Gender Differences

This week I was reading and studying about the difference between men and women and the effects on the family. I would like to start off by saying that I know everyone is different and all people have different circumstances. Not everyone is going to "fit" in this generalization but for the most part it is accurate to some extent. 

Let's first start off by talking about the specific things that are different about women in general. Women tend to develop more quickly, they are more nurturing, have better fine motor skills, and are better with communication. One example of this in little girls is the fact that at times little girls will cradle and rock their toys even if they are not dolls. Women also tend to be more cooperative and have relationship orientation. Relationship orientation is when they relate things to other things to explain them. For example, when a woman is giving directions most of the time they will say turn right when you get to this store or go till you see this landmark. Let's also talk about the specific things that make men different. Men tend to have a bigger startle response, more violent/ destructive, better gross motor skills, construction, and tent to be competitive. We can see examples this with how little boys tend to play. They enjoy smashing things together and destroying things after they have finished building them. Men also tend to have more spatial orientation. This is when they explain things using directions. When you ask men for directions, they tend to tell you to go north for a certain amount of time then turn west. 

As we can see there are many differences between men and women but why does that mean for the family specifically? I think that one of the best ways to look at it is regarding the family structure and the examples being set to children. Men and women can bring different things to the family’s structure with the skills that they have. It can be easy to think of men and women as opposites, but I think that it is more beneficial to think of how much they can complement each other when they work together. When there is both a man and a woman helping to lead a family, it can be very beneficial for the children to see how their parents do things differently but are still able to work together. I know that for me growing up I was able to learn different things from my mom and different things from my dad. I know that my mom taught so much about being kind and nurturing. My dad taught me a lot about hard work and being responsible. Both rolls in the family are so important and can help to nurture children in the best way possible. There will be some overlap and that’s great. Each family will be different and have different circumstances that they are dealing with; children will learn different things from their parents when their situations change. Overall, there are many benefits to having a man and a woman in the head of the family structure.