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Micah Reed
Dr. Gabriela Rios
Enc 1102
June 9, 2014
Shes the Man?
How Gender is stereotyped in the Workforce
Gender discrimination in the workforce is very popular throughout the United States
today. It is one of the reasons why people with big dreams arent able to successfully pursue
their dreams because of their gender and the stereotypes they receive from it. To say that all men
and women are treated equally in the workforce is an understatement. Still to this day women get
paid less than men. It is also sometimes considered taboo for men to work in popular clothing
stores. To men being nurses and women fighting for our country, stereotyping by gender in the
work force is a big issue in the U.S. So how do we unfold these answers to this problem and find
the main sources that cause these stereotypes to spread?
Clow, Kimberley A., and Rosemary Ricciardelli. "Women And Men In Conflicting Social Roles:
Implications From Social Psychological Research." Social Issues And Policy Review 5.1
(2011): 191-226. PsycINFO. Web. 11 June 2014.
In this article Women and Men in Conflicting Social Roles: Implications from Social
Psychological Research. The articles main purpose is to find key research findings from these
theoretical perspectives in the realm of gendered occupational inequalities and segregation. I
discovered in the article how social status of occupations affects the decision of hiring a male or
a female emphasis of the article is on individuals fulfilling social roles that are perceived as
conflicting and the consequences of those perceptions. Mean what social roles comes with male
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and female gender based off their occupation for example what society would see a male as if he
was a father and also a nurse. The article also talks about how males are not hired for a nursing
position because it will affect the companies social statues which can cause the company to lose
partners and income in for the business. For companies to thrive they have to be able to get all
the assistance possible and to keep sources that would benefit them.
I agree that it is true that companies lack to hire a certain sex for the protection of their
social status. Companies cant afford to lose partners or money in their business due to the
particular sex that they hire which isnt necessarily right but true. Companies believe that their
money is more important than their employees so if their social status is being hindered by
gender they will waste no time to fix that problem.
Dodds, Danica. "Todays Workplace Gender Stereotyping in the Workplace and the
Discrimination It Creates Danica Dodds." Todays Workplace Gender Stereotyping
in the Workplace and the Discrimination It Creates Danica Dodds. N.p., 1 Dec. 2006.
Web. 11 June 2014.
In this article Gender Stereotyping in the Workplace and the Discrimination it creates
a conversation about gender stereotype in the workforce of women and how they are not getting
equal pay as males, but working the same hours. The article also talks about laws of sexual
harassment and the responsibility it holds on women when they are hired for a job. Many
employers will not hire women because they find it much easier to hire males which come with
fewer problems. This is a stereotype that is widely spread throughout the country and affects
women today in the workforce. There are many laws that employers try to avoid for women.
These laws protect them from being treated unfairly and giving them the same opportunity as
males. So that employers can avoid the courts and law suits employers look to hire males.
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I agree that this is a major problem that we are faced with in America because of the laws
that protect women rights. I agree that employers find a way to keep their business safe and look
for ways to not deal with women endangering their business.
Heilman, Madeline E. "Description and Prescription: How Gender Stereotypes Prevent Women's
Ascent Up the Organizational Ladder." Journal of Social Issues 57.4 (2001): 657-74.
Web.
In this Description and Prescription: How Gender Stereotypes Prevent Women's Ascent
Up the Organizational Ladder article it talks about how women are not given the same equal
rights as men and how women are looked upon due to their gender. It talked about how women
who had control over the upper levels of organizations are expected to follow the same
expectations as men. Through the different stereotypes of women, they were work experiences
are quoted as a result in devaluation of their performance, denial of credit to them for their
successes, or their penalization for being competent. Being accurate would lead to men being
held in charge of bigger organizations even when being competent. It is proving that women are
not ensured to move to the same work levels as men based off their identity.
I agree with this accusation because women are stereotyped when holding a higher
position in company than a typical male would hold. Women are looked upon in society as a
male back bone so when holding a high position giving them the power over males they are
expected to complete the same goals or even more because of their gender to keep their jobs. I
agree that society has given the role of leadership to males so when women are in charge they are
being held to a higher expectation and should not get emotionally involved.
Palmer, Kate. "Lasting Gender Stereotypes in the Workplace." YouGov: What the World Thinks.
9 Aug. 2012. Web. 10 June 2014.
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In this article, Lasting Gender Stereotypes in the Workplace, it talks about a gender
stereotype in the work field of a government job which is the military and how women are
unable to perform in the marines. It is against the law for women to go into battle during a war
permitting women from fighting in war. Also the article discussed how majority of people voted
that a man is more suitable for the presidency job because the face of the country is best suited
being represented by a man. In this article, many government jobs were looked upon for
stereotype of the gender that it is best fitted with. The article is based off of how Americans see
things even though its the law we all have our own right to exercise any opportunity we choose
regardless of gender. But simply as stated in the article, Americans still consider some jobs to
be more suitable for men than woman or more suitable for women than men.
I agree that in America for over many years in the government we put a certain gender
with a certain government jobs. We look to society as males fighting for the country while
women stay home and watch over the kids and cook and clean. This is a big stereotype I thought
always stood out which was dont send a woman to do a mans job that people really lived by.
I feel that we as society stop others from exercising their own goals because we give the biggest
stereotypes to each other and we permit others from accomplishing their dreams especially in
government jobs.
Reuben, Ernesto, Paola Sapienza, and Luigi Zingales. "How Stereotypes Impair Women's
Careers in Science." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of The United
States 12 (2014): 4403. Academic OneFile. Web. 10 June 2014.
In this article, How Stereotypes Impair Womens Careers in Science, it jumps right to
the battle between women and men and their fight in the research of science. It provided
evidence stating that men are better fit for jobs in science than women are. According to this
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article, it states both male and female subjects are twice more likely to hire a man than a
woman. Even if both the candidates performed equally well on the same task simple because
men boast more about their performance on a task while woman leave it unreported. According
to the implicit Association Test, self reporting holds strong expectations of the candidate and the
fact that men, on average, boast more than women about their future performance, leads to
suboptimal hiring choices that remain in favor of men. Showing that employers biased against
women are likely to hire men because they boast more which leads to a sense of security for the
job.
I agree that this issue is true because in the field of science men calm their work and the
success that comes with it while women tend to lack the acknowledgement of their
accomplishments in their work which can hurt them. Men are more proud of what they do and
like to brag about it while women accepts their work more with inner pride. So while looking at
two candidates male and female employers including other females tend to look to hire men
because of the high expectations that come with them.
Weaver, Roslyn, et al. "Men In Nursing On Television: Exposing And Reinforcing Stereotypes."
Journal Of Advanced Nursing 4 (2014): 833. Academic OneFile. Web. 11 June 2014.
The article Men in Nursing on Television: Exposing and Reinforcing Stereotypes talks
about how certain television shows with male nurses often expose and reinforce certain
stereotypes in more implicit ways. The main goal of this article is to describe the results of a
study of images of men in nursing on television. Research has shown that negative images of
male nurses can harm recruitment and retention in the profession. It is important to understand
how representations of male nurses are portrayed in popular culture because of its wide range of
audience. Television shows such as Greys Anatomy, Hawthorne, Nurse Jackie, and Private
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Practice often portrayed implicit and explicit stereotypes towards male nurses. The men were
often subject to questions about their choice of career, masculinity and sexuality and their role
usually reduced to that of prop, minority spokesperson or source of comedy. Although the main
goals of the television shows were to expose common stereotypes about men in nursing, they
actually often reinforced stereotypes in more implicit ways. Which limit males to pursue a career
in the field of nursing in which I agree is very true in the world that we live in today and how it
questions a man status based off his career choice that majority of women pursue in.