From the second we are born, we are placed into one of two categories, girl or boy. We are never considered to be anything but one of the two. No in between, no blurry lines. Because of the society we fashioned, we assign extensive stereotypes to each one of those genders. This is known as gender roles, or more precisely, “a set of societal norms commanding what types of behaviors are commonly considered satisfactory, suitable, or required for a person established on their actual/apparent sex”.
This includes all kinds of stereotypes, such as that women should stay home, cook, and be “feminine”, and that men need to be tough, the sole breadwinner of the house, and “masculine”. It is suggested that gender stereotypes develop to justify the distribution of the sexes into social roles. There are numerous differences between women and men. These differences
...are apprehended in the stereotypical images of these groups. Stereotypes about the way people think and behave are widely portrayed.
Nevertheless, stereotypical expectations not only expose these existing differences, but also impact the way women and men define themselves and are treated by other people. Although people are not usually aware when they are using gender stereotypes, it happens quite often. A person may believe that they are treating a woman and man equally, but gender stereotypes can still make their way in without the other person even noticing.
The U.S. law states that it is illegal to discriminate against an employee based on their sex/gender. Stereotypes have numerous of effects on cognitions, attitudes, and behaviors in the workplace. These stereotypes develop in response to societal structures. They are both descriptive and prescriptive i
nature and contribute to inequality in a range of areas from the workplace to loving relationships. The most talked about topic is the gender pay gap.
The gender pay gap is the ratio of male-to-female average yearly earnings among full time workers. The common woman's unadjusted yearly salary has been said to be 78% to 82% of that of the common man's pay. This difference in pay rate has been a hot topic of discussion for years and has not seen much of a change. Many believe that women are given a lesser pay because they are not seen as hardworking and responsible as men are. Men are supposed to be the agentic ones, while women are looked at as simply warm and nurturing.
Because women are the bearer of children, they are often only seen as mothers or people of motherly features however, gender stereotypes also indicate negative virtues for women such as irritable, exaggeratedly emotional, and compliant. It is believed that women are too sensitive to do the “hard” work that men do, when in reality, women are just as capable and strong as men. As a result of the conventional view of women, women, who in fact have the capabilities to be a great leader, are hindered out of the corporate office, and are forced to reduce to more support-oriented roles.
Your job supplies you with your income to live, and in remembrance women have always been seen as lesser than men. Precluding women from making their way up the corporate ladder not only handicaps women, but men as well due to the classified business arrangements that comes as a result of fewer women in
company management positions. As of right now, with the mass of corporate directed by men, the business world has an ordered system of leadership. This leads lesser ranking workers to feel inferior which will I in the end, only belittle their confidence in their effort and lessen their efficiency.
Nevertheless, companies with women leading have a more shared positioned leadership arrangement because they have a more common direction, and workplace management is more comprehensive, where everyone is given voice and is free to use it. This can lead to staff members feeling more valued, and their work production intensifications as a result. Nonetheless, a common management arrangement is unusual because few women are given management positions, and both women and men are exposed to a more limiting and ordered management system.
In addition to an ordered leadership system, the absence of women in management positions may also cause prejudicial workplace daycare plans for men. These gender roles are responsible for the pay gap women face in the office. Women are frequently paid less for doing the exact same job as men with the same credentials as men. This can greatly impact a woman’s life and family.
Within today’s society, both males and females are expected to fit into certain stereotypes and gender roles. Women are usually considered and anticipated to be maternal housewives, who are both obedient and attractive. Males, on the other hand, are seen to be the breadwinners, who are well built, independent, and tough. These features have become ‘typical’ in society and enforce the gender stereotype roles. However, when these gender ‘norms’ are messed with or disturbed, this leads to the formation of new labels
and stereotypes.
It is normal in society for families to have two incomes, but it is still supposedly the man of the house’s responsibility to bring in most of the earning. Men are brought up to believe that they will one day be the head of their own household one day. Being head of the house, for some, means bringing in the money. Often times, when a man’s wife/girlfriend brings in more money than he does, he will be left feeling incompetent. He feels as if he is not providing enough money for his family, and this feeling can make him feel as if he is less of a man.
Women, in another sense, are thought to be more as housewives. Women are supposed to cook, clean, and make sure that the house looks nice for the man as he returns home from work. Women are also supposed to be the ones that care and nurture the children in the family while the men are out working and doing other so called “manly” things. Women are left to do the so called “easy work”, while the men go out and get their hands dirty.
Another common stereotype that is seen far too often is that “real men don’t cry”. Growing up, boys are often told that they are not supposed to cry. This being said, they are led to believe that if they were to cry, they were to be considered weak, and no little boy wanted that. This is not something that only affects young boys though. Even into adulthood, men are told that they should not cry. When in tears, or near so to say, they
are often told to “suck it up” and/or that they need to “be a man”, when in reality, crying does not make you any less of a man.
Boys convert to being excessively aggressive to cling to the idea that they had to be nearly indestructible. Studies show that boys choose violence to demonstrate how manly they really are. This makes for an unsafe environment where boys cannot be free to express themselves and not feel the need to prove their masculinity 24/7. Because girls are allowed to cry, boys, usually from a young age, associate crying with femininity and weakness. The lack of crying and expression of their emotions can lead to bottled up feelings and emotions. Because these emotions are never relieved or expressed, they are not able to overcome them.
This can lead to even more emotional problems and may even cause strains on their relationships with the people around them because they can never truly express how they feel about certain, and rather emotional topics. I sense that by parents doing this it allows their sons to embrace the more dominant role and violent behavior seeming more masculine, while the daughters are permitted to be more emotional, feminine and less violent, which may in return follow them in to their adult lives modeling their gender roles within civilization.
I have lost count of how many times I have heard friends’ fathers or just fathers in general us the term ‘be a man’ in reference to their sons and trying to get them to get over something, either injuring themselves or just being distressed. However, on the other hand, it is almost as if females
are allowed or even persuaded to weep and let out their emotions of how they feel at any given time. Does the phrase ‘you’re crying like a girl’ ring a bell?
Gender stereotypes are usually taught at a young age. Parents may influence gender roles. This can be explained using operant conditioning. Parents would applause gender appropriate behavior and punish gender inappropriate behavior. For example, if a boy wanted to do ballet, his parents may ignore or shout at him for wanting to do so, and this would likely than discourage the child from doing ballet because he may think that he would get in even more trouble if he continued doing it or expressing his interest in the activity. In its place, the child may decide to do partake in a more gender suitable activity that his parents would support, such as football, in order to get approval from his parents.
As children grow up, they begin to develop distinctive gender roles and gender stereotypes that are influenced by the people in their everyday lives and their caregivers/parents. Parents influence gender roles because they often serve as role models for their children. A child may watch what their parents are doing, then in return try to mimic them, and then that behavior would be reinforced. The other people in their day to day lives could also influence gender roles in that they could offer a role model of how girls and boys should behave. Boys are supposed to play with cars, wear blue, and become police and firefighters.
Boys also may act in a boyish way, such as fighting and being aggressive. Girls may act more so
in a feminine way, such as being calm and playing with dolls. Girls are supposed to play with dolls, wear pink, and become magical princesses. These are just some of the everyday gender stereotypes that children grow up to understand. Interactions with toys are one of the main entryways to different characteristics of cognitive development and communalism in early childhood.
In society, females are usually expected to have personal characteristics and social behaviors that are related with feminine characteristics. Males, however, have to demonstrate their masculine characteristics. Conventionally, expectations of females have been for them to wear dresses, maintain a delicate and beautiful body, while cooking, cleaning, raising children, being passive, moral, and pure. Throughout the times females have been lesser than males; with them being considered to be the weaker sex, not just substantially but emotionally and psychologically, resulting in females being labeled as delicate and defenseless.
The problem rests within femininity and what it has come to be embodied as, within conduct and appearance. Due to society’s beliefs that all women should be ladylike and proper, it recommends that they should not display masculine characteristics. Furthermore, this shows typical societal projections in which people are expected to live up to the standard of the common gender stereotypes.
Gender roles can be shown to shape our behaviors, values, thoughts, feelings, even going so far as to represent a person’s worth. Gender roles are present in everyday situations. In the past they strictly dictated the behavior of people in the community, however in the modern past have become subtler and more positively confronted. In some occurrences, they are learned willfully, in others they are more faintly imbedded in
our lives.
Basically, they are universal not only in intimate spouse violence, but in virtually every aspect of our lives. Domestic violence is intricately entwined to the gender roles of the group in which it occurs. The rates and brutality of household violence fluctuate dramatically amongst countries and seem to be associated to the amount of importance that the public puts on established gender roles.
Nowadays we live in a world that frequently stresses to us that, 'All men are created equal.' While this sounds great, further examination tells us that this is in fact far from accurate and unfortunately may never be. A person can inspect any characteristic of society whether it be race, religion, language, level of education, sexual orientation or economic status and see that there are several features and elements of individuality that allow others to treat others otherwise.
This genuineness may not be pleasant or make some feel all sincere and fuzzy inside, yet it is our culture's reality, however depressing it may seem. Even if the statement before about the equality of all men were true, how about women? Obviously, women have made tremendous strides towards equality with little to nothing to show for it.
For young female viewers this representation of women as low status individuals in humanity can be harmful to their self-esteem and can also cause females to be more self-deprecating. For girls becoming young women, often the first role model they have are their moms. As they age and are open to different media platforms on a more routine basis, they start to develop connotations with the characters on television. Girls, more often than boys, start to base their
concepts of who they aspire to be according to the appearances of their role models.
Because the roles shown on tv are so conventional according to gender, often times too much time given to media can be hazardous for kids. Research proposes that 'heavy television viewing contributes to sex-role development and/or reinforcement among youth”. This is likely because, as boys and girls watch tv, they start to suppose that the characters they watch are based on real life. Children, especially young, start to get oftentimes their most important life understandings through the tv instead of undergoing life's lessons.
