Here I go again, on about gender stereotypes. If you have me on Facebook you'll have seen many a post about it before. It's not because I am trying to state my view (But I am). I've been researching into gender stereotypes since I became more aware of them and I've found out some pretty interesting facts.
I am a firm believer in ignoring gender stereotypes. That's not just because I am in science but because I don't think it is important. I only have so many spare hours in my day and I'd prefer not to be trying to decide whether the pink mini-skirt made me look more stereotypically feminine than my comfortable black pants. There's no time to waste when you are writing research papers! ;-)
I was first notified that there were real gender stereotypes (I had always thought they didn't exist in the real world) when I went to a Women in Astronomy talk. 'Why do woman have to have their own talk?' was what I thought. At the talk I found out that there are very few women in the higher positions in Astronomy. 'Ok so that makes some sense. There were never that many girls in my high school physics class!' But I had done my undergrad and honours with other girls! So I took this on board and started looking for women in higher positions in science. And they are there, but they are out numbered. Research shows that the reason isn't because they aren't good at it but that they leave the area of research for other things. Like a workplace suitable for any gender or to be stay at home mums or any number of other reasons. But it is a clear trend. After PhD the numbers of women that continue on fall dramatically.
But it can't just begin at University! There's no way someone would go through a PhD then just pack it in... Would they? I'm sure some do and probably because they love something more than science. But not all! where are all the women in science?
Why some jobs are seen to be gender specific is a very complicated question. And I think is a small branch of the bigger question: Where do stereotypes come from? For this we need to think about children, I'm talking from before they are born. Because this is when we are most susceptible to outside influences and at the age where we are trying to form our identities.
Studies show that at the very young age of 2 a child is aware of their gender. Their brains are at their more rigid but also their most influenceable. For example, a child may love to play with trains or dress up as a fairy and if someone were to say to them 'Are you sure you should be playing with that? Aren't you a girl/boy?'. The child will take this in and it will shape what they think about their toys. Children have been seen to hide their most loved toys in exchange for trying to follow the gender stereotypes we put on them. They hide what they love more to fit in, essentially hiding parts of themselves. They are children!
So when I walked into Kmart last year I almost walked right back out. Peter and I play nerf wars with a group here in Canberra. It is a lot of fun and we have people of all ages trying to best each other as zombies or humans. So we go into Kmart to see their selection of nerf gear. Normally it is all on the back wall. But half of their range was missing. There was a new range of pink nerf blasters that were really good. We found them in the girls section of the store. Yes, Kmart now had a girls and a boys section. I felt somewhat disgusted but I did see why they were in the girls sections; That is what they had been marketed for. With names like 'Heartbreaker' and 'Dimondista' and pictures of girls playing together, there is no question to who Nerf are trying to sell these to.
This is where I found some other studies about kids and toys. It turns out that boys, or girls with slightly higher testosterone levels, will go for trucks or balls over dolls and frying pans. But both genders will equally play with gender neutral things like books. This study was also done with two types of monkeys many years apart. They found the same results. But studies like these showed something else, the colour didn't matter.
I'm sure we all just took a step back here. 'What? Things are gender specific?' The truth is that they aren't sure why some items draw more to girls than boys and vice versa. But then how did all the 'girl things' end up pink?
Before the 1840's all children wore white dresses, yes dresses!, until they were about 6 or 7. There was no segregation of gender and white was the easiest to clean! There was a slow move, I mean really slow, for pink to be a boys colour and blue a girls colour after this time, but it wasn't socially conformative. Pink was for boys as it was a shade of red, and blue for girls as it was reminiscent of Mother Mary. Then again it was also a convention for blue to be for blue-eyed people and pink for brown-eyed. It was in the 1940's that the colour distinction we have today set in, pink for girls and blue for boys. And the reason why? Because of the manufacturers! Nothing more than convenience for the manufacturers. So the reason behind the social stigma of boys not allowed to like pink is that the manufacturers at the time decided it would be so, nothing more than that. And it could have gone the other way!
But what about jobs or careers? This ties into the gender segregation at a young age. Toys, like science kits or fashion, are segregated by gender. And at these very young ages kids learn what 'is acceptable' of them and their gender. So girls wish to be princesses or models or designers while boys want to hunt dinosaurs or be scientists. This is where it starts, at least how I think. And there is a lot of research out there that at a young age, if told that something isn't for their gender, kids will turn away from it. So if a boys loves to dress up dolls and design cool outfits is told that that sort of thing is for girls, then he probably won't become that famous clothes designer known around the globe. Then again, some outside encouragement might just give him the chance to chose to do what he really loves.
So where do gender stereotypes come from? Almost anywhere! Companies, other people, stores, even I am known for occasionally using a gender stereotype. When do we need to know about them? In my opinion, always. But that depends on who you are and how you wish to shape your children's or families ideals. Even before a baby is born you can have started the gender stereotype by buying small girly outfits only in pink. Girly doesn't have to mean pink!
- Elise
I am a firm believer in ignoring gender stereotypes. That's not just because I am in science but because I don't think it is important. I only have so many spare hours in my day and I'd prefer not to be trying to decide whether the pink mini-skirt made me look more stereotypically feminine than my comfortable black pants. There's no time to waste when you are writing research papers! ;-)
I was first notified that there were real gender stereotypes (I had always thought they didn't exist in the real world) when I went to a Women in Astronomy talk. 'Why do woman have to have their own talk?' was what I thought. At the talk I found out that there are very few women in the higher positions in Astronomy. 'Ok so that makes some sense. There were never that many girls in my high school physics class!' But I had done my undergrad and honours with other girls! So I took this on board and started looking for women in higher positions in science. And they are there, but they are out numbered. Research shows that the reason isn't because they aren't good at it but that they leave the area of research for other things. Like a workplace suitable for any gender or to be stay at home mums or any number of other reasons. But it is a clear trend. After PhD the numbers of women that continue on fall dramatically.
But it can't just begin at University! There's no way someone would go through a PhD then just pack it in... Would they? I'm sure some do and probably because they love something more than science. But not all! where are all the women in science?
Why some jobs are seen to be gender specific is a very complicated question. And I think is a small branch of the bigger question: Where do stereotypes come from? For this we need to think about children, I'm talking from before they are born. Because this is when we are most susceptible to outside influences and at the age where we are trying to form our identities.
Studies show that at the very young age of 2 a child is aware of their gender. Their brains are at their more rigid but also their most influenceable. For example, a child may love to play with trains or dress up as a fairy and if someone were to say to them 'Are you sure you should be playing with that? Aren't you a girl/boy?'. The child will take this in and it will shape what they think about their toys. Children have been seen to hide their most loved toys in exchange for trying to follow the gender stereotypes we put on them. They hide what they love more to fit in, essentially hiding parts of themselves. They are children!
So when I walked into Kmart last year I almost walked right back out. Peter and I play nerf wars with a group here in Canberra. It is a lot of fun and we have people of all ages trying to best each other as zombies or humans. So we go into Kmart to see their selection of nerf gear. Normally it is all on the back wall. But half of their range was missing. There was a new range of pink nerf blasters that were really good. We found them in the girls section of the store. Yes, Kmart now had a girls and a boys section. I felt somewhat disgusted but I did see why they were in the girls sections; That is what they had been marketed for. With names like 'Heartbreaker' and 'Dimondista' and pictures of girls playing together, there is no question to who Nerf are trying to sell these to.
This is where I found some other studies about kids and toys. It turns out that boys, or girls with slightly higher testosterone levels, will go for trucks or balls over dolls and frying pans. But both genders will equally play with gender neutral things like books. This study was also done with two types of monkeys many years apart. They found the same results. But studies like these showed something else, the colour didn't matter.
I'm sure we all just took a step back here. 'What? Things are gender specific?' The truth is that they aren't sure why some items draw more to girls than boys and vice versa. But then how did all the 'girl things' end up pink?
Before the 1840's all children wore white dresses, yes dresses!, until they were about 6 or 7. There was no segregation of gender and white was the easiest to clean! There was a slow move, I mean really slow, for pink to be a boys colour and blue a girls colour after this time, but it wasn't socially conformative. Pink was for boys as it was a shade of red, and blue for girls as it was reminiscent of Mother Mary. Then again it was also a convention for blue to be for blue-eyed people and pink for brown-eyed. It was in the 1940's that the colour distinction we have today set in, pink for girls and blue for boys. And the reason why? Because of the manufacturers! Nothing more than convenience for the manufacturers. So the reason behind the social stigma of boys not allowed to like pink is that the manufacturers at the time decided it would be so, nothing more than that. And it could have gone the other way!
But what about jobs or careers? This ties into the gender segregation at a young age. Toys, like science kits or fashion, are segregated by gender. And at these very young ages kids learn what 'is acceptable' of them and their gender. So girls wish to be princesses or models or designers while boys want to hunt dinosaurs or be scientists. This is where it starts, at least how I think. And there is a lot of research out there that at a young age, if told that something isn't for their gender, kids will turn away from it. So if a boys loves to dress up dolls and design cool outfits is told that that sort of thing is for girls, then he probably won't become that famous clothes designer known around the globe. Then again, some outside encouragement might just give him the chance to chose to do what he really loves.
So where do gender stereotypes come from? Almost anywhere! Companies, other people, stores, even I am known for occasionally using a gender stereotype. When do we need to know about them? In my opinion, always. But that depends on who you are and how you wish to shape your children's or families ideals. Even before a baby is born you can have started the gender stereotype by buying small girly outfits only in pink. Girly doesn't have to mean pink!
- Elise