For years, the social construction of gender has maintained the order of men as the “breadwinner” and women as being in charge of the domestic. As times change, technology improves, and new places develop, location plays an increasingly important role in gender construction. We still see our typical domestic mother and working father, but the roles become intertwined and even reversed in certain cases. Now, we have so many concepts of the “family” and it does not just include patriarchal. Patterns begin to emerge in certain locations that reveal circumstances that may impact our perceptions of gender. Different regions vary in their access to resources (i.e. family planning centers) and also have certain social stigmas that have been maintained throughout the years. Maintenance and loyalty to these traditional values can lead to a dominant gender structure that residents of that region feel obliged to follow. For example, certain locally owned businesses may not hire women because they still believe women should stay in the household. Despite numerous legislations against sexual discrimination, hiring pregnant women continues to be an issue of discrimination. Just because legally discrimination is not allowed, most people choose to believe it does not exist.
With the emergence of the LBGT community, which is more prominent in bigger cities, the line between man and woman continues to be blurred and skewed in a way that masculine and feminine have no definitive meaning. A popular family structure nowadays even includes a homosexual couple with an adopted child. Soon enough, the entire concept of gender may become irrelevant.
Women have not been favored in and even omitted from our historical references. Men have represented the hegemony in society and the common family unit was a patriarchal one. The men had the jobs and the women ran the household. The wife was submissive to the husband and took care of all the children that took two to make. Since time has passed, women are able to obtain jobs and some fathers are even stay-at-home. Our society is shifting from one of industry to one of information, and location is a prominent factor in determining what sorts of jobs will be available. This may affect concepts of gender as some jobs may be considered masculine (ex. Construction work) and others feminine (ex. Hair stylist). How has the location impacted these notions of gender? What exactly constitutes a masculine job? In some small towns, women still cannot obtain a position of authority while in other towns have women mayors. Why are there still distinct differences in concepts of gender between rural and urban areas? How can one define these concepts and what role does location play in each? Are there different expectations of men and women in rural and urban areas?
