Gender Bias Flashcards
What is gender bias?
Results when one gender is treater less favourably than the other (often referred to as sexism)
What are some of the consequences of gender bias?
Scientifically misleading
Upholding stereotypical assumptions
Validating sex discrimination
What is alpha bias?
Occurs when the differences in men and women are exaggerated. Stereotypically male and female characteristics may be emphasised, they are viewed as fixed and inevitable
These differences are more likely to devalue females in relation to their male counterparts
What is beta bias?
Occurs when differences between men and women are minimised - often happens when findings obtained from men are applied to women without additional validation e.g. when female participants are not included as part of the research process and then it is assumed that research findings equally apply to both sexes
What is Androcentrism?
A possible consequence of beta bias - if our understanding of what is ‘normal’ behaviour is drawn from research that involved all-male samples than any behaviour that deviates from this is likely to be viewed as abnormal by comparison
If male behaviour/ thinking is taken as normal then female behaviour is regarded as deviant/inferior/ abnormal leading to female behaviour being misunderstood or even pathologized
What are the positive consequences of alpha bias?
Has led to some theorists (Gilligan) to assert the worth and valuation ‘feminine qualities’
Had led to healthy criticism of cultural values that praise certain ‘male’ qualities such as aggression as desirable , adaptive and universal
What is the positive of beta bias?
Makes people see men and women as the same, which has led to equal treatment in legal terms and equal access to education and employment for example
What are the negative consequences of alpha bias?
Focus on differences between genders leads to the implication of similarity within genders, this this ignores the many ways women differ from each other
Can sustain prejudices and stereotypes
What are the negative consequences of beta bas?
Draws attention away from the differences in power between men and women
Is considered as an egalitarian (equality) approach but it results in major misrepresentations in both genders
What does Kitzinger argue about the consequences of gender bias?
Argues that questions about sex differences aren’t just scientific questions - they’re also political (women have same rights as men) so gender differences are distorted to maintain the status quo of male power
What are three other consequences of gender bias?
Women are kept out of male-dominant universities Women are oppressed Women stereotypes (Bowlby)
What do feminists argue?
Although gender differences are minimal or non-existent, they are used against women to maintain male power
What is the final problem of gender bias?
Judgements about an individual womens ability are made on the basis of average differences between sexes or biased sex-role stereotypes, this also has the effect of lowering womens self-esteem making them think they have to improve themselves (Tavris)
Bias not only a methodological problem but impacts lives of women
What is an example of gender bias in research?
Freud - all his theories are androcentric, especially penis envy in which he suggests women are defined psychologically by the fact they aren’t men
His ideas had serious consequences - reinforced stereotypes e.g. of womens moral inferiority, treated deviations from traditional sex-role behaviour as pathological (career ambition=penis envy)
What should be remembered about Freud and his ideas?
He was a product of his time - he saw ‘Biology as destiny’ and women’s roles as prescribed and predetermined
