Women Rights and Gender Socialization Flashcards
How much do women participate in the workforce globally?
Across the globe, women face inferior income opportunities compared with men. Women are less likely to work for income or actively seek work. The global labor force participation rate for women is just over 50% compared to 80% for men.
How much is the workforce is female in the U.S?
46.6% of the workforce is female in the United States.
This is based on women’s labor force participation rate of 56.8% compared against men’s labor force participation rate of 67.9%. Accounting for the fact that women are the majority population in the U.S., we find that approximately 46.6% of the workforce is women.
What is a gender stereotype?
A gender stereotype is a generalised view or preconception about attributes, or characteristics that are or ought to be possessed by women and men or the roles that are or should be performed by men and women. Gender stereotypes can be both positive and negative for example, “women are nurturing” or “women are weak”.
What is essentialism about gender?
Gender essentialism refers to the belief that gender is a discrete and dichotomous social category (i.e., one can be either a girl or a boy, but not both, nor somewhere in between), and that gender is inborn, biologically determined, immutable, and informative of categorical properties [1–2].
What is the meaning of gender stereotyping?
Gender stereotyping is the practice of ascribing to an individual woman or man specific attributes, characteristics, or roles by reason only of her or his membership in the social group of women or men.
When are gender stereotypes and gender stereotyping human rights concerns?
The international human rights law framework is
concerned with stereotypes and stereotyping that
affect recognised human rights and fundamental
freedoms, rather than all stereotypes and all forms of stereotyping. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has explained that States Parties are required to modify or transform “harmful gender stereotypes” and “eliminate wrongful gender stereotyping”.
How is a gender stereotype harmful to women?
A stereotype is harmful when it limits women’s or
men’s capacity to develop their personal abilities,
pursue their professional careers and make choices
about their lives and life plans. Both hostile/negative or seemingly benign stereotypes can be harmful. It is for example based on the stereotype that women are more nurturing that child rearing responsibilities often fall exclusively on them. Gender stereotyping is wrongful when it results in a violation or violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. An example of this is the failure to criminalize marital rape based on the stereotype of women as the sexual property of men. Another example is the failure of the justice system to hold perpetrator of sexual violence accountable based on stereotypical
How do gender stereotypes/stereotyping harm
women?
Discrimination against women includes those
differences of treatment that exist because of
stereotypical expectations, attitudes and behaviours
towards women. Just to give some examples:
- The Special Rapporteur on the rights to food pointed out that stereotype about women’s role within the family leads to a division of labour within households that often result in time poverty for women and lower levels of education.
- The CEDAW Committee has highlighted how
traditional attitudes by which women are regarded as subordinate to men perpetuate widespread practice involving violence and coercion.
- Both CRC and the CEDAW Committee noted that
harmful practices are multidimensional and include
stereotyped sex and gender-based roles.
- The Special Rapporteur on violence against women and the Special Rapporteur on independence of judges and lawyers have stressed that the investigation of cases of violence and the sanctioning of perpetrators are underpinned by patriarchal notions and stereotypes
that negatively affect their objectivity and impartiality. - A range of UN human rights mechanisms have highlighted how stereotypes about women’s role can be incorporated in discriminatory legislation.
What are the States obligations vis-à-vis
stereotypes and stereotyping?
CEDAW’s Article 5 (a) requires States Parties to take
“all appropriate measures” to “modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women” in an effort to eliminate practices that “are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.” Article 2(f) reinforces article 5 by requiring States Parties to take “all appropriate measures” to “modify or abolish … laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women.”
What does article 10 of CEDAW says?
Art. 10 of CEDAW further provides that States shall
take all appropriate measures to “ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women the elimination of any stereotyped concept of the roles of men and women at all levels and in all forms of education by encouraging coeducation and other types of education which will help to achieve this aim and, in particular, by the revision of textbooks and school programme and the adaptation of teaching methods”.
Everybody subscribes to some stereotypes because identifying types is the method the brain uses to sort information. Stereotypes are, in fact, “short cuts” taken unconsciously to help people make decisions more easily and quickly, hence the tendency to unthinkingly accept them.
Stereotypes are preconceived ideas and simplistic images that have a negative influence on the way we see people, interact with them and treat them. In other words, stereotypes impose limitations on the people they target, assign them roles that are not necessarily suited to them and make it harder for them to be their true selves.
What does differential socialization lead to?
Differential Socialization
This can lead to different expectations and experiences for girls and boys as they grow up. This socialization occurs through a variety of agents, such as parents, teachers, the media, and peers.
Are children more likely to exhibit the behavior from same gender models
Because gender categorization is a significant part of a child’s social development, children tend to be especially attentive to same-gender models. When a child observes same-gender models consistently exhibit specific behaviors that differ from the behaviors of other-gender models, the child is more likely to exhibit the behaviors learned from the same-gender models. These models include parents, peers, teachers, and figures in the media.
Children’s knowledge of gender roles and stereotypes can impact their attitudes towards their own and other genders. Young children, in particular, may become especially rigid about what boys and girls “can” and “cannot” do. This either-or thinking about gender reaches its peak between the ages of 5 and 7 and then becomes more flexible.
How to parents contribute to gender socialization?
Parents are typically a child’s first source of information about gender. Starting at birth, parents communicate different expectations to their children depending on their sex. For example, a son may engage in more roughhousing with his father, while a mother takes her daughter shopping. The child may learn from their parents that certain activities or toys correspond with a particular gender (think of a family that gives their son a truck and their daughter a doll). Even parents who emphasize gender equality may inadvertently reinforce some stereotypes due to their own gender socialization.
