Why And How Gender Stereotypes

From gender roles, we, the people of society, are able to determine whether someone identifies as a male or a female. Both biological and social factors tend to determine what gender roles a person takes on. However, there are also gender stereotypes, which are “the fixed and oversimplified beliefs about the ways in which men and women ought to behave” (Rathus, 2010). Often times, gender stereotypes are related back to the traditional beliefs of when women were responsible for staying home and being the caregivers and men were responsible for going out to work and bringing home the food, supplies, and money that the family needed (Rathus, 2010).

The gender of a person is the masculine or feminine attributes of that individual with respect to the psychological and biological role in society. (Magar, 2009) A gender role can be defined as the way that a person lives in society with respect to its lifestyle. It can be argued that over time the major differences between men and women’s gender roles have faded. In the past traditional roles have been based in their society by their biological orientation. (Magar, 2009) Gender roles can also be described as the behavior and attitudes that are expected of men and women in a society. (Faqs.org, 2011) Although different cultures impose different expectations, many cultures have the same basic gender roles.

Gender roles have played a major part in society. According to the book “The Psyche of Feminism” “A gender role is a theoretical construct in the social sciences that refers to a set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate

Living in 21st century United States, being a much more liberal and inclusive environment than prior decades, gender “roles” and their normalities are being severely questioned and challenged. Americans have defined and established gender stereotypes that have become a critical part of how we look at gender roles and create biases about each gender. Stereotypes assume people who 'belong ' to a group will appear, behave, look, speak or sound like others from that group. The values, norms, practices, behaviors and traditions associated with the group are shared by all members of the group. For example, gay men are promiscuous, women are maternal and men don 't show emotions. Stereotypes are often dismissive, negative, and they are sometimes

Secondly, humans have the same genetic makeup yet in different cultures/societies gender roles vary indicating greatly that these roles are socially constructed. Lastly, Bandura’s Social Learning Theory is the main driving force for gender roles being socially constructed, as gender roles are learnt from one another. Gender roles are usually constructed through the application of the two sex qualities, masculinity and femininity (masculinity being the qualities associated with men and femininity being the qualities associated with women). These two sex qualities are usually taught to children directly and indirectly through family, friends and other members of society. One direct way masculinity and femininity are taught to children is through schooling.

Gender is a social construct that consists of a set of social arrangements that are built around sex. Gender roles are sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one’s status as a male or female. According to Lorber, Gender is a social institution because these gender roles are being changed over time. Moreover, she defines gender roles as process of creating distinguishable social statuses for the assignment of rights and responsibilities. As a process, gender creates the social differences that define "woman" and "man." In social interaction throughout their lives, individuals learn what is expected, see what is expected, act and react in expected ways, and thus simultaneously construct and maintain the gender order. In this paper, I will discuss how the article untiled “"Night to His Day": The Social Construction of Gender helps clarify how gender roles is a social constitution.

Stereotypes have an impact in the modern age and throughout history. It defines society and establishes many things including one’s way of life and personal reputations. They are introduced at birth through social interaction. As a result, gender roles become predominant, but also vulnerable to rebellion as people desire a change in their lives. However, a transition can be seen in gender roles as it approaches the modern day.

Throughout history, humans have always been expected to act a certain way depending on their sex. These societal expectations are called gender roles. (Rathus, 2010, p.447). These roles begin to develop even before a child is even out of the womb. A mother may decorate their nursery pink if they are having a daughter because “girls like pink,” and “boys like blue.” Gender roles should not be confused with gender stereotypes. A gender stereotype is a narrow way of thinking about how men and woman are obligated to behave. For example, men have always been considered to be the breadwinners of the family. Females, on the other hand, are seen more as the gentle homemakers that stay home to clean and take care of the children. (Rathus, 2010, p.447). These types of stereotypes have caused certain out-of-the-home jobs to be mainly categorized for either women or men, causing an even more distinct line between the genders.

Gender roles have caused rage throughout the nation in the ongoing struggle for equality. This battle of the sexes has been going on for many years, decades, and even centuries. Motherly instincts gave women a label of weakness, and in some aspects, this is true. This is all dependent on perspective though. Women are labeled as ‘emotional train wrecks’. However, females’ increased expression of emotion compared to the majority of males is not proof of weakness. This emotional difference is due to differing hormonal levels, natural mindset, and their methods of comprehending emotions.

During school years, I wasn't like "other girls". No I'm not going to tell you about how I was different or I fell in love with the popular kid and he didn't even know I existed. I was just the girl who never got into the phase of make up. I was never dressed up in cute dresses, or was remotely interested in "girly toys" (other than Polly Pockets, I mean who didn't love those adorable mini rubber barbies?!). I woke up five minutes before the bus would come to my stop, throw on my sweatshirt and take my hair out of my braid and run. I never worried about getting up an hour early to make sure I had my make up on point (not that there is anything wrong with that at all, it's just not what I did). I was always told by the girls I went to school with about how lucky I was to not have to wake up early to get ready for school. I always thought that was kind of weird though since they were all cute enough to do the same thing I did. I didn't think they needed to go through the trouble.

Gender roles have built the foundation of society in a negative way. There are many sources and reasons to prove the harmful impact it has left on the world today. For instance, it has restricted people’s ambition as well as pursuit of achieving greatness. Gender roles have created a barrier for both genders trapping them from achieving what they aim for. Many people in modern society have dreams and ambitious pursuits, but are held back by the obstacle of gender roles and expectations. Hence, many movements and changes have been created to lighten the negative impact gender role has on the people of today’s world. Historically, gender roles have been a way of keeping order in past societies, but that is not the case today.

An Annotated Bibliography for The Main Cause In Negative Gender Stereotypes and Traditional Gender Roles:

Everyone has heard the occasional generic, sexist, joke, but these jokes and phrases may be more harmful than they seem. Gender roles influence the way people see the world, everything from parenting roles to places in the workforce are affected by how the public perceives gender. This is why those simple ‘jokes’ are so problematic. They are symptomatic of the toxic way the world sees gender. Gender roles affect men and women which leaves no one at the winning side, and at this point in history, no one at fault. Teenagers are developing in this harsh world and one of the many things that negatively influence teens are gender roles. They see how their mothers and fathers act towards each other and emulate these behaviors. Gender roles and stereotypes are incredibly damaging to today 's teenagers.

According to the theory of social roles, gender stereotypes arise as a consequence of the existence of gender roles - social expectations, prescribing a person a certain behavior depending on his gender. In other words, watching how representatives of different genders deal with different things, people conclude that they are fundamentally different from each other. At the same time, gender stereotypes are the mechanism for maintaining gender roles: beliefs about the unique qualities and distinctive features of a particular gender are used to justify the need to behave in accordance with the appropriate gender role. The United Nations considers this problem global and encourages States to modify existing gender model, preserving a system of unequal values and double standards. In terms of gender mainstreaming, gender-based discrimination and gender inequality are the major problems in the labor market, which leave their mark on the development of individual regions and the country

How women are perceived by others, and how women perceive themselves, impacts their leadership roles in the work place. Stereotypes and gender biases are themes women have been dealing with for centuries. How women are perceived by social medial and television have been influencing how they are treated by men, and how they view themselves when it comes to taking a leadership role in their organization. According to Omega Institute (2012), “The rapidly shifting landscape of new media and technology, including reality television and celebrity culture, continue to reinforce gender stereotypes” (p. 1). This leads to men still growing up viewing women as home makers versus bread winner. With more women entering leadership roles in the work place they lack the respect from men due to how these men have grown up to know the typical role of a man and woman. Men tend to feel belittled due to the gender stereotypes seen on television, and this leads to women struggling to succeed as a leader with the lack of support from their male counterparts. Lack of confidence with women in the workplace is also influenced and effected by how women are perceived in social media and television. According to Steele (2005), “Exposure to stereotypic commercials persuade women to avoid leadership roles” (p. 276). As young women grow up seeing the typical gender stereotypes they lack ambitions to break the mold and