Gender Stereotypes Research Paper Example

In the past few decades, most people have been told that something is specifically for boys or for girls. Gender stereotyping or inequality has been around for thousands of years, in many different forms. Many countries still believe that men should act strong, competitive, and show little to no emotion, while females should stay quiet and sit pretty. However countries around the world have been working to slowly erase gender stereotypes, because gender stereotypes are views of the general population that incorrectly generalize what men and women like and how they are supposed to act, because of a continued persistence of conscious and unconscious biases starting over a thousand years ago. 

Gender stereotypes, despite being recognized as an incorrect generalization, are lessons taught to children as they grow up that negatively impact the rest of their lives. According to Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, “Gender stereotypes distort our views of both ourselves and others—and that may be especially troubling for women, since buying into those stereotypes could be creating a bleak self-image that is setting them back professionally.”(Gerdeman, par 9). When children are taught from a young age that they are supposed to act a certain way, whether it be boys or girls, it can leave a lasting impression on the confidence they have later in life. Dina Gerdeman explained how many women in the workplace don’t have the confidence to speak up for themselves, and struggle to move forward professionally. Alia E. Dastagir, of USA Today, explains that even if children are taught that the social norms are wrong, “The problem is they go back to their homes where they're given messages from their parents that are contradictory. They go to the schools where they're given messages from their teachers that are contradictory. They look at the media — it's a whole system out there that's transmitting these inequitable norms, and so we have to think of it more on that level."(Dastagir, par 12). Despite the world doing its best to bring gender stereotypes to awareness, it’s obvious that these problems have become deeply rooted, unconscious biases since childhood. 

In recent years, gender stereotyping has become much more present in people’s minds, as an increasingly negative concept. According to the OHCHR, “A gender stereotype is a generalized view or preconception about attributes or characteristics, or the roles that are or ought to be possessed by, or performed by, women and men.”(OHCHR, Par 1.) Some of these roles or ideas include colors, clothing, toys, and activities that are more masculine or feminine. Many clothing in stores these days include cropped tops, short dresses and shorts, and skimpy clothing for girls, and large amounts of baggy clothing with cars, or video games on them in male clothing sections. Similarly, many toy stores will label sections for either boys or girls, the girls section tends to be items like dolls and dress up, while the boys’ section could include items like footballs, drones, and Legos. The drastic difference between items has caused a metaphorical rift between male and female children, as one cannot play with the other without being criticized. 

While gender stereotyping has taken on a negative form over the last few decades, it wasn’t always a negative construct. According to Joy Nash, “Gender roles are social constructs developed over time and are not based on natural human behavior. This is because gender roles evolved as a way to organize the necessary tasks done in early human society.”(Nash, Par 1). Gender roles started off as a way to keep societies alive, by assigning jobs to people who had shown to be more successful in a certain area; however in time it changed to a form of discrimination. Kelly Kasulis, from the Boston Globe, explains that “In China, gender inequality may have its seeds in the Bronze Age more than 2,500 years ago, according to a recent study from Queens College in New York City.” (Kasulis, par 1). The change of words from gender roles, to gender inequality is meaningful, as Kasulis goes on to explain the differences in treatment between males and females post-mortem. Many males had been buried with more valuable items, and when tests on their bones came back, it gave evidence that somewhere between the Neolithic Age and the Bronze Age women switched to only eating crops like wheat, a food during that time period labeled as “a poor man's food,” while men continued to eat meat. This is believed to be the shift between using gender roles as a productive means to survive, to discrimination. 

Gender stereotypes are defined as views of the general population that incorrectly generalize what males and females enjoy and how they are supposed to act, because of a continued persistence of conscious and unconscious biases from thousands of years ago. They cause negative impacts on people throughout their entire lives by destroying the self confidence of those who don’t fit into a stereotypical role. However the world has been working to bring awareness that the roles we place on each other have negative consequences. These consequences include depression, higher suicide rates, harmful biases against co-workers, etc. Creating healthier mindsets that allow adults and children alike to be more accepting of everyone around them, is one of many ways that can help further the destruction of these noxious stereotypes.