Women and men are usually depicted as having extremely different roles in society, evident in the way both literature and the media portray them. Before elaborating some gender roles that confine both sexes to traditional duties and responsibilities, it is important to reveal the difference between one’s sex and one’s gender.

In most textbooks, the mother is typically portrayed as cooking for her family, the female child is seen as helping her mother in the kitchen, whereas the father is depicted as sitting in a comfort-able armchair, reading the newspaper, and the male child is seen as busy playing with

Since gender roles differ depending on society, culture, geographic location, politics and time, the society in which people live plays an enormous role in determining the expected patterns of behavior assumed to follow from a per-son’s sex. Hence, gender differences are not natural, but they are seen as such by the cultural components of society. Many feminist views show how early upbringing plays a major role in imposing assigned gender roles on both men and women. From the moment children are born and wrapped in pink or blue blankets, their world is prepared along gender-related rules. From this point on, they continue to be bombarded with gender rules and regulations. Consequently, adults expect girls to change diapers for their babies in the future, to learn manners, to obey their parents, to marry a man, to take care of children, and to stay at home. However, boys are encouraged to excel in maledominated professions and to remain detached from the private sphere that is treated as a feminine do-main. In order to examine the process by which male and female children become men and women in the traditional sense of the word, it is necessary to examine the representations of gender roles in literature and the media.

Literature plays a major role in constructing gender roles and in presenting the image of the girl as a woman, and the boy as a man that has different roles. Hence, children’s books play a significant part in transmitting a society’s culture to children. The way in which gender is portrayed in children’s books contributes to the images that children develop about their own roles in society. Gender bias exists in the content, language and illustrations of a large number of children’s books. This bias may be seen in evil female characters, such as the stepmother and the ugly witch. Heroic male figures dominate most children’s books and the female character can only be saved with the help of a prince, or a male figure. In other words, girls are taught to be sweet, naïve, passive, self-sacrificing sisters and daughters that are eventually dependent on the support of the male figure, where-as boys are encouraged to be strong, adventurous, self-sufficient heroes and saviors. Many popular stories and fairy tales tend to reflect stereotypes of masculine and feminine roles. Even when females are initially represented as active and assertive, they are often seen in a passive light. The

The significance of the representations of gender in children’s literature stems from the fact that most readers tend to identify with the characters of their own sex in books. Therefore, the relative lack of active, independent, and strong female characters in texts can limit the opportunity for girls to transcend the imposed gender roles or to validate another de-sired place in society. In other words, gender representation subtly conditions most boys and girls to conform to the social norms, without providing them with alternative role models. Consequently, girls remain trapped in passive roles, while boys remain trapped in heroic expectations. Gender stereotypes deprive both boys and girls of the freedom to ex-press themselves and force them to be-have in ways that are

Likewise, women have always been rep-resented in literature as satisfied with their minor position in society. Since women are the products of a culture that values the activities and achievements of men, most female characters are portrayed as doing almost nothing to improve their domestic, economic and political position within it. The female character is either portrayed as a kind-hearted mother, an obedient housewife, or a traditional young woman whose main concern is finding an appropriate male suitor. Even when women are depicted as employed, they are often employed in low paid, low status jobs with few chances of promotion. Women are usually depicted as secretaries to a male boss, servants, or nurses. Even in prestigious jobs, employers often indirectly discriminate against women by passing them over in promotion, exhausting them with additional duties, or harassing them. That would in many cases force working women to retreat to the home as

Another source of this socialization is the media, more specifically television. It is well known that television is part of the daily lives of Arab audience. In the average Arab household, the television is turned on for almost several hours each day, and the typical adult or child watches two to three hours of television per day. Due to this extensive exposure to mass media depictions, the media’s influence on gender role attitudes has become an area of considerable interest and concern in the twenty-first century. Hence, it is important to take a closer look at the representation of males and females in the media, which has set certain standards for women to follow. The most common image of women is that they are passive, unreliable, incompetent, emotional and seductive creatures. Most of the Arabic movies reveal to viewers one traditional side of females. Few movies help to show how women are rebelling against social norms. Even within the context of advertisements (print and television), films, and popular music, analyses of gender portrayals have found predominantly stereotypical portrayals of dominant males and nurturing females. Similarly, most soap operas are based on highly conventional notions of women’s skills and their roles in the family or the community.

Most of the research on the effects of gender-role images in the media has focused primarily on female gender roles, whereas the topic of masculinity has rarely been addressed adequately. There is an absence of a thorough re-search on the power of cultural images of masculinity on imposing some roles on men. The impact of advertising on the images of masculinity and on asserting gender roles for men has not been studied. In most cases, men are usually addressed in car and housing advertisements as very successful business men and money-makers. Although some recent advertisements feature men as slowly moving toward decreased gender role stereotyping, the proportion of advertisements in traditional magazines depict men in «manly» activities and promote a «masculine ideal» that encourages men to abide by the masculine images that promote physical strength, power, wealth, dominance, confidence, detachment, and the repression of emotions which are associated with femininity. Since media representations are largely consistent with the viewers’ prior understanding of the appropriate male or female role, the images do not seem to produce an impetus for viewers to change the patriarchal values about gender roles.

In short, our culture has created strict standards about how women should look, act, and conduct their lives. Similarly, society has set certain standards that men are supposed to live up to. Nevertheless, women seem to be more trapped than men by traditional social standards that confine them to what is defined as

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• Sam Dalla: Was the Chinese model that good?

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• Sam Dalla: Was the Chinese model that good?

• Assad appoints a 29-member Constitutional Committee, for a new constitution by next February
• Sam Dalla: Was the Chinese model that good?