In this article I would like to analyze a common stereotype “ Women are weak by nature”. In many countries people think that women are less strong and tend to be weak than men. According to Williams and Best (1982) studied 30 countries and found high pan cultural agreement on the adjectives used to describe men and women .In all countries, adjectives associated with men were rated as being stronger and more active. Participants from Japan and South African rated male characteristics as more favorable; Italy and Peru rated female characteristics more favorable. Gender stereotypes imprison humans in the “fact” that every person should either act as man or woman, disregarding completely those who identify as neither or both. Most Common Gender Stereotypes.
There are four basic examples of gender stereotypes:
Personality Traits: Females are supposed to be shy, passive, weak, nurturing, adaptive, agreeable and neurotic . Females are organized and tidy. Males are expected to be active, strong, critical, conscientious, extraverted, open, aggressive, dominant and self-confident. Males are idle and messy.
Family Behaviors: Female are supposed to make a meal and do housework. Females are better at raising children. Stay-at-home mothers are better than working
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Gender roles are defined by behaviors, but gender stereotypes are beliefs and attitudes about masculinity and femininity. The concepts of gender role and gender stereotype tend to be related. When people associate a pattern of behavior with either females or males, they may overlook individual variations and exceptions and come to believe that the behavior is inevitably associated with one gender but not the other. Therefore, gender roles furnish the material for gender stereotypes The concepts of male and female are relatively easy for people to understand