In most Western societies, people tend to consider men and women equal. Most people agree that women should have the same rights and opportunities as men. But are men and women genuinely equal? Unfortunately, that’s not the case at all. Women are severely underrepresented in leadership positions. Only 44 of the Fortune 500 companies are women-led. On average, women globally are paid about 20 percent less than men. So, although men and women are perceived as equal, they are not (yet) treated entirely equally. Why is that?
This is a hard question to answer. There are biological differences between men and women. Women can bear children, for example, whereas men can’t. Next to that, there are a lot of sociological differences between men and women, too. Differences because women and men are raised differently. These societal influences are at the core of the inequality in gender.
Socialization leads to stereotypes of men and women. We get an image in our head of what a man or a woman is supposed to look like. Female stereotypes, for instance, are that women are sweet, kind, and nurturing but also emotional, a little irrational, and cheerful. Whereas male stereotypes could be that men are competitive, intelligent, and independent. Men are strong. They are leaders. Men are analytical and decisive.
Most of these gender stereotypes are not negative. There is nothing wrong with a sweet and nurturing woman. The problem with stereotypes is that most people don’t fit the generalized ideas of men and women. And overall, people tend to dislike those who are different from their gender stereotypes. It makes us uncomfortable if people act differently from how we expect them to act. If we don’t understand it, we tend to dislike it. This means that women have a pretty hard time finding their way into traditionally male-dominated occupations (such as tech) and leadership positions, but at the same time, men have a hard time if they want to work in, for example, childcare.
The first step towards a solution is to become aware of the existing stereotypes and the prejudice that comes with them. We need to be aware that we’re all socialized in a certain way. If people are aware of a woman’s tendency towards modesty because of cultural conditioning, we can break through. We lack strong role models. The more people we see in roles that challenge their gender stereotypes, the more we will get used to it.
Just remember: everybody holds prejudice. It’s totally normal. It’s how we handle these prejudices that make the difference!
This article, Stereotypes and gender inequality, was published at Post Status — the community for WordPress professionals.