Gender Stereotypes
A stereotype is an ordinary belief about a particular social group or types of community based on gender, race, culture or religion (Rudman and Glick, 2008). Stereotypes are consistent and simplified notions of groups of people based on past postulations. The term stereotype originates from Greek terms, stereos that means solid or firm and typos which means blow or impression or engraved mark. The term therefore means solid impression. Stereotypes include different kinds of characters, which can either be constructive or unconstructive, correct, or incorrect (Rudman and Glick, 2008). Even constructive stereotypes can have destructive results, like overestimated uniformity where people want others to view them as exceptional, rigid prospects and strengthening of a groups weakness and dependence. Gender stereotyping is the stereotyped images of males and females. Masculine and feminine images that are represented by the media and the society project a lot of mental mystiques. The instruments of gender stereotyping include the society, school and the media (Rudman and Glick, 2008).
Gender stereotyping
Gender stereotyping, is common in the whole world and is a noteworthy phenomena in private and public levels of relations. Stereotyping descriptions of men and women personality are prevalent in intra- and inter-gender conversations as well as in media. Women are shown by media as being dominated by males, controlled by emotions, emotional and dependence (Rudman and Glick, 2008). They are also shown as being weaker and less intelligent than men. The responsibility assigned to women by the society tends to be marital and family oriented. Traditionally, women are rarely shown to be capable of combining marriage and employment. Men on the other hand are shown to be strong, domineering and tend to acquire official employment. Social interactions may encourage stereotyping. Impressions formed by being told by others are usually more stereotypic than those formed by observing. Other sources of peoples ideas on gender stereotypes are radio, television, movies, video games, magazines and any other form of information transfer that influences our attitudes and shapes our values (Rudman and Glick, 2008).
As people grow up and without knowing it, the culture influences them through the stereotype images. This creates images in their minds and leads to accepting them as reality (Campbell and Storo, n.d). These beliefs are so embedded into the minds, that a lot of people think they are normal and so they do not question them. Although subscription to these beliefs does not happen consciously as part of our belief system, our cultures fill us with messages about what it is to be male or female. The method by which people discover and believe in roles is referred to as socialization (Rudman and Glick, 2008). This operates by boosting acceptable and discouraging unacceptable behavior. The instrument of socialization is society, school and the media. These instruments make it known to a child what is to be expected of him as a man and as a lady. It is very hard for children as they grow up not to experience some form of stereotyping. As they grow up, the gender stereotypes they were exposed to as home are strengthened by other aspects of the environment. A childs mushrooming sense of self- or self concept results from multiple ideas, behaviors and beliefs that heshe is exposed to. As human beings, we experience range of emotions, including grief, happiness, antagonism, and affection (Rudman and Glick, 2008).
The society has clearly embraced the fact that males are different from females. This is observed in every aspect of life as in education, profession, housework, decision making, and in child care as well as education. In our education system, the prevalence of gender-specific education is greater than that of co-educative schools. In the gender-specific education, girls and boys are separated and sent to different schools (Campbell and Storo, n.d). Education for boys tends to be more important than that of girls. In profession, job place is not considered as a place for women. Occupation and professional advancement is not considered important for women. Most decisions are left to men and even women have accepted that they will let their male partners decide on where they will stay, choose where their children will acquire education, choose what property to acquire and all other important decisions concerning the family. Even at work, most decisions are left to men. In case there is conflict, it is the word of men that will be taken (Campbell and Storo, n.d).
In the present day society, people are trying to reduce gender stereotyping by sharing responsibilities. Even though the responsibilities are not mixed, there is a consensus among individuals to try and strike a balance. In N. America and S. America, this is the method that is used by couples whose occupation is agriculture. The approach that is mostly used in America and Britain is the double burden. This is the model that is applied by males and females who have jobs and have the obligation of working at home. They both work in the paid job and share the responsibilities in the house (Campbell and Storo, n.d).
The reality is that as a group, girls and boys are more alike than they are different. Differences between entity boys and entity girls are greater than those between a standard girl and a standard boy. It is clear that stereotyping is so misleading and should not be used as a basis to judge character behavior of interests. People tend to presume that men and women are different they are in fact opposite sexes (Campbell and Storo, n.d). They see gender as the key predictor of capabilities and interests and also presume that if it is clear that one is a male or female, then a lot is known about them. We base peoples characters, interests and capabilities to the fact that heshe is a male or a female. By knowing peoples gender may make them know about them biologically but it will tell us very little about their other aspects. Sex is not a good interpreter of a persons academic capabilities, interests or emotional traits. From a research by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, it was discovered that gender is a bad predictor (Campbell and Storo, n.d).
From the graph (see Appendix 1), Correlations, otherwise known as predictive relations, represented by the vertical axis, range from zero to one. 1 is for a perfect relationship while 0 is for no relationship. For example, the relationship between birth and death is an ideal relationship, represented with 1. This means that once a person is born, it can be predicted with complete conviction that heshe will eventually pass away. The closer the relationship is to the perfect 1, the better the forecast. The relationship between high school Grade point Average and college Grade point Average is 0.6. This is a bit high meaning that if one has a high High School GPA it is likely that hisher college GPA will also be high. The relationship between gender and quantitative skills is about 0.1, just the same case with the relationship between gender and verbal skills. This relationship is very low meaning that if all what people know about you is that you are female, then they cannot tell your quantitative or verbal skills (Campbell and Storo, n.d). This shows that personality, interests and conduct are determined by much more than only the gender. Opportunities should be offered according to capabilities and not sex. Almost everything that is done by men can be done equally well by women and also things that are done by women cab be done by men (Campbell and Storo, n.d).
Examples of gender stereotypes and their effects
In the society, there are two notions that exhibit stereotyping Act Like a Man and Be Ladylike. This has been shown in the diagram 1 in the appendix. In each of the two, there is a list of the traits, attitudes and behavior that a boy is expected to adapt in the process of being a man. These traits are learned and boys and men are not born with them. The second is also a stereotype just like the first. Women are also expected to conform to particular roles as they grow up in the society. These two notions depict the real picture of the society as concerns males and females. What it means to Act Like a Man is to be strong and brave, be Macho, be in charge of, do not back down, brawny, involved violent sports, strong in contrast to women, do not cry, sexually hostile, be a leader and a burp, not nice or generous. What it means to Be Ladylike in Society gracious, delicate, pleasant, kind, tender, responsive, skinny, small, do not fight, cannot outsmart men, shed tears, well dressed, rely on men, housekeepers, take care of babies, affectionate, and emotional. It is believed that males are not born to be violent or have negative attitudes towards females. These behaviors and attitudes are learnt through the stereotypes of what the society thinks about acting like a man. This can result to violence, especially against women (Campbell and Storo, n.d).
Stereotyping has separated roles that should be carried out by males from those that should be handled by men. This belief limits personal choices in determining interests and skills. It discourages males from participating in what they consider roles of the females and restricts roles that are considered males. Gender roles are socially and culturally defined descriptions and beliefs about personality of males and females (Glick et al, 2004). Gender roles and stereotypes effects males and females especially where they are judged by how well they conform to conventional stereotypes. The uneven division of household roles and childcare, based on the belief that that is the role of women, contributes to the reported lower marital contentment in females. This affects couple and family interaction. This is also because the division of family labor is based on gender. Gender stereotyping can affect performance for both males and females. This is as a result of stereotype threat. Stereotype threat happens when a person is aware that heshe might be judged by the society or might self-fulfill negative stereotypes about herhis gender. This threat can negatively affect performance by increasing anxiety. This mostly happens in situations where females are supposed to perform duties that are considered males or where males are meant to perform duties that are considered females (Glick et al, 2004).
Feminists and other researchers argue that gender stereotypes decreases girls self-confidence creating an effect on their personality, inspirations and aspirations. Stereotypes also restrict both girls and boys of certain modes of behavior, course of study and choices of career. Gender Stereotypes also leads to unfairness in employment opportunities where some positions are considered males and others females (Glick et al, 2004). Stereotyping causes a lot of emotional and psychological trauma in the victims. This can happen if you loose a deserved job or promotion just because you are a woman, if a girl cannot participate in a favorite sport just because she is a girl or when a boy cannot participate in preparing his favorite dish because he is a man. Stereotyping does not affect individuals only but also the society in general. This is because when people cannot achieve their potential, it means that even the society is deprived.
Stereotypes are destructive because they restrict potential. We should understand that we do not have to recognize the dictates of stereotypes and that we have the power to decide on what makes sense to us. Every one has a choice we can choose to live like the stereotypes, which can result to unhappiness, loneliness, and possibly violence or, we can choose to be courageous, be ourselves and establish relationships where we are accepted for what we are. This can prove to be hard but role playing in the contemporary society has proven it to be possible. It makes all the difference when we listen to, and respect other peoples needs and interests (Glick et al, 2004). A healthy relationship curriculum, will help people deal with these influences from a young age, helping them to form positive values, and attitudes and hence form health relationships. Young people should be assisted in discouraging stereotyping and other restrictions to choice and opportunity. The 21st century is where it is important to redefine the prevailing stereotypes of gender roles and interactions therefore breaking taboos that are linked to male-female positions and capabilities. More studies should be carried out to establish other measures that can be taken to completely curb gender stereotyping. The media should also focus on positive relationships and avoid stereotyping (Glick et al, 2004).
To be able to fight gender stereotyping, all the roles and responsibilities should be integrated. Education should be equal for both men and women. There should be similar career opportunities for both males and females. There should be no domination decisions should always be on consensus basis and status quo sustained in case of conflicts. Decisions reached by two will always be better that those decided by one. This is because ideas and opinions will come from two parties and the best will be selected. Men and women should share the responsibilities of tendering the family equally. In the co-educative schools, there is similar classes and education for both girls and boys. This is the system they should be put in place in order to handle gender stereotyping.
Favorability of male and female stereotypes across cultures
Researches have shown that stereotyping is prevalent in every society world wide. Stereotyping differs across women with the prevalence of female stereotyping being higher than the male stereotyping. Gender stereotyping also varies across societies. This can be seen from the graph (see Appendix, graph 2). The graph compares gender stereotyping in Italy, Netherlands, Taiwan, America, Singapore, Turkey and Germany. In all of the countries female stereotyping is higher than male stereotyping.
Conclusion
The fact that gender stereotyping is a major problem all over the world is clear. Children learn at a very young age what it means to be a boy or a girl. As they grow, they experience the process of role socialization. Parents, teachers and other members of community should assist children from a tender age to be positive. Children should be taught to do all roles regardless of their gender. Self-confidence and self-esteem can be mastered from a young age.
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