Premium Essay

The Pros And Cons Of Gender Stereotypes

Submitted By
Words 1498
Pages 6
"New Barbie Ad Features a Fabulous First." An article written by Elizabeth Moore from Newser.com explains the shocking ad released by Mattel's Barbie, a brand that has been advertised at young girls for years. The ad was the first to have a young boy as the star of the commercial. This ad came out in 2015 but represents one of the biggest topics of this century: Gender. How many genders are there? What are genders? Are genders assigned at birth, or should a child grow into it? Many people have individual opinions on what women and men should do and how they should behave. Germaine Greer describes it as, "Masculinity is to maleness as feminist is to femaleness." What is considered masculine and feminine? Are these stereotypes constructed by …show more content…
Many people today strictly blame society for the positions and activities men and women do and perform, but biology should also be factored in.

"Society assigns different roles to the two sexes, surrounding them from birth with an expectation of different behavior." Margaret Mead puts out blatantly how society molds men and women but she doesn't take into thought how biology does a similar type of molding and how they work hand in hand (Mead 700.) A major source of argument about men and women is gentleness and matronliness versus strength and anger. Men are assumed to be keener towards war and are stronger than women both because of social constructs and biological ones. According to a study by researchers at Southwest Missouri State University, men …show more content…
Societally, men shouldn't have feelings and should have opinions, and thus should be stronger both physically and emotionally. Biologically, men are larger and stronger. This stated it does not mean women are any less capable of doing physically-related objectives. Men are biologically stronger, and this is because of the different hormones in the human body and how bodies are made. Women are biologically built to carry children and thus built differently. One supported idea in society today is to make every component of life equal between men and women (Mead 705.) This would be helpful in business, and from an economic standpoint, everyone should support equal pay for equal skill, but in activities such as athletics, it is not plausible. As previously stated, men and women are built differently, men often being stronger and larger. If physically oriented activities were equal between the sexes, it would put women at an even greater disadvantage in most scenarios; even though the goal or objective has been at the same height for women as it has for men, it does not take into consideration the accessibility of the goal or

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Stereotypes

...Introduction In today’s society we encounter many differences in the people around us. Whether based on culture, gender, ethnicity, or age these factors all have some stereotypes attached to them. In our paper, we will discuss stereotyping, both thoughtful and non-thoughtful. We will also address stereotyping in an organization. Our society can be split up into many various groups by gender, race, or even by traits. The world consists of both men and women, blacks and whites, Democrats and Republicans, all who live their own distinct way of life. “Stereotypes are qualities perceived to be associated with particular groups or categories of people (Schneider, 2005).” We stereotype other people all the time because of gender, race, color, and we usually do not even realize it. Stereotypes are so widespread and used so often that they seem to be a natural behavior for human beings. The purpose of this paper is to give a clear explanation on stereotyping. We will evaluate the cognitive (thoughtful/non-thoughtful) approach that suggest putting people into categories is necessary in the thought process that surely sets the presidents of stereotyping. In the last 20 years our society has experienced in explosion of research and theories in stereotyping. Most information has been learned from using the difference between relatively non-thoughtful and relatively thoughtful thinking processes (Weegner, Clark, & Petty). The present research shows both thoughtful and non-thoughtful thinking...

Words: 2054 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Co Ed Schools Are Better Than Single

...Attending Co-Ed Schools Is Better Than Attending Single-Sex School Attending a single-sex school is not as beneficial as some educators claim. Both types of schools have their own social benefits as well as negative social aspects. However, it is evidently of more social benefits to attend a co-education school than to attend a single-sex school. The co-education schools play a major role in ensuring that social harmony between both genders is maintained. It does this through several ways. Firstly, the co-education type of schools helps students in developing vital life-skills. Some educators argue that single-sex schools are better because they give students a sense of confidence, which might be true to some extent. However, it is very important to understand that this kind of confidence is short-lived and of wrongly timed. The co-education system depicts a complete social setting and thus, students from the co-education schools stand a greater chance of learning how to solve their social problems like cross-gender intimidation and gender stereotypes, once they are out of school. This is the type of confidence that the students need. the co-education schools also have learnt how to behave in the presence of the opposite sex, how to relate at work, forming friendships as well as how to communicate in an acceptable manner. Secondly, student diversity is highly hindered in the single-sex schools. Those educators who argue in favor of the single-sex schools by claiming that this...

Words: 327 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Diversity

...PENSACOLA STATE COLLEGE COURSE: MANAGIIGING DIVERSITY SEMESTER: SUMMER, 2015 INSTRUCTOR: MOLLIE ANDRAE Q 1. Which dimensions of business case for diversity are the most persuasive? Why? No matter which definition you put on work diversity, most organization if not all are acknowledging the importance of making diversity a business consideration. “Our work place is changing and diversity is no longer the exception, it is the norm now. It is good for business and when we achieve unity in diversity, everyone wins”. (Lativin, D.). Changes in the workplace are the result of various shifts in U.S. demographics. Among these are the country’s racial and ethnic makeup. People of color have reached over 100 million, according the U.S. Census Bureau. The dimensions of business case for diversity may vary from organization to organization depending on their priorities but the case for business diversity is somewhat the same across the board. The demographic shift creating a new customer base and workforce is not the only reason to implement diversity initiatives within a company’s business strategy. Increased globalization, improved financial results and employee retention are all part of a growing business case for diversity. To me, one of the most persuasive case for diversity is winning the competition for talent. The United States is the most diverse country in the world and no wonder is so economically successful and world super power as compared to other developed nations...

Words: 1244 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

The Benefits of Mixed Schools

...If so: mixed schools provide diversity, and a chance to mingle with both genders equally. It helps with maturity and more widespread friendships. Disadvantages, it's been said that grades and overall study quality declines in mixed schools. It's a pretty equal tradeoff. They learn when they are young to treat each other with respect and consideration. If not exposed to this environment there are some disadvantages. A male only school has a Homosexuality rate of 63% more than a public school open to all genders with a 14% rating. The Benefits of Mixed Schools Some evidence has suggested that boys in mixed schools performed better academically, as they are encouraged not to 'mess around' by their more responsible female classmates - but obviously this is a generalisation and might prove different in specific schools and even in particular classrooms. Some proponents of mixed schools claim these schools have a better atmosphere, since they are neither too 'bitchy', as can occur when a group of girls are working and studying together, not too aggressive, which can occur when boys are exclusively working and studying together. 1 There are less ‘sink’ groups in schools. 2 Different teaching styles are opened up, moving away from didactic methods. 3 There is potentially less negative labelling of students. 4 Teachers have contact with a wide range of students. 5 This form of teaching makes for diagnostic teaching. 6 Troublesome students are ‘diluted’ through the...

Words: 1495 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

School Dress Codes Cons

...There are many codes in the world but one code hits close to home. The well-known dreaded code that most of the world has experienced in schools. Styles come and go, and with each mind comes a passionate fashion sense, mostly of the female student body, so it has become highly noticeably that high school policies have become stricter towards the feminine majority compared to the masculine counterpart. Some schools go as far as assigning uniforms, which completely disrespect the personality or gender of that student. Enforced by stereotypes, stigmas, and sexualization, dress codes have stripped the youth of the world their own creation towards clothing since the 90s and continue to do so in force. Articles such as “The problem with Dress Codes” by Meg Besaw publish by the Odyssey Acknowledges the hardships of clothing and how girls who shop for themselves are always trying to buy clothes that adhere to the policies of their local school. Besaw stated that “Clothes don’t always stay that way you bought them.” Although you may buy clothes that fit the standard of the code, there is always the possibility over time it gets ruined, stretched, or created to something more to their taste or sense of style. Therefore, it is never sure that all clothing will stay inside the restrictive bounds of what a school expects....

Words: 652 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Designing a Research Question

...Designing a Research Question Name: Institution: Women and Technology For a long time, women have lagged behind in regarding employment, business, and even technology. The stereotype that women should remain at home to tend to the family is a discriminatory ideology that has left women in the poverty pit for a long time. In the wake of the twenty-first century, there have been numerous campaigns aimed at uplifting the role of women in economic development, women empowerment being one of the most successful (Rajender, 2013). Unlike the past years where leadership positions circled among members of the male gender, women are slowly emerging as equal contenders for the seats, with similar competitiveness and contribution to matters of growth. Also, the fields of engineering, medicine that seemed to discriminate against women now include females in the round tables. This study aims at assessing the tremendous strides made by the society and lobby groups into the realization of women’s participation in technological developments such as communication, software development, electronics and even agriculture (Foust-Cummings, Sabattini, and Carter, 2008). So as to collect a diverse set of opinions and reactions from the general public, the qualitative study will employ two primary data collection methods. Individual interviews, of some of the most notable women in the field of technology, will provide first-hand information and...

Words: 351 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Diminishing Values of Reality Television

...Diminishing Values of Reality Television Karen Christy ENG122: English Composition II Sara Esquivia May 5th, 2012 Reality television has set low standards for ourselves and our youth in society today, such as glorifying being sixteen and pregnant, how real housewives in the "city" act, and having toddlers look too grown up for their ages. There are still some good values in some programs but there seem to be more diminishing values in reality television shows. Reality television has distorted reality for our children in this society. The show Jersey Shore has little positive values in its episodes. The positive values that are portrayed for teens and young adults to pick up on are loyalty and family importance. Then we have the diminishing values of Jersey Shore. In the show you have a group of young adults who show no regard for caring about what they do to the insides of their bodies. Jersey Shore shows the group binge drinking, which leads to making out with complete strangers and then bringing random people back to the home. Jersey Shore has no talks on the show about using condoms, the different types of birth control out there, or the risks of catching a sexual transmitted disease. The girls run around on the show wearing almost next to nothing and calling it clothing, and the whole group portray sexual activity is no big deal. When teenagers and young adults see this they believe this as being okay for them to repeat. This is not the message we...

Words: 2465 - Pages: 10

Free Essay

Gender Selection

...Human Gender Selecting Jessica McIntosh Medical Office Management Dr. Bridget Kelly Bryant & Stratton ABSTRACT This paper aims to provide a concise review of the ethical issues that are commonly raised in the debate between non-medical sex selection and natural selection. Background information on sex selection technologies is provided, as is a description of the process regarding the medical procedure. Arguments for and against gender selection will be explained and compared and conclusions will be drawn. Included will be the pros and cons of gender selection. Finally, the views of people I know as well as my own. Aside from cases in which it is used to prevent an inherited disease more likely to strike one gender than the other, should parents be permitted to use technology that selects the gender of their children? One of the first pieces of information that parents receive about a newborn baby is its gender. The widespread use of ultrasound technology during pregnancy even allows many parents to find out whether their baby is male or female before it is born. In recent years, technology has enabled parents to go one step further. They can now, with a good chance of success, take steps to select the gender of their children. While gender selection is legal in the U.S., it has generated some controversy among the medical advisory groups that tackle questions of bioethics. For instance, although the sperm-separation method is widely endorsed for families...

Words: 1806 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Miss Emily

...about? Why did you choose this topic? Based on your topic, what are the main issues you will explore? What is the thesis (or the tentative thesis) of your final paper? Who are you interviewing for your paper? Why? What are your other sources? (Remember that there should be at least two sources in addition to your interview.) What do you intend to prove with this paper? What, in your view, is the relevance of your topic? I am going to write about being Asian and more specifically being Chinese in a particular part of the United States in the 21st century. I will explore the perception that some non-Chinese people have of Chinese people in the US and also explore the pros and cons, in terms of public perception, of being Chinese. I chose this topic because this would be a good study of stereotypes, as well as a venue to express the truth about my identity. The ttentative thesis of my final paper is to find the truth about my identity, it includes three parts, the first part is the perception that some non-Chinese people have of Chinese people in the...

Words: 2287 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Discrimination in the Worforce

...society still need Affirmative Action and why isn't Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) sufficient to prevent workplace discrimination? The articles will take a look at affirmative action in admissions to public colleges, and the workforce, as well as why even with federal, state, and local anti-discrimination laws that protect people against sexual harassment and discrimination on the basis of age, disability, race, sex, marital status, pregnancy, breastfeeding, family responsibilities, sexual preference, medical record, criminal record, trade union activity, political opinion, social origin, religion, and nationality or ethnic origin, workplace discrimination still occurs in today's society. This paper will also look into potential pros and cons of diversity management. Keywords: equal employment opportunity, affirmative action, discrimination, diversity In order to see why we still need Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity in our society today, I believe we need to look back at why we needed them in the first place. The term "affirmative action" was first introduced by President Kennedy in 1961 as a means to addressing discrimination that had persisted despite civil rights laws and constitutional guarantees (Brunner & Rowen, 2007). It was designed to be a temporary remedy to level the playing field for blacks and other minorities on education and jobs. The thought was affirmative action would end once a level playing field existed for all Americans....

Words: 890 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Prostitution and Sexual Deviance

...first consider the fact that we do not have common definitions for many of the situations involved in this topic. For example, everyone does not define rape, consent, prostitution, or ‘sex work’ in the same way. These are not well defined or uniform in description across the whole of society. Furthermore, what is sexually deviant (as with any deviance) is dependent on the norms within a particular culture, segment of society, or context. The fact that much of this topic is subjective and there are many grey areas makes it difficult to take an unbiased or concrete stance on the issue. There are so many factors intertwined in the debate that I find myself going back and forth between what I think may be best for this “issue” and seeing pros and cons to legalization/de-criminalization (for one example). We can take many sociological perspectives and use many theories when considering why people may enter into prostitution. Similarly we can think sociologically about the construction of deviance around prostitution and why we look at it and the people involved in certain ways. I think the latter is a large part of where one’s stance on the topic is derived from – the understanding of why it is deviant, “wrong” or “bad”, and how our treatment further affects the people involved. Typically, in our society, prostitution is viewed as wrong and most definitely deviant from our norms. There is a hierarchy of prostitution that further dictates the way the people involved are viewed and...

Words: 1122 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Dana Hall Case Study

...MGMT 701 Case Study: Dana Hall: Funding a Mission (A) Henry Durant, founder of Wellesley College in 1870 believed “young girls were ill prepared to take advantage of the academic experiences offered”1. An all-girls preparatory, Dana Hall, was born out of a vision and generosity2. Dana Hall developmental timeline1: * 1881: Opened under the leadership of the Eastman sisters who retired in 1899. * 1899 -1951: The school was bought and was under the directorship of Helen Temple Cooke; she shaped * Dana Hall into a well-known and widely respected academic institution firmly committed to its mission as a girls’ boarding school. * 1955: Cooke died; However she had owned an association of four schools: Tenarce (Coed K-6), Pine Manor Junior College ( 2 year post-secondary), Dana Hall (Boarding School for girls 10-12 and Dana Junior (Boarders 8-9) * 1971: Dana Hall was restructured and now served both the boarders and day students 9-12 Founded on vision and generosity the school did not seek contributions and by the mid-eighties started having financial difficulties and more or less was just managing its operational budget1. Along with the financial challenges the school had both internal and external challenges: there was the issue of leadership retention: three headmistress in four years which resulted in de-stabilization and created rifts among faculty, administration and the board of trustees1. There was also substantial shrinkage in the applicant pool;...

Words: 1090 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Same-Sex Marriage

...Same Sex Marriage Recently the discussion of same sex marriage has been a hot topic in both the political and religious arenas. This controversial issue has caused many citizens to take a solid stance on same sex marriages based on his or her morals, beliefs, and viewpoints. Popular reasons that citizens considered when deciding their stance are civil rights, religion, parenting, and financial matters. This paper will break down the pros and cons of each of the reasons listed and attempt to come to a conclusion of should same sex marriages be legalized in the state of Californians. Civil Rights The Constitution of the United States was written in 1776, which during that time there were no gender specifications noted pertaining to the recognition of a legal marriage. Same sex marriage debate is so large that in 1996, President Bill Clinton signed for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which clarified that marriage is between a man and woman. The main reason gay and lesbian couples are fighting hard to legalize same sex marriage is so those couples will be allowed to and benefit from the same government, financial, and legal stances as heterosexuals marriages. Several states allow partnerships or civil union for same sex couples, however, they are denied certain rights given to heterosexual couples (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2013). Because of the growing debate of same sex marriages, President Obama administration said that it would no longer defend...

Words: 2509 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Human Resources

...institutionalize a diversity management program Diversity Management and Affirmative Action Programs Diversity Pros | Diversity cons | * Stereotyping – eg. ‘Older people cannot work hard’ - Stereotyping is a process in which someone ascribes specific behavioral traits to individuals based on their apparent membership in a group. | * Bring Ideas – knowledge and life experiences to provide a pool of new ideas | * Discrimination - Discrimination means taking specific actions toward or against the person based on the person’s group. | * Social Responsibility – hiring physically disabled show a CSR | * Tokenism – appoint small groups for high-profile positions. - Tokenism occurs when a company appoints a small group of women or minorities to high-profile positions, rather than more aggressively seeking full representation for that group. | * Source of human resources – talented people come from wide variety of background | * Ethnocentrism – look at other social group less favourable than one’s own - Ethnocentrism is the tendency to view members of other social groups less favorably than one’s own. | * Adequate manpower for public holidays – Malaysian context: multiracial cater diff public holidays. | * Gender-role stereotypes – to associate women with certain non-managerial jobs - Working women also confront gender-role stereotypes, the tendency to associate women with certain (frequently non-managerial) jobs. | * Marketing Strategy – hire...

Words: 1382 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Analyzing a Major Issue

...Issue Justin Francis Professor Nelson Psy110 2/5/2015 If you consider affirmative action for its intentional purposes than Affirmative Action is very just, its purpose being to equalize the education and economic gap between minorities and whites. Although it is not a perfect method to achieving equality in this country, it is essential to accept it for why it’s been put into place and that it is all part of a process. Of course affirmative action is far from perfect and has a fair deal of problems, like promoting reverse discrimination while backing up negative stereotypes. I researched all of these aspects while pondering the question “is affirmative action still needed in today’s society?” In this paper I will be explaining what affirmative action is.The history behind affirmative action like how it all unfolded, who made it, and the history as to why it is in effect now. I will also list some pros and cons of affirmative action, how the United States could better affirmative action for the future and finally a conclusion, which is my opinion on the topic. But what exactly is affirmative action? Born of the civil rights movement three decades ago, affirmative action calls for minorities and women to be given special consideration in employment and education acceptance decisions. Universities with affirmative action policies generally set goals to increase diversity. Affirmative action decisions are generally not supposed to be based on quotas, nor are they supposed to...

Words: 2008 - Pages: 9