If, as we have discussed in the current approach to gender studies "two-dimensional approach" men and women are more alike than different. What is the origin of the differences that persist in most Western countries, and more in underdeveloped countries. Differences that are easily converted into inequalities ?. These differences are the result of the persistence of traditional gender stereotypes that are still in many Western countries and in Spain.
Currently the social progress is so fast that do not evolve in tandem categorizations and generalizations we make about social groups and these same, but the problem is that this dysfunction among its etiquetaciones (stereotypes) and reality are not made readily aware.
Moreover, these stereotypes persist because they are transmitted in the socialization process: during primary socialization, in which the child through family models, seen as the father plays a certain role while the mother are others, at the same while gradually it is incorporated to a reference group or another depending on their sex, thus building their own identity. This initial socialization is continued by the school (secondary socialization), consolidating differences in socialization of men and women who in turn contribute to the maintenance of gender stereotypes.
Thus, membership in one or another sexual category will determine different social realities in interaction with others as well as differences in the identity of individuals, which will determine its future behavior, ie future elections as career , hobbies etc .. and of course the subsequent professional performance, because women assume functions family home maintenance, child care and elderly, tasks that will have to reconcile their work. Hence, if these differences persist it is because women and men internalize automatically your own stereotype.
Gender stereotyping and the persistence of gender differences (inequalities).
In Western countries, the late nineteenth century, the social order was based on the separation of the two areas: public and private, with the consequent separation of genres, so that the world of women was private and man the public. This order could not transgress, only in exceptional cases such as war or extreme situations woman went public sphere, but restored normalcy was detained again in the private sector. In this situation the education of women was neither similar to male. Rousseau had already been commissioned to establish with his "Emilio" and "Eloisa" differences in that each one of them correspond different tasks: the man must face the outside world but the woman corresponded home care and children. Consequently, at this time the female illiteracy was 90% and was not allowed access to public institutions of higher education until 1910, which was when formal barriers disappear, so that women go to college. It is clear that his presence was outstanding, taking into account the illiteracy and the problem that although "disappeared permission to enroll" when subsequently were licensed or doctoraban, they are not allowed to work in their profession.
As we have already indicated the outlook has changed dramatically, the various constitutions of Western countries have enacted equality of women in all fields: education, work, power, etc .., allowing access of women to roles traditionally they held by men only. The massive incorporation of women into the world of education, work etc .., it has resulted in a change in the social structure and beliefs associated with either sex.
But despite all this, there remain differences (inequalities) can observe and analyze the relationship between these inequalities between men and women and the differences between traditional gender stereotypes.
Stereotypes (generalized beliefs about the attributes that characterize a particular social group) on gender have been formed in the past and are transmitted through the socialization process, with little change over this period with structural changes so profound , ie the social situation has changed, but has not made the corresponding stereotype men and women and continue to hold stereotypes corresponding to the nineteenth-century society therefore obsolete, as they do not fulfill their function, which is allow better adapt to reality as they represent the fundamental characteristics of a group.
But there are some features of the stereotypes that still aggravate the problem at hand is strong resistance to change and its effect self-fulfilling, which affect not only the group stereotype: the man (through patriarchal society) if not the stereotyped group: women, which is not only the man but the woman herself who adjusts his behavior to this stereotype, which no longer reflects neither the characteristics, behaviors and beliefs of women, thus helping to maintain the differences.
Consequently, currently in most cases, the differences between men and women do not follow a process of social discrimination, but differentiation of the subjects themselves in terms of priority values and interests will be reflected in the roles men and women choose: in the profession and in the family and in the position they occupy one another within the same organization and enterprise (power and autonomy).
In the explanation of these aspects we will stop now.
A. Gender Stereotyping.
Gender is a construct that refers to the psychosocial characteristics (traits, roles, motivations and behaviors) differentially assigned to men and women in every culture, not to the biological differences between the sexes. Consistent with gender stereotype we refer to the culturally shared beliefs about the psychosocial characteristics that are considered prototypical of these two exclusive categories.
The work on the content of gender stereotypes agree that there are two dimensions:
A female characterized by expressive-communal traits associated with expressiveness, tenderness and high emotionality roles.
Another male roles and traits characterized by instrumental-agents associated with rationality, competition and low emotionality.
With respect to values and interests shows that the factor:
Communal expression is associated with the need for affiliation and
The instrumental agent to the need for achievements and personal accomplishments.
It is important that these dimensions have observed a transcultural record.
Williams and Best (1990) developed a theory of how gender stereotypes help maintain male-female differences, which begin differentiating three related constructs:
a) Sex Roles: important activities in which there are different rates for men and women.
b) gender role stereotypes: beliefs about what activities are most appropriate for men and which for women.
c) gender stereotypes features: psychological characteristics attributed differentially to either sex.
For these authors, the psychological differentiation is the largest contributor to the maintenance of differences in roles. So, the reasoning would be given to the psychology of women and men is different, it is justified that certain tasks correspond to men and other women, just as some professions are more suitable for men and other for women.
Currently, both the widespread presence of women in recognized professions as their academic achievements have made become obsolete assumptions regarding both the lack of intelligence of women as deficiencies in their training, but psychology has created new versions of these hypotheses we refer to the differences found between men and women in the motivational development (lack of ambition) actitudinal (lack of commitment) and behavioral (centrality of work and lack of effectiveness).
The analysis of the results of experiments in psychology states that when gender differences appear can be explained from contextual factors, not linked to being male or female. So the results on "the level of commitment to the work" is linked to personal factors (age, education level or character) and especially with family responsibilities, living with a partner, children etc ..) In other cases results vary depending on the type of analysis, appearing in laboratory studies but not in field studies.
B. prophetic capacity gender stereotypes.
We have previously referred to this power of stereotypes, but we want to highlight the influence on gender relations. Indeed stereotypes are not limited to outline the reality through the generalization of the characteristics of groups, allowing more easily adapt to a complex reality, but affect expectations, behaviors and beliefs of individuals. Several authors in psychology, including Bandura and Merton, have demonstrated the influence of thinking on our behavior. Thus the various beliefs widespread that the woman "is less ambitious" or "should take care of home care and children" not only affect men but women themselves that internalize, thus constituting internal barriers that prevent them equal access, because these women, which in principle does not need to be more or less ambitious than their male counterparts develop fewer professional ambitions and assume more family responsibilities, promoting their exclusion from the professional world.
On the other hand we must not forget, as these internal barriers add other external and social imposition of considering female activities relating to the domestic sphere.
A representative of the close interactions between internal and external barriers that contribute to maintaining gender inequalities, example is the majority assumption by women, of family responsibilities. What is evident in the importance now accorded men and women to family life, because men give up much more easily to it than women.
In short, gender stereotypes act on reality through the influence they exert on individuals. The characteristic of the genre, is that there is a close interaction between two types of variables: cultural pressure and psychological variables (Ashmore, 1990)): "because pressure or social conditions are different for men or women, intrapsychic variables as skills, attitudes, expectations, interests or values, they are also in many different cases.
Thus, many differences found between men and women can be explained by the influence of the corresponding stereotypes. Theories based on self-confidence explain the differences found in "choice" by the tendency of women to consider their abilities lower, yields and expectations of success. However these results are only found in typically male tasks, female or neutral tasks, expectations of women perform well are as high as those of men or even higher. (Gitelson et al, 1982;. McHugh and Frieze, 1982). The relationship between self-reliance and traditional roles highlights the influence of gender stereotypes.
From the theories of attribution, differences were explained because men tend to attribute their successes to stable internal causes (ability) and failures to external and unstable causes (bad luck) while the attributive pattern of women is the reverse . Furthermore it has been observed that these differences are accentuated when it comes to tasks stereotypically male or female. (Deaux and Emswiller, 1974; McHugh et al, 1982, 1982 Pearson et al.).
Eccles (1985) notes that gender stereotypes influence the schema in personal values and stereotypical characteristics associated with each task. empirically tested their model in the election in two stereotyped school subjects: mathematics and language (Eccles and cols.1984).
But nevertheless we should not perceive the influence of stereotypes on individuals in a deterministic way. It is clear that culture has a fairly uniform influence on individuals, but there are personal issues in the process of socialization as the different models of parents and other adults, the roles they play, the ideology that transmit on gender etc .., that will allow individual differences within the same culture are given and precisely point to the importance of the models and the value of education in the process of changing attitudes to gender relations.
The socialization process. socializing agents.
Gender Socialization is the process by which type of behavior, values, interests, emotions and learn psychological qualities are considered socially appropriate for men and which for women. These processes depend on rules that apply from each social context. A differential socialization explains a function of sex, as we have indicated, gender differences in interests or expression of emotions.
Gender stereotypes are acquired through learning processes in which also involved common society where the individual lives (media) related to the immediate context cultural factors: family, school and peers own / ace.
Williams et al (1975) point 6 major aspects of learning sex categories:
1. Learn to identify the sex of individuals.
2. Identify own sex and gender constancy.
3. Gender identity.
4. Learn the characteristic differences in the behavior of parents.
5. Learn what games and what behaviors are linked to each sex.
6. Learn what personality characteristics distinguish men and women.
These aspects linked to male-female categories, will influence the perception that the person has of the other, and in the image of itself, ie their gender identity. Therefore belonging to one or the other sex category will determine different social realities (interacting with others) as well as differences in the identity of individuals. As we anticipated consequences of this differentiation can be found in the various choices that the individual will perform throughout his life: studies, work, leisure activities etc ..
The process of gender socialization occurs through different reinforcements and models. Gender differential reinforcement occurs when men and women are valued, rewarded or punished for different behaviors, interests or expression of emotions.
Much learning of our life and in the early years occurs through modeling (learning behavior through observing the behavior of others and the consequences that behavior is for the model), but we keep in mind that the subgroups of men and women within a culture produce very different models.
Main socializing agents
Informational influence legislation and children comes from various sources that serve as socializing agents: family, school, other adults, peers, media etc ... However, although these agents often contribute to the maintenance of stereotypes, they can also be agents of change in inequality.
A. The Family: Much has been made of the socializing role of the family and undoubtedly has an important role in the first stage of life, because that transmission of behaviors, values etc ... takes place by emotional way (the affections) and modeling. The first models that the child / a are going to have family members and has already highlighted the role of vicarious learning.
According Jackliin and Baker (1993) review of work on differential gender socialization of parents, has not found empirical support too, despite the popular belief of its importance. This is because more stereotype whom we know little, so it is logical that the position of the parents to focus more on the specific characteristics of their children / as. It seems that the most important role of the family lies in the regulation of activities (some sex-typed, such as sports, mathematics etc ..) and already we have seen the subsequent influence on the development of skills and interests.
B. Education system: the social structure that best reflects the values and beliefs dominant in a particular culture, but can also be an important instrument of change.
His influence in maintaining differences occurs through the hidden curriculum and social interaction processes that occur in the educational system (Burr, 1996).
She points out four aspects of differential socialization that contribute to the hidden curriculum:
1. Distribution in the educational system of men and women, acting as a role model for students.
2. Textbooks and teaching materials that tend to reproduce gender stereotypes.
3. Organization and school practices that reproduce elections Gender traditional activities.
4. Attitudes and expectations that affect teacher expectations that students have of themselves.
As for the processes of interaction in the classroom have been observed differences boy / girl attention from teachers Spaces playing etc ...
C. Media:
They meet the requirements of the audience so that reproduce existing cultural values and ideals about gender, then present the cultural models (informational influence). Hence by selective regulation, the media influence our perception of gender issues over us / as same and women and men in general. Accordingly various investigations show that these media present ideals of men and women who do not correspond to reality (models of beauty, women as objects of desire, subtle messages of violence against women, concern for others and heavily dependent affective).
Sexism as attitude.
It consists of a set of beliefs about the roles, characteristics, behaviors etc .., considered appropriate for men and women, as well as beliefs about relationships that members of both sexes should keep together. This ideology is not neutral, as seeks to perpetuate the subordination and subjugation of women as a group, what can be achieved both with negative attitudes as positive.
In Western countries we can distinguish between overt forms of sexism or hostile and made up new ways more subtle and gentle.
By manifesto or hostile sexism it means an attitude of `bias or discriminatory behavior based on the alleged inferiority or difference of women as a group (Cameron, 1977). These sexist beliefs influence judgments, evaluations and behaviors we do, producing discrimination.
There are 3 ideas that articulate this ideology hostile Genre (Gilk and Fiske, 1996):
The domineering paternalism: women are weaker and less than men and need male dominant figure.
Competitive differentiation Gender: women are different and do not possess the necessary social institutions to govern characteristics, so that its scope is family and home.
Heterosexual hostility: women, because of their sexual power, are dangerous and manipulative men.
One of the novel conceptions about sexism is the neosexism, which focuses on the organizational and labor sphere and attempts to capture the ways that sexism takes towards the massive incorporation of women in Western societies, labor, political and social world at all levels. Tougas and 1995) define it as the manifestation of a conflict between egalitarian values residual negative feelings towards women.
On the other hand, the benevolent sexism is defined as a set of interrelated to women who are sexist attitudes, as the considered stereotypically, limited to certain roles, but have a positive emotional tone for the preceptor, and tends to arouse in him, prosocial behaviors usually considered as aid or search for intimacy. Unlike the concept of neosexism more focused on public life, not only it refers to gender relations in the field but also in intimate relationships.
The benevolent sexism can resistance of women to domination of men, as it can produce in them a kind of infatuation for not only conveys an image of women subjectively pro, but promises that the power of men will be used for the benefit of the women. Thus, women themselves must be the first interested in men occupy the top positions. So the more dependent women of men as protectors and providers are less likely to protest by the power they have or seek their own independent status.
With this last point we wanted to emphasize that, if we want to deepen the understanding of gender discrimination, we need new concepts that allow us to capture the multidimensionality and complexity of this type of discrimination
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