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Single Source Analysis

When thinking of gender norms or stereotypical duties of a male and female its usually
something like this, Woman stays home, cooks, cleans, etc. while the man goes out and works
to bring home the bacon. In this day and age that mindset is so dated that you would have to
either be more seasoned or close minded about the fact that these things have been changing for
a while now. The authors purpose of this analysis is to go back in time a little to a study done in
1974-1998 that contains the views on gender equality from feminist, men, and women over the
course of two decades. In the article Bolzendahl and Myers examined opinions on abortion,
sexual behavior, public sphere gender roles, and family responsibilities. The time span spread
twenty-four years and over the years most of all the opinions on the topics (excluding abortion)
changed overtime making it clear that over the years people continue to be more liberal and
accepting of the gender changes. This article will be good for my final portfolio because it shows
the progress of gender roles and acceptance overtime.
The authors first starts with the women working and having jobs. They used logos in
most of the analysis and started with the feminist view saying that they advocate fairness in the
work place so therefore anyone being oppressed against at the job would be more than likely to
be on the feminist side because they are all for equality. The opposite that was given then is if
women were to get equal rights and equal pay then the men will be less likely to get a family
wage at the job which is and isnt true to certain extents. Yes, everyone would be getting equal
pay so yes, the mens pay rate would probably decrease but if their wife works then it should
equal out or be even more. They also brought up how a womans work ethic could mess up her
household duties The authors made sure to put the distinct difference in argument so that we
could see all sides of the spectrum. In the end all be all response to the whole analysis was, (1)

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provide the confidence to compete economically with men, (2) reveals discrimination of which
homemakers were unaware, and (3) raises expectations for financial independence. (Klein)
Which in final makes women feminist because they are socially connected and networking to
empower each other at work. The authors wanted to show how we lose a stereotype just to gain
another one.

Next they analyzed age, race, education, location, and religion. In the study which is
another form of logos the authors realized that different backgrounds also changed peoples
views. In the age category the authors expressed how the younger girls would agree and be
feminist because they are less likely to follow the traditional stay at home wife duties. I lead by
example in saying that this is true. They also stated that we are more likely to be financially
independent and have less children because of our careers and in agreeance the younger men
showed the same kind of trend in saying that they would be outside of the normal tradition of
work also.
Next was education they stated that the women with a higher education are more likely to
desire a career and would eventually break out of the social norm because of their empowerment
and education. When the race comes in they say that they get a more gender egalitarian from
African Americans rather than whites. More specifically in the African American women who
has a higher rate in the work force and higher commitment to egalitarianism in general. With the
location analysis they basically are just saying that it depends on the values and traditions of
where you live. They have a hypothesis that states people from the south have a harder time
converting out of their traditional ways while more urban places think outside of the box and are
more open minded. When talking about religion they said that most religions instill the traditions

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and values making women be less feminist because they are used to it already. Since different
religions have different views on gender roles some people may just be stuck in their religious
way. Within all those categories they use logos to explain each of them.
The authors lastly analyze marriage, abortion, sexual behavior, gender role in public
sphere and family responsibilities. The marriage was basically used as an example of what would
happen if the couple had gotten divorced. This would force the mother to have to work more
which puts a strain on her family life and work goals. The men would just stray away from their
traditional views on family and marriage, be in more open relationships, etc. The authors used
pathos so show the emotional side of what the divorce would do for the familys livelihood.
Next they addressed abortion, in which used a lot of pathos because this is now talking
about the feelings and beliefs of the people. The feminists were all for it because of the simple
fact that it is about the womans choice on how she lives her life and what she does with her
body. The opposing argument says they dont agree with abortion but its based off of a zero to
seven scale on how justifiable the reason for abortion is. In the opposing argument the people
used logos to scale their tolerance for abortion from 0 being not tolerating and 7 being all for it.
Sexual behaviors are more focused on the stereotypes that women receive compared to
men and was based on their beliefs. They stated how certain traditions insist that marital sex is
the only way for women and when homosexuality and premarital sex happen they often create a
double standard for men and women since men usually dont get ridiculed for it. The authors
basically concluded that it is another thing that would make a woman more of a feminist because
they dont agree with the idea of any kind of sex out of marital wedlock as a way to praise men
and scold women for.

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When they analyzed Gender norms in the public sphere it starts to talk about how men
are always the superior when it comes to leadership and how women are usually just placed on
the back burner as support or to man the station (see what I did there) while their husbands be
the world leaders. The author uses logos to explain this analysis through past history and
compared it to now. We have as broken this tradition as we have women candidates for president
and women in some of the highest job areas that are better than men. The problem the authors
found is that they feel as though men are more suitable for the job this would have to be
because of the womens emotions and empathy towards certain situations that a man would not
have the same feelings or issues about.
Last but not least they analyzed Family responsibilities the most clich stereotype of
all. In the earlier research the authors said the women are to stay at home and prep and clean the
house, tend to the children, and have a hot plate waiting on her husband when she gets home.
Now I for one am not against this theory but it is very dated and its clear that things have
changed. They stated four great explanations to this theory, 1) a working mother can establish
just as warm and secure a relationship with her children as a woman who does not work; (2) it is
more important for a wife to help her husbands career than have one herself; (3) a preschool
child is likely to suffer if her/his mother works; and (4) it is better if the man is the achiever
outside the home and the woman takes care of the home and the family.
Through this whole analysis the appeal to logos and pathos got the points across to the
readers about the feminist vs. men and women on gender norms. They used logic to express all
the different situations and solutions for them. They used emotion to show the beliefs and values
of everyones opinion on each topic. They did a great job explaining how over the course of time
everything is changing and becoming more open to different things. Its a totally different world

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than it was a decade ago and it continues to get better. One day we wont have the self-degrading
gender norms for men or women and everyone will be able to live their lives as freely as they
choose and we are making great strides towards it today.

Works Cited:
Bolzendahl, Catherine I., and Daniel J. Myers. "Feminist Attitudes and Support for Gender
Equality: Opinion Change in Women and Men, 1974-1998." Social Forces 83.2 (2004): 759-790.
ERIC. Web. 4 Feb. 2016.