According to this perspective, gender norms are considered as personal standards against which one’s own behavior and other aspects of the self are evaluated.
Gender-role norms provide guidance for both sexes on how to act, think and feel but also can restrict men and women from certain behaviors that are considered inappropriate.
According to Joseph Pleck in 1981, characteristics and behaviors viewed as desirable for males or females specified in gender-role norms – that is society’s expectations or standard concerning what males and females should be like.
However, because gender-role norms vary as a function of culture, class, race, sexual orientation, economic, system and time in history, the behavior, thoughts and feeling that reflect gender-role conformity also vary as a function of these socio-cultural variables (Kimmel 1996).
Psychological research typically finds that the higher the perceived gap between the actual gender-related self-concept and the ideal gender-related self-concept, the more prone an individual is to depression, anxiety and other mental health problems.
Gender-role norms
