Stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination are often interpreted similarly, but are separate issues. Stereotypes are considered as the most cognitive factor and frequently occur without much thought behind the mindset, whereas prejudice is an affective combination of stereotyping and discrimination which leads to hurtful responses. In perspective, stereotypes mirror expectations and opinions about the features of members of groups that are perceived different from one’s own, prejudice represents the emotional response, and discrimination refers to actions.
This is important to understand and become familiar with because these can be hurtful towards others and cause problems in people’s every day lives. By learning the background, formation, and how these can affect people, it can provide an opportunity to learn from mistakes and help prevent future actions involving stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination towards others.
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In order to understand how stereotypes affect others, we must first learn what they are. The formation of stereotypes can be explained in the Social learning theory. People often learn stereotypes from their parents, significant others, and social media. Stereotypes amplify differences between groups whether they are major or minor characteristics. These cover anything from racial groups, political groups, genders, demographic groups, and activities.
The main approach that is often used to explain stereotypes is the “social cognition approach,” studied in social psychology. This views social stereotypes as cases of cognitive theories which are broad generalizations that people use in their everyday lives. (‘Stereotypes,’ Scholar.harvard.edu) This means that people put together opinions based on previous social interactions, experiences, and media influences. The danger in stereotyping does not come from the original creation, but the fact that it may turn into a substitute of a misunderstanding of the social identity. (HAYAKAWA, S. I.) A common example of a stereotype we often hear about are gender roles. These bias opinions cause unfair treatment and lead to sexism. This can range anywhere from personality traits such as women are expected to be emotional while men are expected to be aggressive, domestic behaviors that include the theory that women will take care of the children while the men will work and make money, and physical appearance which expects women to be thin and beautiful while men should be tall and muscular.
Prejudice or ‘pre judgement’ involves the predetermination and irrational opinion, commonly on the negative side, of hostility, fear, or hatred towards another group or person. This comes from stereotypes and generalizations instead of actual experiences or evidence. Research shows that conformity can be a big reason why people are prejudiced. Conformity is described as the likelihood to act and think like other members of a certain group.
Social norms influence many people where they must feel ‘normal’ and in compliance with the people around them whether related to or associated with. When parents, friends, social groups, and media show a certain feeling towards a group of people, it is easy to pick up on that feeling and believe the statements without personal thought behind the ideas. Prejudice can make a person feel less than human, frightened, vulnerable, and often lowers self-esteem. Examples of prejudice include racism, sexism, homophobia, religious prejudice, ageism, and nationalism. These feeling can often turn into negative actions by discriminating members of the target group.
Discrimination comes from stereotypes, and prejudiced opinions that lead to hurtful and unjust actions. The two types of discrimination include Direct discrimination and Indirect discrimination. Direct is being treated differently because of who you are and is against the Equality Act 2010. This is unlawful and can be brought to the civil courts. It is only unlawful if you are treated differently because of a protected characteristic, who you are, who someone thinks you are, or because of someone you are with. The Equality Act says one has been treated less favorably because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation. Regardless if the person meant to treat another differently or did not know they were doing so, it is still direct discrimination.
Indirect discrimination is when one is treated in the same way as others, but it has a worse affect on the person because of who they are. This puts a person at a disadvantage when there is a policy or rule that has a bigger affect on particular people than others. Some examples can be arrangements, provisions, qualifications, conditions, or criteria.
Stereotypes cause damage alone, but are also harmful by fostering prejudice and discrimination. These three topics can be linked together but is also possible to have cases of these individually. Some possible ways to fix these problems can be to make new friends, get to know people before you make assumptions, value different views of others, or even travel to learn and understand different cultures. Treating people as individuals rather than members of a generalized group is a big step towards equality. Understanding other people’s behavior and actions can help improve human life for everyone.
Gender Stereotypes Against Women And Men
Stereotypes by gender affect everyday living of women and men worldwide, especially the citizens of America. Both males and females of ethnicities, religions, and/or races have been impacted by gender stereotypes. This topic has been in existence since the beginning of time and is a subconscious trait that everyone has. Discrimination against gender is displayed in various settings including, but not limited to; religious groups, the workforce and everyday living of the “American Dream”.
Gender stereotyping is prominent in all religions. Most Christian based groups preach women were made from men, as it states in the book of Genesis. Thus, making men superior to women. Since women are believed to be made from men some view women as property belonging to their husbands once married.
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Nearly all, religious groups recognize the significance of marriage and have some say on gender roles within the marriage. The trend of men being carrying more authority dates back into the medieval times. This idea was set into the foundation for the development of England’s common law in the high and late middle ages. The law was called Coverture and emphasized that once married, a woman’s rights and legal obligations were subsumed by her husband’s. Thus, wives held no right to own property or make contracts since married couples were considered one being. England’s common law migrated with the colonist as they first settled which included coverture. Throughout the American revolution women were seen as more submissive than men and were always influenced by oppressive thoughts of gender equality. Women gained confidence, and the ability to voice their opinions by the 19th century and feminist views and groups became more outspoken. The voiced opinions of women ignited the Women’s Rights Movement, which was already in motion since 1869. The movement was not immediately effective and took several years to accomplish the goals set forth. Eventually, women would gain the right to vote and hold an elected office via the 19th Amendment ratified in 1920. Although women were legally treated equally, employers of the workforce were still hesitant on women as valuable employees. Female workers were uncommon in the American workforce until President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared America’s participation in the World War II. World War II lasted from 1939 to 1945 and tremendously altered the view of female workers.
Women got to showcase their worth and value as independent everyone by participating in the second world war directly by joining the armed forces or working as laborers at production plants. During the war unemployment rates drop to as low as 1.4%! The number of female workers increased dramatically as women flooded the workforce during the involvement of the war. Until then, women rarely got a taste of the working privileges. After enjoying, the money and benefits that were offered by the workforce, women remained working postwar. During wartime, the female population was able to join the army for military advances and work, which allowed for them to become a part of the majority as workers in the American society. Despite this, women were still treated different from many (white men). Women were granted access to fight for the nation during the Revolutionary War; yet years later, there was still segregation and discrimination in units against a gender diverse community. The women fought for the nation is a separate branch, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, which was established in 1942 by the Army. The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was later renamed in 1943 to the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). The corps consisted of over 150,000 women who served as WAC during WWII. Finally, the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act was enacted on July 1948. The act enabled women to obtain permanent status in the Reserve and Active forces of the Army.
Stereotypes about gender are reinforced through daily practices like those in the military, school, and public government. Social tolerance of discrimination allow inequality among US citizens based on race, disability, gender, and socio-economic factors. Throughout the history of the American school system, children’s education was based on race (separate schools for black and whites); gender (Catholic All Girls Schools versus All Boys Schools), and disability (seperate classrooms and transportation for children with disabilities). Violence against women is another area affected by the gender inequality practices of society. Within the American society, battered or raped women were accused of doing something to promote the negative behavior toward them.
As United States citizens, we hold the key to reducing gender inequality and racial biases. Gender stereotyping is ingrained in the way our family and community act and react to life. This behavior becomes a part of our everyday beliefs and affect how we behave as adults. To eliminate or help reduce these stereotypes and prejudices within America we need to become more aware of the subtle ways’ society, the media, and our community promote these stereotypes and actively attempt to change these views and attitudes.
Today women are still battling against discrimination within the workforce. Men get higher pay as compared to women with the same qualifications and experience. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has researched the median weekly pay between genders in 2013. The Bureau of Labor Statistics concluded that between full-time workers, the median weekly earnings for females was $706, as compared to the $860 median weekly earnings of men. There are various movements existing nationwide protesting for equal pay and treatment. Nevertheless, the treatment today is not comparable to the horrible conditions in the past.
