Sociocultural adaptaions along the journey of human-kind
The journey of humankind has always been challenging, daring to survive, resisting the forces of nature, competing against other species which have threatened our existence. However, Homo sapiens persisted through thousands of years by synchronizing with one another, building civilizations, and displaying a unique role by being a social kind. Critical to this social life are gender roles.
The concept of how human compassion and social life became a part of human identity and survival of the species is well explained by Margret Mead (1901-1978), an American cultural anthropologist. she was once asked by her student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones. However, this question gave rise to an interesting answer. Mead said that “the first sign of civilization in ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed.” She explained that in the animal kingdom if you break your leg, you die. You cannot escape danger or obtain sustenance, rather you will become food for other animals. Because no animal can survive long enough with a broken leg to heal, we infer that this is a sign that someone else has tended to the injured person until recovery.
Social life sustains human survival. Most importantly, gender roles are a construct developed over time serving to improve the survival chances of our species and are not based on natural human behavior as it is understood. This development presents altruistic and cooperative behavior among individuals, and the overall role of a gender in assisting one another depends on the situation in which help is required. The results are therefore highly dependent on the situations in which social psychologists have measured helping. Thus it’s not unusual to see different patterns of female and male behavior in different cultures because different environments give rise to different adaptations. Further investigation into the evolution of gender roles over time is crucial to understanding gender inequalities and their dynamics. At this point, we have to remind ourselves of a world of duality and instability where straight lines are only imaginary. All systems are at constant up and downs, and among this instability gender roles have a high risk of being abused and are very unstable It diverges from its very initial purpose resulting in a poor quality of life and discrimination against individuals. However, regardless of how common this phenomenon is, an unhealthy process must be urgently corrected.
Lastly, beyond evolutionary gender roles which are adopted from our ancestors, beyond what we have been told to be, the modern world favors a shift. With advances in science, individuals have more access to the world than ever and are aware of the potential they carry within them to decide which role is best to play in their situation, to bring peace into their lives and the life of others.
Standing Committee on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Including HIV and AIDS – IFMSA Kurdistan (SlemaniLC)
- Heshw Raschid