Women’s empowerment is a topic very close to
my heart so even though this is not the month of March, I still chose this
topic because this will give me an opportunity to persuade people and bring
forward some ideas.
What is gender stereotyping and what is the
basis of it?
Simply
put, gender stereotyping is the generalization of expected behavior based on
one’s gender by letting your brain make a “snap judgment” based on immediately
visible characteristics. The idea of “traditional roles” is a debatable thing
but that plays a huge part in the human society where women are assumed to take
care of home, childcare and family and men are depicted as workers and wage
earners. Some people believe that there is a biological reason behind
traditional roles. With men, the stronger of the two taking up the role of the
protector and women, with maternal instincts being the nurturer.
What causes this?
Human society is a funny place. We try to
make people fit in existing buckets. From the time we make a baby boy wear an
onesie saying “smart as daddy” and give a baby girl an onesie saying “pretty as
mommy” we are actually starting them on the road of gender stereotyping by telling
them what they should try to become. Same thing continues with pink and
glittery princess stuff for girls and monster trucks, Legos and science
experiment kits for boys. Discouragement comes from the family too. When Debbie
Sterling, the founder of GoldieBlox told her mom that she wanted to become an
engineer, her mom said, “ewww…why?” There is also a belief that smart girls
can’t catch good husbands. Society would be more comfortable around you if you
follow traditional roles.
A lack of role models also contributes to
this factor. Without someone to look up to, it becomes even more difficult for young
people to confidently choose an unconventional profession.
Then when does it get bad?
It gets bad when the snap judgment you
allowed your brain to make becomes a bias. “Assumptions” are the killer. These
assumptions lead to notions that men are better at math, men are more
technical, and women are softer by nature. If you don’t fit into these
descriptions, there is a high chance of people judging you. These cause
unpleasant situations at home and also at workplaces. When people give up their
uniqueness and lose their potentials just to fit in to the society, we actually
lose talents. Have you ever wondered what would have happened to the twice
Nobel Prize winner if Dr. Curie decided to give up Physics to look after her
daughters? She would end up frustrated and the world would have lost a talented
scientist.
What are the effects?
The first example I will bring up is the
women at work one. As women are supposed to have a more “domestic” inclination,
there are a huge number of women who drop out from the work force after they
have kids. Most of them say that it is by choice. While I appreciate the fact
that they are making their own choices I still wonder if it is truly her
choice. Let’s see some facts that can affect this decision –
She might take this decision based off
pre-conceived ideas that she is the nurturer and being a mother is the sole
purpose of being born as a woman.
She possibly gets paid much less than that of
her husband.
She might have a workplace that is not very
flexible in accommodating many needs a new mother has. Including flexible
hours, part time work, a mother’s room, etc.
Her husband/partner may not be very
supportive. Maybe he has preconceived ideas that he needs to be the wage earner
and she can just be the dependent being. Or he never helps with the household
chores. She can’t manage both and of course she can’t give up the baby, so she
gives up her job.
When there is a clash between the spouses’
jobs, in most cases the wife gives up her career. I know many girls who had
jobs in India, but after getting married to men who are settled in the US, they
gave up their jobs and came here to become stay at home wives.
How can we fix this?
First realize that we are all biased. Yes, I
am too. I don’t think I can paint a baby boy’s nursery in pink. Even though, I
must give you this piece of information that originally pink was for boys and
blue for girls. Red is supposed to be a very masculine color as it depicts war,
and pink being a watered down shade of it, was meant for boys. Blue, on the
other hand is Mother Mary’s color. So it was for girls. How they got swapped, I
don’t know!
Think before you say. Casual remarks like –
“women are bad drivers” or “don’t run like a girl” can be extremely hurtful
too.
The less we can judge, the better. In most
cases, we don’t have enough information to judge someone with. Just because I
didn’t take my husband’s last name doesn’t make me less devoted to the family.
If a girl wears a lot of makeup, don’t assume that she hates her looks; she
might just try that out of fun. If a woman doesn’t want to have kids, it
doesn’t make her a selfish being. It is ok to let people be.
Encourage people to actually be themselves.
It is ok for a boy to not like Call of Duty and it is totally normal for a girl
to be a geek. That does not make them weird. It just makes them special.
This world is such a nice place because of
the variety. I would hate it to become dull and mundane. Let’s cherish our
uniqueness and let’s all be happy.
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