Hong-Ngoc Nguyen

Instructor: Jakubowski

English 103, section PG01

14 November 2005

“Whale Rider” and Gender Roles

“Women and men are all powerful, resourceful, intelligent, sensitive, intuitive, and analytical.” But they are not treated in the same way. In my psychology class, I have learned the phase “gender stereotype” which is a fixed, overly simple, sometimes incorrect idea about traits, attitudes, and behaviors of males or females (Lefton and Brannon 104). That phase partly explains why there is the existence of gender roles and gender discrimination.

We can easily recognize the gender stereotypes around us in daily life. Men are often described as strong and independent, and women have traditionally been seen as weak, gentle and patient. Because of these common beliefs of gender stereotypes, there are also things that men cannot do. People may laugh at them if they wear make up, wear dresses or cry in public. Men are considered as the control gender and have the responsibility to support their family. That point of view leads to the gender discrimination that runs against many women’s interests.

In the media, we can see how women are stuck with uncomfortable portraits. Housecleaning and childrearing are often seen as feminine roles. Women become very good advertisements for the cleaners and baby products in most of the situations, as in the picture below. Why do we hardly ever see a man standing in that woman’s position? Moreover, many companies also use the image of women as sex objects with a lack of respect to draw the customers’ attention to their products.

The film “Whale Rider” (2002) is also a good example about the discrimination between male and female. It is a story about Paikea who has a strong desire to be the new chief of her tribe. But according to the Maori tradition, only a male can carry the knowledge and be the leader of the tribe. Therefore, her grandfather, Koro, does not allow her to join in the leader training because she is a girl. But she never gives up. And finally, she becomes the first female leader of the Maori tribe.

I think it is really unfair that Paikea cannot become a chief. Her grandpa should be open-minded to consider her real competence instead of her gender. Taking a look at another aspect of this situation, I wonder “Is the story about the man on the whale a thousand years ago a myth or legend?” If it is a legend, then why does everybody think of the ancestor of their tribe as a man instead of a woman? That seems to be gender discrimination. If the ancestor of the Maori, who was on the whale, was a woman in reality, whether the next leaders would be females and men would not be allowed to be chiefs. Then, we can sympathy with what Koro does because he just follows a thousand years of tradition, and Paikea is not allowed to be leader because of the Maori tradition, not because of her gender. Anyway, it is time to change for a more progressive rule.

In my country nowadays, the role of gender is different from the way it is portrayed in the film. A woman can go to work and can be the chief of any organization according to her ability. I say “different” rather than “better” because women seem to have more work than before. In the past, women just did what they were allowed to do, usually housework. They were encouraged to be good wives and mothers. They did not have to worry about earning money but they received less respect. Men went to work and they allowed themselves to not care about housework. Now, women can go to work, but they still have to do housework. They cannot work without doing their role in the kitchen, such as cooking, to have a happy family like men. They hardly have spare time to live for their own.

When I was young, I felt tired to hear from my grandmother over and over again the phase: “A girl has to be ….” with a lot of characteristics of a good girl. I found those also useful for a boy, such as the ability to cook, clean the floor or wash up the dishes. Sometimes I envied my brother because my grandmother never forced him to do those things. Fortunately, my parents never discriminate their children. In many families, the little girls are taught to help their mother do housework after finishing their homework, while the boys can play computer games, watch films or whatever for their pleasure as relaxing time after school. In addition, it seems funny but single girls usually whisper in each other’s ears that they should pretend to be naïve and less intelligent in front of their lovers. Many men try to be open-minded but actually they just want to look for a quiet submissive wife who would obey their every word.

In the U.S., there seems to be more equality between men and women, especially in the families. The husband can cook the meal himself and share housework, not waiting for his wife to do everything. Women are protected better from the violence in family, and retain more legal interest than before when they divorce. But as in other countries, some gender stereotypes that lead to discriminate women still exist in the media or workplaces.

Women deserve to have the equal chance of education, profession and decision making, not just be put in the housecleaning and child rearing roles. Male and female have different biological traits. So, men and women cannot do exactly the same things. In any case, what we hope for the future is women have more rights to do whatever suits their ability and desire without any discrimination.

Works Cited

Lefton, Brannon. Psychology. Boston: Pearson, 2003. 104

“Gender Stereotypes: What You Need to Know About Gender Stereotypes”. About.com (2005). 24 Nov 2005.

“Gender role”. Wikipedia (2005). 24 Nov 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_role>

“Competition and Feeling Superior to others”. Mentalhelp.net. 27 Nov 2005. http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap9/chap9p.htm>