Personal Philosophy Paper

Submitted By nanita90a
Words: 1412
Pages: 6

Adrianna Aguilar
April 23, 2013 Throughout the class we discussed several important leadership concepts, but the three concepts that I believe are most important and will guide my own judgment and decisions as I move forward in my career are Gender begins and continues at home, Gender schemas and how they affect us, and the different Leadership Styles and how people define leadership. These three concepts struck a chord with me as we were learning and discussing them throughout the course. I plan on using what I’ve learned from this course in the future, but these three concepts will assist me the most as I begin my career and my family. The first concept that I believe will be helpful to myself is Gender begins and continues at home. As we were discussing this topic during the course we learned that even before a child is born the first thing parents want to know is its sex so they know how to respond towards the child when it’s born. According to Valian the first fact adults want to establish about a child is its sex, even if the child is a neonate, a being whose behavior is largely independent of its sex. [ (Valian, 1999, p. 23) ] She goes on to explain how depending on the child’s gender it establishes how the baby will be perceived. Even the words used to describe how attractive the baby is depends on its gender, adults can categorize an attractive baby as ‘pretty’ if it is a girl, or handsome, if it is a boy. [ (Valian, 1999, p. 24) ] As the child grows its gender affects how their parents treat them. Parents believe that they treat all their children the same regardless of gender but in reality unconsciously parents treat them differently based on their gender. According to Valian parents tend to encourage activities that they consider to be appropriate for their gender. Even when it comes to the child doing chores there’s a difference, depending on the child’s gender the chores they need to do vary. Girls tend to do more chores involving cooking and cleaning and task that need to be done more frequently then the chores boys do which have to be done less frequently and are more physically straining. Also when it comes to the toys children play with they are also based on gender. Girls are encouraged to play with dolls or toys that have to do with playing house while boys are encouraged to play with building blocks, trucks and cars. It is like even as children they are being groomed based on gender schemas to be what a man or woman is expected to be. After learning how gender starts in the home I hope to use what I’ve learned so that I may avoid doing the same thing and become less guided by the genders schemas that have been drummed into my head. I hope to be able to be more equal with my future children and not treat them differently based on their gender. I will do my best to be conscious of how I raise my child although I can see it will not be a simple task since all of my life I’ve had to deal gender defining a person. For example I plan on letting my child boy or girl choose their toys and clothing regardless if they are feminine or masculine. I can only hope that what I’ve learned about Gender beginning and continuing at home will help me in the future when I start my own family. The second concept discussed in the course that I believe is important and will be helpful to myself is Gender Schemas and how they affect the everyday life whether at home or at work. Gender schemas are defined as a set of implicit, or nonconscious, hypothesis about sex differences that plays a central role in shaping men’s and women’s professional lives. [ (Valian, 1999, p. 2) ] Also according to Valian gender schemas affect our expectations of men and women, our evaluations of their work, and their performance as professionals. [ (Valian, 1999, p. 2) ] Since we were kids we have all been exposed to gender schemas on how we expect men and women to act, what should be their interest, what type of leader they should be,