Gender roles and conformity exist only because of societal pressures

I should probably clarify that I am not talking about biological differences, such as strength, hormones, ability to conceive, etc. I specifically said gender roles for that reason since biological differences are not gender roles. If this changes things on whether you still want to debate, we can just drop this one and start a new debate if you wish. Otherwise, I will continue with my arguments below: The first thing I think which would be worthwhile to look at is children and their perception of gender conformity and gender roles. Young children are perhaps the more reliable ones for this since they would have had less pressure over all than a teenager or an adult. In a 2014 study with 45 girls and 41 boys, Britney G Brinkman, Kelly L. Rabenstein, Lee A. Ros"n and Toni S. Zimmerman, found that nearly all of the boys and girls when left alone in a room, will play with toys associated with both genders, while when they are in the room with other peers, they chose to play with only the toys associated with their own gender [1] This would indicate that boys and girls are not inherently interested in things just for boy or just for girls, but rather enjoy things that both genders are traditionally going to enjoy and that when with peers, they are pressured to play with only their own gender's toys. Following this study, they also talked with each of the boys and girls about gender conformance and what they believed causes them to behave like a traditional boy or a traditional girl. Each of them agreed that they felt pressured to act like a traditional boy or traditional girl from their parents, peers, and teachers. The girls had worthwhile conversations about how they felt pressured to be girly, to only like "pink" things, and to occasionally wear dresses and skirts. The boys had worthwhile conversations with them on how they felt pressured to wear pants and shorts, and never skirts or dresses, and to be boyish. [1] In the book "Gender and Families", it is discussed how families also present a pressure to conform to gender stereotypes and gender roles. It's perhaps, the first time boys and girls are introduced to gender roles by seeing their father who acts traditionally manly and their mother who acts traditionally womanly. Not only that, but parents often instill roles into their children inadvertently by encouraging them to pursue interests only representative of the traditional gender role of their specific gender. [2] So from first growing up in a family, to going to school, boys and girls are instilled at a young age to act and be like a traditional boy or traditional girl. Both want to do things the opposite gender does, and want to do their own thing, but feel they cannot due to pressures. One may wonder what is the problem with men and women being assigned gender roles they are supposed to fulfill? Well, the problem lies with the fact that women are going into different careers that result in a earnings gap between men and women. I trust I don't need to cite any source for the earnings gap(I call it that since wage gap is not necessarily accurate since I don't know of instances where women are paid less for the same exact position that a man has) since it is very widely known about. At any case, in another study conducted by Lisa M. Dinella, Megan Fulcher, and Erica S. Weisgram, it was found that gender roles and gender itself had a very large influence on the careers women and men go into [3] And since gender is instilled into us at such a young age, where boys and girls are supposed to have certain interests, as shown above, it was essentially determined at a young age that men and women would be going into different careers based on their gender roles from a young age since they were given different interests at a young age rather than allowed to pursue their own interests, whether it was boyish or girly to do so. What is even sadder is that for those of us who are gender non-conforming, we are at an increased risk for depression and suicidal tendencies due to bullying and victimization. It is highly ingrained into our society for boys to be boyish and girls to be girly, and those who go outside of these unwritten and unfair rules, it's a painful road. In another study, it was found that 26% of nonconforming participants had at least mild to moderate depression, compared to 14% of the gender conforming peers. [4] There was significant correlation between this increased rate of depression and the fact that the gender non-conforming people went through bullying and victimization throughout their life [4] In conclusion, gender is so ingrained in our society that we are taught about it at such a young age and pressured to conform, and for those of us who are trying to be authentically ourselves, we are bullied and denigrated. People resort to bullying tactics to get people to act in the preconceived way a man/boy or woman/girl is supposed to act. However, as the first study showed, boys and girls want to be themselves, but they can't and have to conform to society's expectations, and if they are themselves, they are at an increased chance of being depressed. Sources: [1] http://yas.sagepub.com.byui.idm.oclc.org... [2] Coltrane,Scott; Adams, Michele "Gender and Families" 2008, Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008; 2nd ed [3] http://web.b.ebscohost.com.byui.idm.oclc.org... [4] http://www.sciencedirect.com.byui.idm.oclc.org...