Research Proposal

I am writing about the issue with gender norms and how they affect the society and
equality. My counter argument is that no matter what happens men and women will never be
equal and that it may or may not be a good thing. My motivation for this topic is based off of the
pop culture world today and I argue that men and women should have materialistic equality but
that it should not be on an emotional level. You notice how women and men even though it has
changed a lot over the decades it still isnt equal and probably never will be. Women still get
ridiculed for things a man wouldnt even be questioned about. The pay between men and women
even though it has gotten better is still a substantial difference. For every dollar a male makes a
woman makes seventy-two cents, how could that possibly be equal? It is also something more or
less swept under the rug now days because everyone has a misconception of what equal really
is. Another piece of motivation was the fact that Im going to become a neonatologist and as a
female doctor I will make at least fifty thousand less a year than a male doctor just because of his
sex.
My research questions first of all would be do people see the inequality and labels still or
are they to shadowed by the amount of change thats already happened. What should we do
about the pressure of gender norms and inequality between men and women? When (if at all)
will we be comfortable in saying that there was a true change. The only questions that I have that
evolved were from my counter argument, do you think that as men and women that we could be
truly equal? If women want to lose the burden of gender norms and inequality are they willing
to step up to the plate and make it happen to prove people wrong? How similar (or different) do
you think gender norm and chivalry are to each other? And if females want equality should they
still want chivalry also? Is chivalry a gender norm?

In my scholarly sources there is no agree or disagree other than the gender norms are still
very present in 2016. One study by Clare Conray-Murray that stood out to me was one that they
did on younger children to older adults, of course the younger children didnt differentiate
between girl things and boy things nor did they care who played with what showing that gender
norms are something we learn it isnt something that our brain is just programmed to do. I agree
with most of their thoughts and data from the scholarly sources but I also see where my non
scholarly counter argument texts are coming from. Its more of an in between thing for me. More
than likely I am going to do more searching and information looking because although Im
comfortable with what Ive collected I still always see if I can find something to better explain
my topic.
I would like to find some more articles that are more on the lines of my counter
argument. I have so many sources that agree with my topic but not that many that disagree so I
feel like when I put it together the agreeing side of the argument will overlap and I will have to
find more sources anyway. Its easy for everyone to say its an issue and no one make an article
to show the opposite side. I hope I find another article like one of my sources, it explains why
gender norms and inequality is okay between men and women because now we are all just in
competition and no one really loves anymore, theyll probably argue over the finances before
even getting married. When women want equality and still want to be treated as the women they
are it is said to be more complicated because you want to be the superior but a womens natural
instincts doesnt agree.
In pop culture this happens everywhere, mostly in movies and television. In movies if the
leading role is a woman she wouldnt get the part over the leading role being a male and even if
she received the part she gets paid substantially lower than a male leading role would. Ive found

everything from videos to articles I have a cluster of them as I try to piece them together because
my primary sources are mostly my counter argument. I have an article Suzanne Venker,
commercials by progressive and another article by Rebecca Pearse and Raewyn Cowell. My
sources show the comparison to pop culture because I have representation of videos of wellknown people in the same situations that I am writing about. I also picked a very alive subject,
everyone knows that there needs to be changes with men and women its very easy to connect to
pop culture in many ways.
My target audience isnt really targeted to anyone. I want it to me towards everyone
actually, men and women, because I know that some see the problem and others do not I would
just like to make both sides of the argument clear to all ends. I assume the audience will have
some idea of what Im trying to get across when it comes to gender equality because its a
growing issue. Im sure the expectation or thought when they first see the paper is, Another
feminist expressing herself on gender equality. When in reality its the total opposite I agree
with both sides in saying that the pay rates should be the same but as women we crave being
cared for and loved so I dont feel like we should be comparable to a man were two different but
our pay rate, jobs, etc. shouldnt be compromised because of it. I want them to see that we should
want equality in most materialistic things but not emotionally.

Work 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.

Mandel, Hadas. "Up The Down Staircase: Women's Upward Mobility and The
Wage Penalty for Occupational Feminization, 1970-2007." Social Forces 91.4
(2013): 1183-1207. ERIC. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

Progressive. "Black and White - Progressive Insurance Commercial." Online

video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 5 Oct. 2015. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

Venker, Suzanne. To be happy we must admit that women and men arent equal.
Fox News Opinion. Fox News Opinion, 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2016

Cowell, Raewyn & Pearse, Rebecca. Gender Norms: Are they the enemy to
womens rights. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.
UNRIFSD, 2 Mar. 2015. Web. 18 Feb. 2016

Conry-Murray, Clare. "Children's Judgments of Inequitable Distributions That

Conform to Gender Norms." Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: Journal of
Developmental Psychology 61.3 (2015): 319-344. ERIC. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.

Gaunt, Ruth. "Breadwinning Moms, Caregiving Dads: Double Standard in Social

Judgments of Gender Norm Violators." Journal of Family Issues 34.1 (2013): 324. ERIC. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.