Men And Women

After watching television and flipping though ads and articles in several magazines, the stereotyping of men and women is so apparent but at the same time society is so blind to it. In society parents teach their children gender role at a very early age. Gender role refers to the attitudes, behavior, and activities that are socially defined as appropriate for each sex learned through the socialization process (Lips, 1993). Males are traditionally expected to show aggressiveness and toughness, and females are expected to be passive and nurturing. For example, little girls play with baby dolls and play "house" and little boys play with toy guns and play "cops and robbers."

Mass media are powerful factors that influence society's beliefs, attitudes, and the values they have of themselves and others as well as the world. If a male is seen in media doing "feminine" things, such as shopping or cleaning he is seen as weak, and women who are seen doing "masculine" things such as car repair and management positions she is seen as callous and cruel. Even though media still pretends that men and women in society are equal, it isn't the case. Women are still seen as homemakers and men are still seen as professional, successful and independent.

After watching an hour of television, several commercials and some programs, women are seen in makeup and all personal hygiene commercials, even male products feature women. The message here is that if a male shaves with our products lots of women will want to kiss him. Women are seen in all cleaning, cooking and child care product commercials. Looking good, cleaning the house, cooking the food and changing babies are all only for the woman to worry about. Men are in most of the commercials about financial matters – Business matters, debt consolidating, mortgages and car commercials. Major purchases, business relations and financial problems are to be handled by men.

Why are women so underrepresented in industry and business? Clearly it is because of the double standard that society holds women to. Females are forced to adopt the "masculine" administration practices of proficiency and boldness. However, women who do this have been rated as less proficient and sufficient. Studies have demonstrated that women who exhibit these qualities are discriminated against. These negative reactions are more specifically those of males because they feel intimidated by it. The effect of this extra stress is so extreme that women are held out of nearly all corporate management positions (Fox). So, a woman must change her personality to one more feminine and submissive in order to become more profitable and desirable in the corporate job market. This is a result of the distinctions between genders created by society.

Another example of gender stereotyping is sports coverage. Woman who participate in sports, especially sports that are considered inappropriate for women, are often