Parenting
Watch Your Words: Gender Stereotyping STORY Kalisha Fitsch Boys will be boys and girls will be girls, right? Gender stereotypes, or gender roles, have been present in our society since the dawn of civilisation. Slowly but surely, the world is becoming more aware of them, whether it’s in terms of tradition, social media or society. But what are they, and is it really such a bad thing?
We’ve come a long way as a society in terms of breaking these barriers down, although there is still room for more improvement. We are seeing more and more roles and careers become socially acceptable for men and women to do. We have more stay at home dads, more male nurses and the number of women in construction and STEM-related jobs are also steadily rising.
What is Gender Stereotyping?
It is pretty widely accepted nowadays that girls can be firefighters and boys can work in childcare, however, gender stereotyping is still very much present although we may not always be aware of it. A lot of it traces all the way back to childhood, including the things we were told and even the toys we were allowed to play with.
Stereotypes are defined as a widely held image or oversimplified idea of a particular type of thing or person (for instance, tall people must be good at basketball or thin people probably don’t eat enough). Gender stereotyping refers to the differences between males and females, and how society has given them meaning and value. These roles are often subconsciously pushed onto us (you’re a girl so you must care about your appearance, or you’re a boy so you must be strong). Stereotypes reinforce a difference between boys and girls instead of viewing them as individuals, and this is what can cause problems.
How it Presents in our Society One of the most common types of gender stereotyping are the ‘roles’ of mum and dad in a family setting. For instance, mum may stay home to do the housework and look after the children while dad is the breadwinner. While this idea on its own isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it plants a seed early in life of how women and men should be.
www.pakmag.com.au | March 2020 13
