gender norms
Masculine, feminine expectations
Gender norms are social expectations about how people should behave, dress, and present themselves based on their sex.
These unwritten rules vary across cultures and eras—what counts as masculine or feminine in one society may differ sharply from another.
She refused to conform to gender norms by pursuing a career in welding.
Breaking gender norms often invites social pressure or criticism.
- masculinityMale gender characteristics
- man upEmbrace toughness, colloquially
- patriarchyMale-dominated social order
- breadwinner roleMain financial supporter position
- femininityFemale nature or character
socialization · conformity · dress codes · emotional labor · wage gap · locker room talk · implicit bias · double standards · intersectionality · heteronormativity · dolls · allyship · queer theory · roles · ladylike · blue · pink · culture
- gendermale, female, masculine, feminine, man
- normsnorm, standard, rule, custom, conventions
- social pressurepeer pressure, conformity, expectations, fitting in, social acceptance
- feminismfeminism, feminist theory, women's rights, feminist novels, feminist themes
- assessmentsassessments, evaluation, evaluations, test, tests
- gender developmentfeminine roles, masculinity, femininity, socialization, social learning
gender normsgender nonconformity
Diverging from expected roles
gender fluidity · gender bending · gender neutrality · queerness · androgyny
gender normsbiological sex
Organism's reproductive classification
nature · biology · essentialism · naturalism
gender normsgender expression
Outward manifestation of identity