Our Gender Roles are Divine

Hello everyone! Welcome to my fourth blog post here on this blog. There have been a lot of things that I have learned so far in class. Most of what I learned was focused on how the different gender roles and responsibilities both complement and support each other. We have been created on this Earth for specific purposes in mind. Adam and Eve were given life and were commanded to create the first human family. I especially love what God says after he had created man. In Genesis chapter 2, which reads, "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." 

I love this scripture and how it exemplifies that neither the woman nor the man could ever take on the responsibilities of both of the parents. They need each other. It is a divine calling. James E Faust taught this same principle when he said that "Being a father or a mother is not only a great challenge, it is a divine calling. It is an effort requiring consecration. President David O. McKay stated that being parents is “the greatest trust that has been given to human beings.” James E Faust

In class, we made a list of the unique characteristics of both males and females. For the women, they are nurturing, are good at being able to read emotion, are more cooperative and have better communication skills. That's just to name a few, and that doesn't mean that men can't have those same attributes, but if we were to just generalize it, then a larger percentage of females would be better at those things than men. 

However, men are found to be a lot more protective, aggressive, and are more competitive in nature. There's a lot more you can probably add on to those lists, but it's enough to illustrate the point. Both parents are necessary to the effective development of a child. If even one of those spouses are absent or are not in the picture, then it hinders the family greatly as a whole. 

We saw this in play during a presentation that we had during class. The example was about a family who were trying to immigrate into the United States from Mexico. Although it was more focused on the cultural implications, I also saw a lot of gender implications as well. In the example, we saw the father leave the country in America first, in order to make enough money to eventually have his family come and join him. From the time the father had left, to the time his family joined him, was about three years. That was how long the family went without the father around, and there were a lot of implications that happened as a result of that. 

Because of the absence of a male father figure, someone else needs to take on those responsibilities as a result. And here, we saw that with the oldest son. The mother also had to take on numerous additional responsibilities as well. We see this same pattern with a lot of families today as well. It has been somewhat normalized to be different from the norm, if that makes any sense. We see this a lot with atypical relationships, families, and the ongoing differences with gender identity. 

Spencer W Kimball, during a sermon, taught, "Fathers and mothers, your foremost responsibility is your family. By working together you can have the kind of home the Lord expects you to have. By showing love and consideration for one another and for your children, you can build a reservoir of spiritual strength that will never run dry.” Spencer W Kimball

I urge you all to focus on building the foundation you want to create in the home. To raise up children with the culture that you want to create. The values of the world are constantly changing, and what defines gender has been drastically altered. And we see what effects that it does have on the family, play out time and time again.