?
- Were there differences in the ways that boys and girls were raised? What were they expected to learn? How were they to act? Did he/she think that this was fair? Did he/she raise his/her children this way?
- Describe the social lives of men and women at the time. Could young women go out without an escort, smoke, or drink? What about young men? How did these rules affect him, if at all? Did he/she ever try to rebel against them? What happened?
- How did society's ideas change during the course of his/her lifetime? Did he/she fight for or against these ideas? What did he/she do? Take part in demonstrations or sign petitions?
- How did he/she feel about child care? Whom did he/she think should take care of the children? The mother, the father, or both? Did he/she think that this was something that the state should provide for if the parents needed to work?
- If the parents worked, how much time did he/she feel that mothers and fathers should have off when there were new children in the house? What type of pay should they receive during this time?
- As he/she matured, did he/she think that women had it much better than they did when he/she was growing up and starting a family? Why or why not? What about men? How had their lifestyles changed?
These Gender Issues writing ideas are geared towards men. Would you like to take a look at them?
- Did he/she know any women who supported women's rights? How did he/she feel about what they did? Was he/she supportive or did he/she feel that they were an embarrassment to others?
- If he/she was ever married, what did he/she believe his/her wife's duties were? Was he/she supposed to take care of the children and household chores or did he/she help out? What were his/her duties?
- Were there women where he/she worked? How did he/she feel about having them as co-workers? Were they treated differently from the men? How and why?
- Did he/she feel that there were any limitations on what he/she could do because of his/her sex? Was there ever a time when he/she didn't do something because of his/her sex?
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution gave women the right to vote. Would you like to write about his/her experiences relating to this amendment?
- The 19th Amendment to the Constitution gave women the vote in 1920. How did he/she feel about this issue? Was he/she for or against the passage of this amendment?
- Did he/she vote when he/she had the opportunity or was voting not important to him? Did he/she vote as his/her family members did or did he/she make his/her own decisions?
Were childbirth and planned parenthood important issues to him?
- In the past, what were his/her feelings about planned parenthood? Did his/her ideas change over his/her lifetime? Why or why not?
- Did he/she make his/her beliefs known to anyone close to him? How did they feel about what he/she said to them? Did this become an issue in his/her family?
- What were his/her feelings when the decision from Roe v. Wade came down? Did he/she expect this type of decision? Was it a victory or a defeat for what he/she believed in?