Gender norms have been normalized within us since our birth.
It is since our birth that we are given a rule book of how a man and woman should behave to be socially accepted. As a child, a girl is given dolls, play kitchen sets, makeups, etc( socially certified feminine toys) to play with because she is expected to grow up as a sophisticated woman who will take care of the household and bring up children and boys wherever are given bats and balls, gaming toys ( socially certified masculine toys) because they are expected to grow up as a tough and strong man who will have to take the responsibility of his family and be the superior.
Schools are the place where we educate ourselves but in my school and a lot of schools actually, we don’t have football or other sports for girls and dance classes for boys. Similarly, later in life, a man is supposed to find a woman who earns less than him because society has defined it as a way of making men think he is superior. And women are expected to be submissive to their male partners and when married, are expected to obey and follow their male family members.
Men are still bought up in an environment where they aren’t allowed to show their emotions because that makes them look weak. But the same does not happen with a woman a vulnerable woman is gladly accepted by society. There are so many examples we come across every day but we don't pay attention to them because they have become a part of things we consider 'normal'.
When I say society I mean us, me and you. There are a lot of things that happen every day but they don’t feel wrong because that’s just how things have been forever and somewhere in our head we have accepted them and probably don’t even want them to change. These changes cannot be done overnight, it will take time, we have to educate ourselves and know what's right and what's wrong, but these are the changes we need to be better.
