Mdunge, Fundiswa Rejoice Lucia2024-11-152024-11-152023-11Mdunge, Fundiswa Rejoice Lucia. (2023). Experiences of Gender Roles in Young Adults Living in Soweto [Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg].https://hdl.handle.net/10539/42577A research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Counseling and Community Psychology to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024The study explores the more contemporary meanings and experiences of gender roles which have been developed by young adults over the years in their small-lived, contemporary experiences within Soweto. The study draws on in-depth interviews conducted with six young adult men and women and is carried out using a qualitative design. In exploring the topic of gender roles, normative patterns of change were identified which can contribute to the future discourse of gender role development. These normative patterns of change were attributed to ecological influences from the individual, their family, and their local and international communities, as well as intersectional influences which were identified as also playing a role in the participants’ experiences of gender. The study reveals participants’ experiences which are related to themes of gendered social pressures and socialisation, generational experiences of traditional and non-traditional gender roles, gendered divides and harmful gender stereotypes, gender identity conflicts in the ecological system, social ostracisation, issues of adultification, and views on patriarchal gendered ideologies and the maternal gatekeepers of these ideologies. The participants’ stories reveal fractures in their contemporary gender role ideology and their gender role development during their upbringing. Despite these fractures, they express hopes to develop gender role experiences which incorporate both traditionally socialised gender roles and non-traditionally developed understandings of gender and gender roles in their future adult years, as a means to create their own personal gendered experiences based on their exposure to different ecological environments.en© 2024 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.Gender role experiences, ecological development, racialised gender, adultification, maternal gatekeeping, father absence, patriarchy, SowetoSDG-5: Gender equalityDissertationUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg