Gender Convergence
Gender Convergence – also understood as the unification of gender roles – the process of rapprochement between masculinity and femininity, through which traditionally masculine and feminine traits, roles, appearances, or behavioral patterns become less sharply differentiated.
Gender convergence is manifested in the convergence of visual representation, patterns of social behavior, and the legal rights of women and men. It may involve the masculinization of women and the feminization of men. Gender convergence may be external, as in unisex styles of clothing, appearance, or presentation; behavioral, as in the adoption of gender roles previously associated with the “opposite” sex; or internal, as in the expression and experience of emotions, feelings, or psychological traits that were formerly considered atypical for a given sex or gender.
The process of gender convergence can be traced through quantitative and qualitative sociological indicators that reflect gender differences, such as the growth of women’s social activity and men’s domestic activity; the growth of women’s economic independence; an increase in the number of women elected to public office; fashion trends oriented toward unisex style; and so on.
This process may be shaped by historical circumstances, economic challenges, transformations of the cultural environment, changes in social norms, and other factors.
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