Gender stereotype is a widely accepted bias that ascribes specific attributes, characteristics or roles to males and females because of their gender.
Society has expectations of how a woman or a man should act, speak, dress, groom, and conduct themselves. This practice starts in the family which is the smallest unit of society. In most families, gender roles are transmitted to the younger generations from their parents. Some parents model their lifestyles of gender stereotypes to their children, thereby preserving and reinforcing stereotyping in society.
Domestic roles like sweeping, cooking and washing kitchen utensils are assigned to the female child while the male child is made to do heavier tasks. This indirectly conditions the mind of a female child as a weak gender. From this stereotyping, stems the erroneous old saying that ‘the education of a woman ends in the kitchen’.
Similarly, research has it that the distribution of domestic roles has a major impact on the development of children. Most importantly, it affects their professional preferences or career aspirations.
To stamp out this norm in our families, parents and caregivers are advised to use gender-neutral language around children, exhibit fairness and divide house chores equally, teach children, male and female alike to be independent, and fight stereotypes in every social construction.
Speak Wednesday is an initiative of CFHI to address issues around gender-based violence and gender bias.
#SpeakWednesday #GenderStereotype #GenerBias #GenderInequality
