A Study of Female Gender Socialization in Three Short Stories by Qmashh Allyan

Gender socialization is a subjective process based on socio-cultural relations and is strongly rooted in the beliefs and values of the society in which men and women are segregated and attributed to particular features. The basic question pursued in this research is whether gender socialization can affect women's identity and limit their personal and social lives. If yes, to what extent can these limitations harm women behaviorally and psychologically? This article, which is a descriptive-analytic research, applies a gender socialization criticism and studies its effect on three short stories namely, "I am"; "The remains of a woman" and "Never coming back" by Qmashh Allyan. The results show how women, affected by their incomplete gender socialization, provide grounds for their humiliation leading to the destruction of family foundation. Having experienced failure and frustration in their expectations, women get extremely passive and risk deviant acts the problems of which can be traced at both individual and social levels.