Throw Out That List: The New Stereotypes Of Women

Gender equality is something that has been holding society back for a while. The main cause of this is how a women is perceived to be. The expectations of women cloud people’s judgements. However, everyone has their own opinion to what is considered “equal”. Women have had to overcome challenges that shouldn’t have been a challenge to begin with.

Two statistics really stood out to me. The first fact from Miss Representation being that only 16% of women are protagonist in films. Even in these movies where the writers and producers has control of what is possible in the world in which the world takes place, they still choose to place a man in the starring role. If someone can have superpowers or be living in an alternate universe is it so far-fetched that it would be a women in charge?

Gender stereotypes are present in the United States today. Women are only supposed to act in feminine ways while men are only supposed to act in masculine ways. Women and men have different standards when comparing one another. Men and women have different roles that society says is more feminine or masculine. Gender stereotypes are present throughout any race. Race stereotypes are also a problem today and still have their own gender stereotypes with in their culture. When people act outside what society says those gender roles are, they are seen in a negative way. Society has determined what we consider to be acceptable definition of feminine or masculine. Throughout history, gender stereotypes have played a significant role in peoples lives.

For a very long time, stereotypes have been part of the society and culture, and to this day, they are still present. Stereotypes can be defined as “[oversimplifying] the image or idea of a particular type of person or thing” (Google Dictionary). A current event would be a female who cannot work in a factory because of her gender, or a male who cannot join ballet because of his gender. But what still occurs in our nation or the whole society is that stereotypes are generally directed against women. The stereotypes our society gives to women lead them to have lower positions in the workplace than men such as women are supposed to make less money than men, supposed to have “clean jobs”, and supposed to not have any technical skills. When women are “supposed” to have these certain positions, it makes them have an underprivileged characterization.

Right from the start, as early as the beginnings of human life on Earth, women have been symbolized as people of the lower class, not holding much importance, compared to men. To present day, that concept is still alive and in existence. The situation concerning this area should be more valued and shown importance towards. Does it ever not come to mind that many women are showing more abilities and grand skills than most men and yet and still, how is it possible that men are earning the higher wage? As a female myself, it’s mind-blowing that only 1 percent of the world’s wealth is held by women, and the rest of 99 percent is dominated by males. From all sorts of fields such as arts and entertainment, business, law, sports, etc., women are paid less than what the men are given. The huge imbalance between the numbers convey a great deal of biasness and discrimination. Many say, “When women lead, their

Stephen Bonnycastle lists a set of traits or stereotypes in his work In Search for Authority, that are considered "feminine" and an opposing list that is considered "masculine"; these traits seem to be inevitably true to life (Bonnycastle 10,11). For example, one of the traits listed is emotional, women are expected to be emotional and when this is not the case a man is often confused and indifferent towards the woman. This is especially the case if she is not emotional she is viewed as not feminine. Any time a woman does not fit the idea of what society expects of her she is outcasted and frowned upon. This hatred runs even deeper if a woman crosses over into what is considered "masculine", a woman who shows any type of authority over a

Over the years, the perspectives of men and women have continued to be polar opposites. From the time we are children, society portrays gender as men being controlling and unemotional while women are the opposite. Young boys are brought up to “become men” and to adopt the roles society forces on them while women are dehumanized and portrayed as submissive to males (The Mask). These roles have altered slightly over the years but have always been separated by the characterized gender roles in society. Women are to be working in the kitchen and keeping the home, children, and man happy while the man of the household is the breadwinner and comes home to a wife making dinner while he rests from

As stereotypes or gendered identities are all around us in our life, we may not even realize we are stereotyping someone. Stereotypes can be positive, negative, or neutral. Stereotypes are based on gender, ethnicity, or occupation are common in many societies, especially in this one. One of the many stereotypes or gender identity’s that I grew up believing and the one I am going to focus on is that “all women are caregivers or mothers”. Growing up I was taught as a child to perceive women as someone in the family that regularly looks after a child or a sick, elderly, or disabled person. A caregiver or a mother is someone you can rely on for help, and someone who will be there for you through the good and the bad times in life. Women are professed as mothers probably for the simple fact that in a lot of cases, women are the ones holding these roles. Therefore, I always believed this as a child, I was surrounded by women who were caregivers or mothers. However, this is not always the case, as to why this is indeed a stereotype among women. Surely enough this is one gender identity that I have changed my mind about throughout the years. I once had stereotyped women for being caregivers or mothers but growing up and having this proven wrong to me repeatedly has made me change my mind.

In the early 21st century, women’s activist groups have been becoming a more and more prominent sight in modern day society, but whilst nowadays, they are common sight, prior to the 20th century, it was impossible for women to vote or run for office in Canada, as well as many other countries (Stoddart, 2016). Knowing this, it raises the question, why were women fine with such standards for 1900 years? The answer to this question revolves around social conventions.

This is a reflection of a positive stereotype of women being impatient. Although not all are bad, but they do still refer to sex, race, or ethnicity instead of just as an individual. Senator Reid was referring to Hillary Clinton, but he did not directly speak on her. This is why positive stereotypes can still have negative

Stereotypes are particularly influential when decisions are based on qualitative, idiosyncratic dimensions (i.e., interpersonal skill) rather than on quantitative features (i.e., practical skill). Breaking down stereotypes is a formidable undertaking. Stereotyped groups such as women are likely to doubt their abilities based off society norms., which applies a disadvantage. An example of stereotype regeneration is the feminist movement; the movement is redefining their own beliefs about women and changing societies perspective in the process. The movement is constantly receiving backlash, but their work is imperative to leveling the playing field amongst gender equality. Many stereotypes are sexist, racists and homophobic. However,

In today’s society, having the perfect body has been a growing issue for women for a very long time but now, more than ever, women are expected to be skinny but have curves “in all the right places”. This mentality can lead to self-esteem issues as women grow up, even if they are a healthy weight. When women are larger than the size of models that they see on billboards and magazine covers, they think they aren’t pretty enough or not thin enough and this can trigger eating disorders or mental illnesses. All of this is just because most women do not fit into society’s idea of “perfection”. Recently, clothing shops like Debenhams have been introducing “plus-size” mannequins (sizes 16-18) in their advertising campaigns as opposed to the usual

Throughout the years, stereotypes have changed in certain places, while in other locations they still tend to have strong gender roles on women’s participation .Even though in the United States workforce, sports and even professional education have made improvement in places like Haiti, which women are seen by others as just an object (Hermsen and Vanneman, 2011).

A topic which appears in the news quite often is “Should Women fight on the frontline?” I researched and found people’s views “‘Women not fit enough to fight on the frontline’ says former female army major as US announces historic change of policy.” I researched more and ‘Let women fight on the front line: Defence secretary tells Army to end macho image.” The article written by Steve Nolan and Rosie Taylor states that it is against having women fight on the front line while the second article is mostly for women fighting on the front line but do also have opinions against women on the front line.

In well-known fairy tales the males and females characters are often portrayed in the same light. The male characters are often described as the hero with strong masculine traits while the female characters are portrayed as the damsel in distress. Throughout the years fairytales have been casting the same stereotypes for their characters. In the story Beauty and the Beast the author de beaumont depiction of what an ideal woman is lays in Beauty. She is meant to embody the role of a feminine, humble caretaker, lover, and savior. The author depicts males as provider’s, however, it is clear that the men in the story are dependent on a positive female figure for life. Beauty’s disappearance threatens both her father and beast with death, symbolizing