Gender stereotype is a universally believed assumption regarding the roles and traits appertaining to men and women. Women are commonly portrayed as sentimental, compassionate, and caring. Men are commonly characterized as being strong, career-focused, and reasonable. These assumptions may be unfavorable or appear to be harmless. Stereotyping, however, is limiting in all forms. Gender stereotypes are a product of regional customs and culture.
The authors suspected that gender stereotyping might have changed over time due to factors that studies found earlier. Studies have found that there were changes in women’s positions in society. Some of the changes included an increase of women in the workforce, representation in sports, and many of them enrolling in courses in medical schools, which was not a thing of the past (Haines et al., 2016). The opportunities and roles for women seemed to broaden, and these changed people’s beliefs on how they perceive women, including their qualities and positions, which made the authors suspect there might be changes in stereotypes of women. On the other hand, authors suspected there might be no changes in men stereotypes because studies had found a lower representation of men in female domains such as participation in housework and the number of registered men nurses. The lack of changes in the male roles and involvement in female disciplines signals that men stereotypes might not have changed over time.
From the study, the authors found that gender stereotypes have not changed over time regarding traits, physical characteristics, social roles, and even occupations. On traits, the authors found that the gender traits differences remained consistent in 2014 with the findings of 1983. Women were rated to express communal traits more than men, while men were regarded to have more agentic traits than women showing that traits stereotyped in men and women did not change over time (Haines et al., 2016). Regarding social roles, the authors found an increased stereotyping of female roles. The increase was a result of decreased variability in men performing female-based roles. There was no change in social roles, and the roles of men and women remained different in both studies. However, both genders performed the financial role behavior equally in 2014. There was no change in stereotyping concerning physical characteristics. Characteristics remained distinct, showing there were no changes. The study found that the occupations of men were different from those of women, and therefore stereotyping remained consistent. Thus, from the findings, the authors did not see any changes in gender stereotypes over time.
The authors think that gender stereotypes are pervasive in our society. They recommend that those in workplaces remove the gendered cues that they give off since they might prevent or discourage men or women from participating in a particular field and affect the productivity of those who are already in. They also think that advertisements and therapy should be aware of how gender stereotypes can affect the ambitions and goals of an individual (Haines et al., 2016). The authors conclude that all parties would benefit from being aware of fundamental stereotypes’ persistence and remaining vigilant about their potential influence.
Reference
Haines, E. L., Deaux, K., & Lofaro, N. (2016). The Times They Are a-Changing … or Are They Not? A Comparison of Gender Stereotypes, 1983–2014. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 40(3), 353–363. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684316634081
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