Running head: GENDER STEREOTYPING

Causes of Gender Stereotyping, Gender Socialization and its Effect on Society

Explained through Approaches in Sociology
Gian Daniele T. Caguiat
University of the Philippines Manila

GENDER STEREOTYPING

A man might say that women arent meant for combat. Girls should just play
around with dolls instead of toy guns, while women might say that men do nothing but
watch sports, and that boys are just expected to play with toy trucks and action figures.
Expressions like these represent gender stereotypes, which are over-generalizations
about the characteristics of an entire group based on gender. The difference between
sex and gender according to Mary Holmes (2007) in her book What is Gender?:
Sociological Approaches, is that Ann Oakley and others used the term gender in order
to portray the social distinction between men and womens traists more than their
biological differences or sex in the 1970s. She also added that men and womens actions,
excluding sexually distinct functions may subject to change depending on various
cultural factors.
Women have been able to serve in the military in recent times and they are just
as capable as the men. Many men watch sports but that is not exactly true for everybody.
Pink floral patterns are not exactly exclusive only for women to wear. The point is that the
society does not think of people as neutral, but instead always as either man or woman
and from there, decide how to talk, respond or react towards that person. That is what
gender stereotyping is.
Holmes (2007) asserts that the society upholds the belief that men and womens
behavior and attributes are both unique and similar at the same time. This belief is also
known as gender-role stereotyping. The Pocket Oxford Dictionary defines the word
stereotype as a person or thing seeming to conform to a heavily accepted type.
Basically, gender stereotyping happens when a person makes generalizations and
assumptions about gender qualities or traits, distinctions, and roles of individuals even
without evidence to support their claim.

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For example, based from Helgensons study in 2001, the construct of gender
ideology emphasizes the distinctive roles of women and men which may be classified
into three kinds. First is the traditional gender ideology which preserves the idea of men
going to work for a living and the women to remain housewives. Second is known as the
egalitarian gender ideology which divides the power or decision-making equally
between the man and woman. Finally, the transitional ideology which permits women to
also spend their time working outside, but should focus more on the household and vice
versa for the men (Helgenson, 2001).
These gender ideologies or stereotypic roles are defined by Amy Blackstone (2003)
in her book Gender Roles and Society as what the society expects of individuals or
groups with respect to their gender and the societys ethical and moral beliefs about
gender. Gender roles are the end result of the relationship or interaction between the
people and their environments. These direct and condition the peoples minds into
deciding whether an act or attribute is appropriate to ones sex. What is considered as
gender appropriate may vary depending on different societies, social groups, cultures
and traditions or beliefs (Blackstone, 2003).
As Jennifer Kretchmar quoted in her essay on gender socializations, these are the
processes

through

which

individuals

take

on

gendered

qualities

and

characteristicsand learn what their society expects of them as males or females

(Kretchmar, 2005). This socialization process in which children learn these gender roles
begin from the day they were born. Today, our society even associates color to specific
genders. Female infants are dressed pink and male infants are dressed in blue. As a
matter of fact, it was not until the 1940s that this kind of color association was decided

GENDER STEREOTYPING
by retailers

and manufacturers. Paoletti cites

4
the

June

1918 issue

of trade

publication Earnshaws Infants Department:, The generally accepted rule is pink for the
boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger
color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier
for the girl." (Paoletti, 2012). Not only with color but also with this, we could notice how
these gender associations are really just socially constructed.
Gender stereotypes are not only instigated from color associations but also
through a lot of elements in the childrens environment. In the research conducted by
Tsao (2009), she asserts that childrens books and literature expose the children to gender
stereotypes since they encounter these at the time when they are learning and putting
together ideas from the information they have gathered through their senses, associating
new ideas to previous ones. Childrens literature shape a childs way of thinking by
providing situations, models and symbols with which they could follow, compare and
consider their own decisions, feelings or beliefs. The elements that the children encounter
in these books allow them to take a peek at the world and guide them to someday look
at reality in their own perspectives (Tsao, 2009).
In 2001, Crespi noted that The way we are, behave and think is the final product
of socialisation. Since the moment we are born, we are being moulded into the being
the society wants us to be.
Based on Kretchmars research on gender socialization (2005), gender
socialization may occur through four major agents: family, education, peer groups and
mass media.

GENDER STEREOTYPING

In 1955, according to Talcott Parsons and Robert Bales, two sociologists, in their
book entitled Family, Socialization and Interaction Process, gender roles are practiced
because of its function to support the economy. They had defined functionalism as a
framework that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote
solidarity and stability (Parsons, 1955). Parsons represented classical or traditional
sociology by dividing family gender roles into two: instrumental roles for the men and
expressive roles for the women.
Customarily, it is the womens stereotypical role to marry, have children, stay in the
household and be the one in charge of nurturing the family. They are often associated
with the idea of being caring, gentle, loving and compassionate. On the other hand,
men are considered as the breadwinners of the family. They are the ones who provide
financial support and are expected to be independent, aggressive, assertive and
courageous.
With these information about the differences between the characteristics and
traits of men and women, the Functionalist perspective implies that it is only appropriate
for the women to stay home and care for the children because it is what is ideal for them
to be raised in a gentle, caring and loving manner. If we think about it, it would not be
idyllic for children to be raised by someone who is thought to be as aggressive, impulsive,
and dominatingall of which are traits associated by our society to characteristics of the
men.

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Upon entering school, girls perform equal to or better than boys on nearly every
measure of achievement, but by the time they graduate high school or college, they
have fallen behind. "Sitting in the same classroom, reading the same textbook, listening
to the same teacher, boys and girls receive very different educations. (Sadker, 1994).
According to national statistics, 20 years ago there was no great difference
between the attainment of boys and girls in examinations. In recent years, however,
evidence shows that while both boys and girls have improved their performance, girls
are achieving higher grades than boys. They outperform boys in examinations at all levels
and in virtually all subjects - even those traditionally considered to be male preserves such
as physical education, maths and physics.
A peer group is a social group whose members share the same interests, age and
social positions. This is where children learn things on their own without supervision of the
parents and with the help of their friends. The influence of the peer group usually reaches
its peak during adolescence. However, the influence of most peer groups is short term
unlike the family which poses long term influence.
Among peers, the children attain some sort of freedom in expressing their thoughts,
it is a sort of escape from authority figures that the family and school impose. That is why
peer groups can have a major impact to a persons gender socialization especially for
children and adolescents.
Amanda Rose from the Department of Psychological Sciences in the University of
Missouri wrote in her research in 2006, By six years of age, a sex difference favoring boys
emerges in the tendency to play in large groups. Boys ranging from preschool to

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adolescence also are more likely to have dense social networks and well-defined
dominance hierarchies. (Rose, 2006).
When children and adolescents do not conform to what society thinks as the
appropriate gender role, they are put in a high risk of being criticized or frowned upon
by their peers. For example, a boy who takes ballet classes instead of playing baseball
might be labelled as girly or maybe even gay. A girl who chooses to wear baggy
clothes and go skateboarding instead of hanging out in the mall in frilly pink dresses might
face difficulty in gaining acceptance from her peers.
Beside from our parents, teachers and peers, the media also conveys ideas about
what behavior or decision is appropriate according to gender. For example, research
has shown that childrens books are beginning to portray boys and girls in nonstereotypical ways.
Although, many of the gender-stereotyped books are still available in shelves of
libraries and shops. These classic books tend to portray girls in traditionally genderappropriate ways doing household chores, for example while showing boys engaging
in a wider variety of activities. They also show girls holding household cooking and
cleaning objects, while they are more likely to show boys using outdoor tools or building
things.
In the early to mid1800s, the work of Karl Marx formed the initial statements of
the Conflict theory. Marx predicted that capitalism would create conditions that would
lead the economy to fall. (Coser, 1913). The conflict theory asserts that problems in the
society happen when dominant groups mistreat subordinate one, and thus advocates
for a balance of power between genders.

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In the conflict theory, men is the social group that has the power over political
and economic power. Through this, social change occured along with stuff like the
Womens

Suffrage

historically inevitability and necessity of

Movement.

Conflict theories deny the

the traditional division of labor between

men

and women. The arrangement may have been more functional in non-industrialized
societies where physical strength was required by many tasks (Holmes, 2007).
For example in the Unites States, the Paycheck Fairness Act, an extension of the
1963 Equal Pay Act was voted down in the Senate by Republicans in April 2014. What
exactly is the gender pay gap in the first place? Simply put, its the hard reality that
women, within the United States and around the world, earn only a portion of what men
earn for doing the same jobs.
The feminist theory aims to improve the position of women in the society by
understanding their position. Feminism is defined by Jane Freedman in her book
Concepts in the Social Sciences: Feminism as a theory that men and women should be
equal politically, economically and socially (Freedman, 2001).
In the publication An Argument for Black Womens Liberation as a Revolutionary
Force, Mary Ann Weathers discloses that working-class women of color exemplify the
concept of intersectionality. It states there that women of color faced a worse kind of
discrimination than white women because women of color had did not only have to deal
with sexism but also fight against class oppression and racism.
In the early to mid1800s, the work of Karl Marx formed the initial statements of
the Conflict theory. Marx predicted that capitalism would create conditions that would
lead the economy to fall. (Coser, 1913). The conflict theory asserts that problems in the

GENDER STEREOTYPING

society happen when dominant groups mistreat subordinate one, and thus advocates
for a balance of power between genders.
Michael Carter defines symbolic interactionism as a micro-level theoretical
framework and perspective in sociology that addresses how society is created and
maintained through repeated interactions among individuals (Carter, 2015). He also
added that this perspective emerged in the mid-twentieth century from a variety of
influences and that the emergence of symbolic interactionism was a response to the
mainstream perspectives on society that dominated sociology at the time e.g. Talcot
Parsons structural functionalism. Interactionism understands social processes as
emerging from human interaction.
An example of a situation with which we could observe the symbolic
interactionism is when you walk into a bank hoping to get a loan for a car. When you
meet with a male loan officer, you might state your case logically, enumerating and
listing all the numbers you earn in order to make sure that you seem like a qualified
applicant for the loan. This type of approach is considered as appropriate since the
characteristics are associated with masculinity e.g assertiveness and independence. On
the other hand if you met with a female loan officer you might make an emotional
approach by declaring your positive and ideal social intentions. This type of appeal is
appropriate since females are known to be sensitive and are associated with
compassion and understanding.
Now that we have become aware of the reasons and origins of these so-called
gender roles and stereotypes, it is also important that we know of the harms that these
negative gender stereotypes bring.

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10

People in our community nowadays are very quick to judge and stereotype, may
it be in school, the workplace, public places and even social media. Most of the time
these judgements are based on what they see, the visual representation of yourself and
from that alone, they make claims and assertions even with the lack of definite or
supported information.
Stereotypes are oversimplified assumptions of people based on socially
constructed norms and beliefs. These negative judgements and expectations hinder an
individuals ability to reach ones full potential by limiting choices and opportunities.
Cultural attitudes and gender ideologies frequently regard women as
subordinate to men, or dictate that men should control women, the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pilay said when she spoke in the annual day of
discussion dedicated to womens human rights during the 26th session of the Human
Rights Council. These attitudes may be so widely and deeply held within the community
that they are almost invisible except in their effects. For they perpetuate discrimination,
violence and humiliation. She said. As stated in the news article on The harms of gender
stereotyping uploaded in the United Nations Human Rights website, Simone Cusack was
assigned by the UN Human Rights Office to investigate how gender stereotyping
destabilizes the justice for women in the court.
Cusacks study disclosed that gender biases settles the judges objectivity. It also
influences the way that they understand criminal offences and cases. As normal people
it is easy for us to believe that there is justice and fairness in the court, but after the results
of the study, it could make people somehow doubt our citizens safety and realize the
dangers that these gender stereotypes bring.

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11

Females have also been proven to be considerably less contented with their
bodies due to the sex role which states that they must be beautiful in order to attract the
opposite sex, which has a huge significance in their lives for most women. Much of the
study of gender stereotyping had shown the negative effects to females, but all the same
males are hurting as well. They have to live up to the society and their families
expectations. Men are expected to be tough, aggressive and never show their feelings.
They are also taught to reject all thinks that are feminine. The opposition of maleness and
femaleness might make them think that if they try to gain some wanted feminine
characteristics, they will in return lose some of their maleness which is one of the greatest
fears of a sex-stereotyped male.
Our society must learn the significance and the impact of these gender roles and
stereotypes in our community because when we weigh it all down, it would show the
abundance of the negative effects of gender role stereotyping to the society, and little
to no positive impact to the people. It is never too late to alter the situation our society
is in. One possible way to change the way people think may be through triggering
peoples awareness through mass media. Change the way how males and females are
presented on T.V, radio and such materials by presenting men and women as equal, or
maybe going against the norms and gender roles placed upon them. In the end we
would all realize that all of these are just labels, names that are attached to people,
socially constructed by our society and stuck to people since birth. Your name is not you,
and these labels should not be able to define who you are because in the end, you write
your own story and decide who you are as a person.

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References

Blackstone, A., (2003). Gender roles and society. Retrieved from

http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&co
ntext=soc_facpub
Carter, M.J., Fuller, C., (2015). Symbolic interactionism. Retrieved from
http://www.sagepub.net/isa/resources/pdf/Symbolic%20interactionism.pdf
Crespi, I., (2001). Socialization and gender roles within the family: A study on
adolescents and their parents in Great Britain. Milan, Italy: Catholic University of
Milan Press
Crossman, A., (2014, Dec 16). Sociology of gender: Studying the relationship between
gender and society. Retrieved from
Freedman, J., (2001). Concepts in the social science: Feminism. Retrieved from
http://www.mheducation.co.uk/openup/chapters/0335204155.pdf
Helgeson, V.S., (2001). The psychology of gender (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Courier Companies, Inc.
Holmes, M., (2007). What is gender?: Sociological Approaches. Trowbridge, Wiltshire:
The Cromwell Press Ltd.
Kretchmar, J., (2009). Gender socialization. Retrieved from
http://vidaka.home.mruni.eu/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/gendsoci.
http://sociology.about.com/od/Disciplines/a/Sociology-Of-Gender.htm
Parsons, T., Bales, R., (1955). Family, socialization and interaction process. Retrieved from
http://www.csun.edu/~snk1966/T.%20Parsons%20The%20American%20Family.pdf

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Sadker, M., Sadker, D., (1994). Failing at fairness: How Americas school cheat girls.
Retrieved from http://acbrokering.eu/350/failing-at-fairness-how-our-myrasadker-id10081.pdf
Rose, A., (2006). A Review of Sex Differences in Peer Relationship Processes: Potential
Trade-offs for the Emotional and Behavioral Development of Girls and Boys.
Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3160171/
Tsao, Y-L., (2009). Gender issues in young childrens literature. Retrieved from https://fuctge-5245.wikispaces.com/file/view/Tsao.pdf
Weathers, M. A., (1969 Feb). No more fun and games: A journal of female liberation.
Retrieved from https://caringlabor.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/mary-annweathers-an-argument-for-black-womens-liberation-as-a-revolutionary-force/

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