Rather than trying to learn what it is, something that occurred to me is to see it in action.
Have you ever seen or read any period English dramas? Something by Jane Austen or the Bronte Sisters, for example?
While stylised, they do a good job of illustrating the concept of gender roles in a society. Or at least in certain parts of a society. I think part of the trouble in understanding the precepts is that, in a modern world, they're very much diluted from what they were, and a lot of folks disregard them entirely. Although, that being said, there are still some people who hold to the Victorian and Edwardian model of women with delicate sensibilites whose only concerns in life are finding a suitable husband, looking beautiful, having children and being some diminutive flower, while men are the strong, dashing, Mr Darcy 'gentlemen' types with the stiff upper lip and rampant machismo.
Anyway, it's kinda not surprising that it's a struggle to get to grips with it since society, by its very nature, isn't a constant. Much less a single unified entity. And basing ones whole life outlook on societal roles or expectations, well, it's like building your house on quicksand. The foundations are fundamentally unstable.
