2 years, 2 months ago-
Gender Stereotypes and Their Impact on Women’s Career
Gender stereotypes are like a force that drives our society and controls everything in it. Each and every individual’s actions and words depend largely on the status that he or she has in the society and this status is given to him or her by the society through these gender stereotypes. Hence, we know the importance that people give to gender stereotypes in general. They have no logic or base but are believed to be true and practical by people. Gender stereotypes in our society are misogynistic to a great extent, impacting largely on women’s careers.
Firstly, women have to choose their career keeping in mind these gender stereotypes. They have to give it a thought at least a million times and ask themselves whether their family will support their decisions or not. They have to think over it and evaluate whether the society will accept them as whoever they want to be and as whoever they want to work as. They have to mull over the pros and cons over and over to come to a conclusion. They do all this only to hear from people around them, “What will people say?”
Secondly, women have to then see the consequences of working where she chooses to; whether her colleagues would accept her the way she is or not, whether her male colleagues would be decent enough to not misbehave with her, whether her boss would consider her capable enough to promote her working well or will they prefer her male counterparts over her, whether she would be able to manage working if her in-laws and husband deny the idea of it, etc.
A woman’s life is controlled by not the woman herself, but by each and every person around her. She is judged and people make assumptions about her without even knowing her back story. This is what a woman’s life is in a misogynistic society like ours. If people think, mind you, if people just ‘think’ that she is careless and characterless because she is wearing a shirt in which her bra-strap shows, then she is declared characterless in the society. She is then deprived of any and every opportunity in her life. She cannot take her own decisions. She cannot even live her life on her own terms. Hence, gender stereotypes definitely impact a woman’s career negatively.
A woman myself,
Shubhangini ShaktawatGender Stereotype is still their between men and women but society and media always make the highlight of gender stereotypes more towards women and it also affect her self – confidence due to which it will impact on her career. In some Family women are asked to choose their career by keeping in mind that society shouldn’t thing that they want to do jobs like men, why?. Their is no such specific job according to gender and they should not make any comparison between men and women for choosing their career. Before women aren’t getting support for education but in today’s generation their are some people who start supporting women for her education and their are also people who constantly create problems or make comparisons between men and women which may kill her self-confidence. Due to which women has to face consequences in her work. At workplace their are many people who make gender stereotypes during work because their are men who can’t take women achievement so they try to make comparisons with men in between their work and it will lead to lose her focus on work due to overthinking and giving stress to her mind. Women should not get affect from such people rather than she should show her talent and make her mindset to focus on her work. In villages also people don’t support women for their career. They always make gender stereotypes towards women and don’t allow women to do job like men because of their mindset for women that men can go outside do job and women can’t even get opportunity or chance to take step towards career. Society should support women instead of making gender stereotypes towards women. They should see both men and women in equal way with giving them equal opportunity for career and by not making comparison between men and women will help them to focus on their career.
Gender stereotypes have a huge impact on the careers of women, which can prove to be helpful or harmful. Men are made to believe that they are more likely to get high positions and earn more money if compared to women while women are made to believe that they should only be worried about home and family matters. Gender stereotypes are also responsible for making women think that they will not find equal opportunities for growth with men in their careers. People also have other’s perceptions in their minds about what a woman should be like and that is why people are often considered to be stereotyped. There are many types of stereotypes spread all over the globe based on gender, but some of them are common which include women being weak, notwithstanding, sensitive and emotional.
Throughout the world, women are working in their way to achieving their goals. Some of these women have created new paths where they were not earlier. Some others have set examples for people to follow. Hence, all females need to remember that gender is a force that guides them through themselves and forces them to accept or reject certain things. We all know that it is a general fact that we want to conform to the expectations of society. We want to be respected by society; we want our opinions and beliefs to count for something in society because we are deeply aware of the role that society plays in all of our lives.
The issue of gender stereotypes and their negative impact on women’s careers is a highly debatable topic. There are many aspects involved in it and it can be discussed from a large spectrum of topics and angles to find out the true nature of the problem. Furthermore, most of us do not realize that how much we have been part of this problem. When we think of gender stereotypes, the first image that pops up in our minds would be men and women are on different sides of the power gradient. Women are considered subordinate to men. They are supposed to repress and subdue their desires for rights, freedom, justice, equality, etc.
Life is difficult for a woman in a society that suppresses women. A lot of stereotypes prevail and are even instilled into the minds of boys almost as soon as they learn how to talk. The impact these have on women is immense. Women earn significantly less money than men, hold lower positions, are segregated from men, bear more children and on top of it, all face domestic violence from incompetent society members. A society that is so bound by traditions and stereotypical gender roles where a person’s life is decided in a blink of an eye just because of what they are wearing. A society where a woman needs to hide her bra straps and needs to keep herself covered to be considered decent. A society that shames a woman for everything from what she is wearing, how she laughs, or even what she says in public.
Gender stereotypes still exist and are propagated via the media, and social, educational, and leisure society, which promotes gender bias and discrimination. This study claims that modern management culture does not interact critically with the social theories in gender studies, which could contribute to the development of a gender-neutral positive management perspective. The study analyses numerous aspects of gender stereotyping and their impact on the progressions of women’s careers from a management perspective that covers crucial gender studies theories. Over the years, many sexual obstacles and prejudices have diminished, yet gender preconceptions continue to cause issues in women’s career progression. Gender sterstereotypes that impact management behavior, and occupational perspectives at work with patriarchal expectations continue to adversely affect the availability of possibilities for women’s growth in their careers. In senior management roles worldwide there are just 29% of women. This demonstrates an increase of 31.7 percent over the previous years from an average gender gap. Despite numerous policies to improve equality between men and women in recent decades, there has been continued discrimination based on sex stereotypes. In several circumstances, stereotyping is developed to help the functions that such contexts require. Stereotypes reflecting different cognitive and motivational processes serve several purposes. Despite equal opportunity in employment, gender stereotyping remains. Though there have been improvements, more and more women have been employed as a manager. Whatever the status of women within an organization, the influence of sex stereotyping is obvious to women. In managing or leading jobs, however, is more significant. For instance, Schein (1973, 1975) has established that successful leaders have common qualities related to men, such as men’s leadership capacity, competitiveness, self-confidence, objectivity, aggression, strength, ambitiousness, and desire for liability.
Therefore, it is the right time that these gender stereotypes should be attacked and the workplaces are made more gender sensitive.Gender stereotypes have been in our society like a disease that infects everyone, especially women. It is a persisting notion that women aren’t capable to work outside their homes and are only made for household chores. With the persisting gender stereotypes, women are affected the most whether it’s at their homes or at workplaces. They are not treated as equals, they have to struggle more than men to reach a deserving place, they have to compromise and kill their dreams, they have to tolerate people’s remarks either on their clothes or on their personality. The workplace is filled with people who target women and don’t give them equal respect and opportunities. A woman is not included in important decision making and she is often ignored when it comes to giving leadership to a woman. She is considered “too emotional and sensitive” for hard work. She is required to work in a tactful environment where her opinions do not matter. In her career, a woman has to go through every hurdle to make an impact. Why do people make it so difficult for women to achieve something she is highly deserving of? It is due to gender stereotypes and the illogical notions that people have associated with women. Unless we all work together it will keep on affecting a woman’s life whether personal or professional. Though it is a relief that the world is changing for the better, now there is awareness in the society about gender stereotypes and men and women are cooperating to make this world a place that believes in equality and empowerment of both genders uniformly.
All the valid points have been raised above beautifully and I would like to present my views on gender stereotypes too
So to begin with let’s start with what the term actually means, a generalized view or perception towards a man or women is known as stereotyping basically. Stereotypes set by a society denote a negative approach towards minorities, women and suppressed classes of Indian society in particular. Gender stereotypes encourage and promote the biased attitude towards women who have always been considered inferior.
A certain behaviour has been approved which is to be followed according to the gender one falls in, and those who do not conform to the gender stereotypes are discriminated, treated unfairly.
These outdated stereotypes do affect the career of women adversely as there are still many decisions which a women can not take by herself independently cause of the societal fear of being not accepted by people. While choosing career there are still terms such as women’s job and men’s job which clearly reflects the distinction made between genders on basis of sex.Gender stereotyping is something that has been prevailing in our world since forever. It has adverse effects for both men and women. But somehow the degree of impact for women is more than men. Gender setreotypes has been existing around us since childhood when boys were encouraged to act manly, be active and sporty while girls were told to act in gentle and ‘ladylike’ behaviour. It is there at the home, where women work is still limited to the household chores and looking after her family. It is there at the workplaces where they are constantly underpaid and not given much heed. It is there when men are ridiculed for earning less than their wives. It is there when women are harassed at each and every step of their lives. The discrimination we are taught at home, when taken outside, makes it a global problem. Men at workplaces often engage in unsolicited behaviour towards women, that we commonly refer to as ‘sexual harassment’.
Prejudiced treatment at the time of hiring, getting paid less than a male employee who does the same job, being denied a promotion, pay raise or training opportunity are some of the common issues that women face at work , making them believe that the most suitable place for them or the place where they belong is their ‘home’. Gender stereotypes makes it hard for a woman to follow her passion and dreams. It snatches away her confidence which is one of the core asset for being successful in life.
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