Essay #2: Gender Roles at Home
Students will write an illustrative essay will describe the roles women and/or men play in their
families. This writing project will examine gender roles in a sociological context. This writing
project requires the students to examine through sustained inquiry about the social roles that men
and women play in their families, in the work place, and in society.
Research Component
Students will do primary research by observing and interviewing family members, peers, and
people in the community.
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As a group or individually, develop a ten point questionnaire and then interview on
campus twenty students, preferably ten women and ten men. The questions must be about
the roles men and women play in their families and the questions must be closed ended.
This means a yes or no answer or an answer with only one of two possible answers. For
example: Is your Mom in charge of the discipline in the family? Yes/No. Does your Dad
goes to the grocery to do the shopping or does your Mom? Dad/Mom.
Select some data from the survey write a summary representing the data as percentages.
For example, “Sixty-three, 63%, of the people said …”
Data from this interview will then be developed into charts or graphs to be used in your
essay. Create a chart or graph to represent the answers from the survey in percentages
and use it as a support citation in a paragraph. Or, research and use a chart or graph as a
support citation in the paragraph.
Possible articles students may use to develop their chart or graph:
With More Equity, More Sweat
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/gender/gender22a.htm
Washington Post-Kaiser Foundation-Harvard University Gender Poll Results
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/vault/stories/98gender_data_c.htmand
Poland - Gender Roles And The Family; Spouses As Co providers
http://family.jrank.org/pages/1286/Poland-Gender-Roles-Family-Spouses-Coproviders.html
Children's Advertising And Gender Roles
http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_childgen.shtml
Gender roles see a 'conflict' shift in work-life balance
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-03-26-work-life-balance_N.htm
The Impact of Family Structure on Gender Role Attitudes of Adolescents and Their Mothers
http://www.rcgd.isr.umich.edu/garp/articles/eccles89.pdf.
Essay Component
Reflect on your observations, interviews, and research upon the family duties that women and
men have in their families. Based on all of the information that you have gathered, write an
illustrative essay to describe and illustrate a traditional or a modern family and the roles that men
or women have in them. You may choose to describe the gender roles in the family that you are
in now, your parents’ family, or your grandparents’ family. Check your thesis, the sentence that
states the main idea of your paper and tells the reader what to expect, with your instructor.
Constraints:
1. Essays must be 2-3 pages long.
2. You need to include a thesis statement in your introduction paragraph, stating your
opinion about the women’s and/or men’s roles in your family with an essay map for
focus.
3. You need to support your thesis by using examples or citations from your observations,
interviews, and research in multiple body paragraphs. One paragraph must include a
graph or chart. For this essay, you may choose to illustrate the men’s role in the
household or the women’s role, or both, in a traditional or modern family, or a
combination of both modern and traditional.
4. APA format will be used for research and citations.
Due Dates:
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Tuesday, October 18 – Outline due. Must be go over outline with tutor at CLE and have
them stamp it in order to receive credit.
Sunday, October 28 – Rough draft due via Google Drive at 5 p.m.
Sunday, November 4 – Final drafts due via Blackboard as an attachment.