6.2 Stereotypes and Gender Roles

Our understanding of gender begins very early in life, often before we are born. In Western cultures, expecting parents are asked whether they have a girl or a boy, and judgments are made immediately about the child. Boys will be active and presents will be blue, while girls will be delicate and presents will be pink. In some Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, a male child is valued more favorably than a female child (Matsumoto & Juang, 2013), and female fetuses may be aborted or female infants abandoned.

Children, by their first birthday, already distinguish faces by gender, and between 3 and 6 years of age, children develop strong and rigid gender stereotypes. Gender stereotyping involves overgeneralizing the attitudes, traits, or behavior patterns of women or men. Stereotypes can refer to play (e.g., boys play with trucks, and girls play with dolls), traits (e.g., boys are strong, and girls like to cry), and occupations (e.g., men are doctors and women are nurses). These stereotypes stay rigid until children reach about age 8 or 9. Then, they develop cognitive abilities that allow them to be more flexible in thinking about others.

Many of our gender stereotypes are strong because we emphasize gender so much in culture (Bigler & Liben, 2007). For example, children learn at a young age that there are distinct expectations for boys and girls. Gender roles refer to the roles or behaviors learned by a person as appropriate to their gender and are determined by the dominant cultural norms. Cross-cultural studies reveal that children are aware of gender roles by age two or three and can label others’ gender and sort objects into gender categories. At four or five, most children are firmly entrenched in culturally appropriate gender roles (Kane, 1996). When children do not conform to the appropriate gender role for their culture, they may face negative sanctions such as being criticized, bullied, marginalized, or rejected by their peers. A girl who wishes to take karate classes instead of dance lessons may be called a “tomboy” and face difficulty gaining acceptance from male and female peer groups (Ready, 2001). Boys, especially, are subject to intense ridicule for gender nonconformity (Coltrane & Adams, 2008; Kimmel, 2000).

By the time we are adults, our gender roles are a stable part of our personalities, and we usually hold many gender stereotypes. Men tend to outnumber women in law enforcement, the military, and politics. Women tend to outnumber men in care-related occupations such as child care, health care, and social work. These occupational roles are typical Western male and female behavior derived from our culture’s traditions. Adherence to these occupational gender roles demonstrates the fulfillment of social expectations but may not necessarily reflect personal preference (Diamond, 2002).

Gender stereotypes are not unique to American culture. Williams and Best (1982) conducted several cross-cultural explorations of gender stereotypes using data collected from 30 cultures. There was a high degree of agreement on stereotypes across all cultures, leading the researchers to conclude that gender stereotypes may be universal. Additional research found that males tend to be associated with stronger and more active characteristics than females (Best, 2001); however, recent research argues that culture shapes how some gender stereotypes are perceived. Researchers found that individualistic traits were viewed across cultures as more masculine; however, collectivist cultures rated masculine traits as collectivist and not individualist (Cuddy et al., 2015). These findings support the idea that cultural values may moderate gender stereotypes.

Gender Differences

Differences between males and females can be based on (a) actual gender differences (i.e., men and women are different in some abilities), (b) gender roles (i.e., differences in how men and women are supposed to act), or (c) gender stereotypes (i.e., differences in who we think men and women are). Sometimes, gender stereotypes and gender roles reflect actual gender differences, but sometimes they do not.

Regarding language and language skills, girls develop language skills earlier and know more words than boys; however, this does not translate into long-term differences. Girls are more likely than boys to offer praise, agree with the person they’re talking to, and elaborate on the other person’s comments. Boys, in contrast, are more likely than girls to assert their opinions and offer criticisms (Leaper & Smith, 2004). Regarding temperament, boys are slightly less able to suppress inappropriate responses and more likely to blurt things out than girls (Else-Quest et al., 2006).

Gender Acculturation Agents

Regardless of theory, observing, organization, and learning about gender occur through four major agents of socialization: family, education, peers, and media. Each agent reinforces gender roles by creating and maintaining normative expectations for gender-specific behavior. Exposure also occurs through secondary agents such as religion and the workplace.

Family

Family is the first agent of socialization and enculturation. There is considerable evidence that parents socialize sons and daughters differently. A meta-analysis of research from the United States and Canada found that parents most frequently treated sons and daughters differently by encouraging gender-stereotypical activities (Lytton & Romney, 1991). Fathers, more than mothers, are particularly likely to encourage gender-stereotypical play, especially in sons. Parents also talk to their children differently based on stereotypes. For example, parents talk about numbers and counting twice as often with sons as with daughters (Chang, Sandhofer, & Brown, 2011) and speak to sons in more detail about science than with daughters. Parents are much more likely to discuss emotions with their daughters than their sons.

Girls may be asked to fold laundry, cook meals, or perform duties that require neatness and care. It has been found that fathers are firmer in their expectations for gender conformity than are mothers, and their expectations are stronger for sons than they are for daughters (Kimmel, 2000). This is true in many activities, including preference for toys, play styles, discipline, chores, and personal achievements. As a result, boys tend to be particularly attuned to their father’s disapproval when engaging in an activity that might be considered feminine, like dancing or singing (Coltrane and Adams, 2008).

It should be noted that parental socialization and normative expectations vary along lines of social class, race, and ethnicity. Research in the United States has shown that African American families, for instance, are more likely than Caucasians to model an egalitarian role structure for their children (Staples and Boulin Johnson, 2004). Even when parents set gender equality as a goal, there may be underlying indications of inequality. For example, when dividing up household chores, boys may be asked to take out the garbage, take care of the yard or perform other tasks that require strength or toughness.

Peers

As noted earlier, peer socialization can also serve to reinforce the gender norms of a culture. Children learn at a very young age that there are different expectations for boys and girls. When children do not conform to the appropriate gender role, they may experience negative consequences like criticism, bullying, or rejection by their peers. Boys and young men are more likely to experience intense, negative peer responses when they do not follow traditional gender norms (Coltrane and Adams, 2008; Kimmel, 2000).

Education

The reinforcement of gender roles and stereotypes continues once a child reaches school age. Studies suggest that gender socialization still occurs in schools today, perhaps in less obvious forms (Lips, 2004). Teachers may not even realize that they are acting in ways that reproduce gender-differentiated behavior patterns, but any time students are asked to arrange their seats or line up according to gender, teachers are reinforcing that boys and girls should be treated differently (Thorne, 1993). Even in levels as low as kindergarten, schools subtly convey messages to girls indicating that they are less intelligent or less important than boys.

For example, in a study involving teacher responses to male and female students, data indicated that teachers praised male students far more than female students. Additionally, teachers interrupted girls more and provided boys with more opportunities to expand on their ideas (Sadker & Sadker, 1994). Schools often reinforce the polarization of gender by positioning girls and boys in competitive arrangements, like a “battle of the sexes” competition.

Media

In television and movies, women tend to have less significant roles and are often portrayed as wives or mothers. When women are given a lead role, they are often one of two extremes: a wholesome, saint-like figure or a malevolent, hypersexual figure (Etaugh and Bridges, 2003). Weisbuch and Ambady (2009) demonstrated that nonverbal behavior on television can communicate culturally shared attitudes and biases about women and ideal body images. Television commercials and other forms of advertising also reinforce inequality and gender-based stereotypes. Women are almost exclusively present in ads promoting cooking, cleaning, or childcare-related products (Davis, 1993). Think about the last time you saw a man star in a dishwasher or laundry detergent commercial. In general, women are underrepresented in roles that involve leadership, intelligence, or emotional stability. In mainstream advertising, however, themes intermingling violence and sexuality are quite common (Kilbourne, 2000).

Gender inequality is pervasive in children’s movies (Smith, 2008). Research indicates that of the 101 top-grossing children’s movies released between 1990 and 2005, three out of four (75%) characters were male, and only seven (7%) were nearly gender balanced.

Gender Schema Theory

Two major psychological theories partially explain how children form their gender roles after they learn to differentiate based on gender. Gender schema theory argues that children are active learners who essentially socialize themselves and actively organize others’ behavior, activities, and attributes into gender categories known as schemas. These schemas then affect what children notice and remember later. People of all ages are more likely to remember schema-consistent behaviors and attributes than schema-inconsistent ones. For example, people are more likely to remember men and forget women who are firefighters, playing in the gender schema that states that men are firefighters. They also misremember schema-inconsistent information. If research participants are shown pictures of someone standing at the stove, they are more likely to remember the person to be cooking if depicted as a woman and the person to be repairing the stove if depicted as a man. By only remembering schema-consistent information, gender schemas strengthen more and more over time.

Social Learning Theory

A second theory that attempts to explain the formation of gender roles in children is social learning theory, which argues that gender roles are learned through reinforcement, punishment, and modeling. Children are rewarded and reinforced for behaving in accordance with gender roles and punished for breaking gender roles. In addition, social learning theory argues that children learn many of their gender roles by modeling the behavior of adults and older children and developing ideas about what behaviors are appropriate for each gender. Social learning theory has less support than gender schema theory, but research shows that parents do reinforce gender-appropriate play and often reinforce cultural gender norms.

Concerning aggression, boys exhibit higher rates of unprovoked physical aggression than girls, but no difference in provoked aggression (Hyde, 2005). Some of the most significant differences involve the play styles of children. Boys frequently play organized rough-and-tumble games in large groups, while girls often play less physical activities in smaller groups (Maccoby, 1998). There are also differences in the rates of depression, with girls much more likely than boys to be depressed after puberty. After puberty, girls are also more likely to be unhappy with their bodies than boys.

There is considerable variability between individual males and females. Also, even when there are average group differences, most of these differences are relatively small. This means knowing someone’s gender does not help much in predicting his or her actual traits. For example, boys are considered more active than girls in activity level. However, 42% of girls are more active than the average boy (but so are 50% of boys).

Furthermore, many gender differences do not reflect innate differences but instead reflect differences in specific experiences and socialization. For example, one presumed gender difference is that boys show better spatial abilities than girls. However, Tzuriel and Egozi (2010) allowed girls to practice their spatial skills (by imagining a line drawing was different shapes). They discovered that, with practice, this gender difference completely disappeared.

Many domains we assume differ across genders are based on gender stereotypes and not actual differences. Based on large meta-analyses, the analyses of thousands of studies across more than one million people, research has shown that girls are not more fearful, shy, or scared of new things than boys; boys are not more angry than girls, and girls are not more emotional than boys; boys do not perform better at math than girls; and girls are not more talkative than boys (Hyde, 2005).

Cultural Influences on Gender Roles

Hofstede’s (2001) research revealed that on the Masculinity and Femininity dimension (MAS), cultures with high masculinity reported distinct gender roles and moralistic views of sexuality and encouraged passive roles for women. Additionally, these cultures discourage premarital sex for women but have no such restrictions for men. The cultures with the highest masculinity scores were Japan, Italy, Austria, and Venezuela. Cultures low in masculinity (high femininity) had gender roles that were more likely to overlap and encouraged more active roles for women. Sex before marriage was seen as acceptable for both women and men in these cultures. The four countries scoring lowest in masculinity were Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, and Sweden. The United States is slightly more masculine than feminine in this dimension; however, these aspects of high masculinity are balanced by a need for individuality.

Gender roles are well-established social constructions that may change from culture to culture and over time. For example, there has been an increase in children’s toys attempting to cater to both genders (such as LEGOS® marketed to girls) rather than catering to traditional stereotypes. As society’s gender roles and gender restrictions continue to fluctuate, the legal system and the structure of American society, as well as other cultures, will continue to change and adjust.

Transgender Identity

As was mentioned in the previous module, generally, our psychological sense of being male and female, as well as gender identity, corresponds to our biological sex. This is known as cisgender. However, this is not true for everyone. Transgender individuals’ gender identities do not correspond with their birth sex. Transgender males assigned females at birth have a strong emotional and psychological connection to the forms of masculinity in their society that they identify their gender as male. A parallel connection to femininity exists for transgender females. Because gender is so deeply ingrained culturally, it is difficult to determine the prevalence of transgenderism in society.

I’ve lived as a man & a woman — here’s what I learned | Paula Stone Williams (YouTube)

Transgender and gender nonconforming people (TGNC) who wish to alter their bodies through medical interventions such as surgery and hormonal therapy so that their physical being is better aligned with their gender identity are called transsexuals. Not all transgender individuals choose to alter their bodies. Many will maintain their original anatomy but may present themselves to society as the opposite gender.

There is no precise accounting of the global demographics of transgender people, mainly because there have not yet been population studies that take into account the range of gender identity and gender expression (APA 2024). The table below shows approximate counts based on existing estimates with a worldwide average of 3% of people identifying as transgender, gender fluid, or non-binary (Ipsos 2023).

Share of people identifying as transgender, gender fluid, non-binary, or other ways worldwide as of 2023, by country.

There is no single, conclusive explanation for why people are transgender. Some hypotheses suggest biological factors, such as genetics or prenatal hormone levels, and social and cultural factors, such as childhood and adulthood experiences. Most experts believe these factors contribute to a person’s gender identity (American Psychological Association, 2008).

Unfortunately, transgender and transsexual individuals frequently experience discrimination based on their gender identity and are twice as likely to experience assault or discrimination as non-transgender individuals. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs reports a consistent rise in reports of homicides of transgender and gender non-conforming people, and that they are also one and a half times more likely to experience intimidation and be the victim of violent crime (2017).

According to the Trans Murder Monitoring Group (TMM), a total of 350 trans and non-binary people were killed between October 1 2023 and September 30, 2024.  93% of the reported murders were of Black or Brown trans people, and 73% of all reported murders were committed in Latin America and the Caribbean. Murders in the US increased from 31 to 41 in the last year. These numbers are likely higher since many cases are unreported or individuals are misgendered. In the previous ten years,  a total of 3043  people were killed across 74 countries.

Organizations such as the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs and Global Action for Trans Equality work to prevent, respond to, and end all types of violence against transgender, transsexual, and homosexual individuals. These organizations hope that by educating the public about gender identity and empowering transgender and transsexual individuals, this violence will end.

Gender Stratification and Inequity

Stratification refers to a system in which groups of people experience unequal access to basic yet highly valuable social resources. The United States is characterized by gender stratification (as well as stratification of race, income, occupation, and the like). Evidence of gender stratification is especially keen within the economic realm. Despite making up nearly half (49.8 percent) of payroll employment, men vastly outnumber women in authoritative, influential, and, therefore, high-earning jobs (U.S. Census Bureau 2010). Even when a woman’s employment status equals a man’s, she generally makes only 77 cents for every dollar her male counterpart makes (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Women in the paid labor force still do most of the unpaid work at home. On an average day, 84 percent of women (compared to 67 percent of men) spend time doing household management activities (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). This double duty keeps working women subordinate in the family structure (Hochschild & Machung, 1989).

Gender stratification through the division of labor is not exclusive to the United States. According to George Murdock’s classic work, Outline of World Cultures (1954), all societies classify work by gender. When a pattern appears in all societies, it is called a cultural universal. While assigning work by gender is universal, its specifics are not. The same task is not assigned to either men or women worldwide. However, the way each task’s associated gender is valued is notable. In Murdock’s examination of the division of labor among 324 societies worldwide, he found that in nearly all cases, the jobs assigned to men were given greater prestige (Murdock & White, 1969). Even if the job types were similar and slightly different, men’s work was still considered more vital.

There is a long history of gender stratification in the United States. Looking at the past, it appears that society has made great strides in abolishing some of the most blatant forms of gender inequality. However, the underlying effects of male dominance still permeate many aspects of society.

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