We are all born as equal human beings, we all start from the same point zero. That’s until the gender is announced and the shower of blue and toy trucks for boys or the shower of pink and dolls comes at girls. It seems to me that, gender stereotyping is a substantial part of growing up. Some stereotyping messages and gender roles are imposed on young minds by the way the manufacturers and marketers suggest gender-based interests. Those massages are intertwine in our daily lives by the way, media maintain and shape gender specific roles and by the way society is constantly reminding us how men and women should act. The consequences of this environment are less than desired …show more content…
“Promoted very consciously and carefully taught to us throughout our lives, gender roles include the set of socially defined roles and behaviors assigned to the sex assigned to us at birth (Blumenfeld, p1).” They achieve that by bombarding children and young adults with sexist commercials. Here is an example: the husband is presented as a successful businessman, traveling the country, while his wife takes care of the kids and the house. This is only one of many ways media is suggesting what men’s and woman’s roles are. We are coached to act in a certain way and we are coached what to do and what not to do depending on gender. Characteristics of the male role are emphasizing toughness, someone who has it all figured out, and has “all ducks in the row”. While the characteristics of the female role are emphasizing mostly appearance. This is a socially approved model that has been around for decades and media only propels this great gender divide. Women are disadvantaged in many traditionally masculine domains and roles. Just picture CEO vs. assistant position, I’m sure you can guess which job is filled by woman. It does not matter how well educated or hard working she is. In most people’s eyes, and unfortunately quite often in her own eyes, she is just not good enough to get promoted to …show more content…
Women are lead into a path stretching between domestication and beautification. In other words, a woman should pursue a profession of less importance like a hair stylist assistant for example. The man, on the other hand, is destined to have a more important role like CEO or a head engineer. What’s disappointing is the fact that credentials or impeccable work history has nothing to do with one’s acquiring this job position. Kay and Shipman point out this issue in the article titled “The Confidence Gap” and this is what they report: “And yet, as we’ve worked, ever diligent, the men around us have continued to get promoted faster and be paid more. The statistics are well known: at the top, especially, women are nearly absent, and our numbers are barely increasing. Half a century since women first forced open the boardroom doors, our career trajectories still look very different from men’s (Kay, Shipman, p 20).” Evidently no matter what the aspiring women do, work hard or get better education, man still is put on the