Socialization: Assigning Roles to Women
Chapter 5
As much as the 1950s have been celebrated as such a wonderful, innocent time in
American history, that mainly applied to white males. Women and minorities definitely
didn’t share in the freedom to achieve or set their own goals. The images of American
society in 1950s media were not very close to real life for many people. But the media
began having enormous influence on people’s images of attractiveness and desirability.
It’s not a coincidence that Playboy began publishing in the 50s- associating images of
upper class, successful men with half-dressed coquettes. While the 50s were still very
buttoned up sexually, this magazine began normalizing pornographic images of women
and associating them with women who would be desired by powerful men. This was a
complete turnabout in the image of pornography and those who indulge in it. Not
surprisingly, everything cut loose sexually in the 1960s. It ushered in a new age for
young people, especially women, who could finally enjoy their sexuality, listen to their
voices, and dream bigger dreams than their mothers ever dared. So when you think that
the 50s might have been the good times- just watch some TV from that time and think
about if you would really have enjoyed Lucy’s life with Desi…
Family socialization
Parents influence their children’s understanding of gender in overt and covert
ways as they model gendered behaviors and attitudes, and set up a gendered world for
their children.
Do You Want a Boy or Girl? Parents may show a preference for a male or
female child before their child is even born. This was more common and overt 30 years
ago, but parents today will express a preference if they have already had several of one
gender, and still hope for a different sex child. Males particularly will voice a desire to
have a boy (Patriarchy dies hard!) India and China particularly show a preference for
boys, as boys are expected to take care of aging parents. As a result, when sonograms are
available and parents find out they are having a girl, there is a high probability of
abortion or abandonment of girl babies. In one province in China when a doctor had an
illegal ultrasound machine, births shifted from 108 boys per 105 girls to 2/3 of all
newborns were boys. This practice could seriously skew demographics of these countries
in the future. (We might be shipping our women to China and India, instead of bringing
Romanian and Russian women here.)
Other effects of holding preferences are that parents that don’t get the sex child
they want won’t play as much with that child. This was most pronounced for girls.
Obviously this can have long-term effects if that child perceives (and she will) that
rejection. Some girls have become very active tomboys to try to fill that loss for the
father.
Parents and Babies
Parents begin to differentially describe their coming babies within 24 hours of
finding out the sex of the baby. Boys are described as big, strong, alert, and active; and
girls described as small, soft, inattentive. These descriptions do not match actual physical
differences in the fetuses. Newborns are described using stereotypical characteristics:
girls as delicate and fine-featured, boys as more masculine. There may be subtle
differences in the babies, even when they are displayed in gender neutral clothes, which
parents pick up on, even in gender-blind studies.
Mothers still spend more time interacting with children than fathers do, although
fathers are spending more time with children than in the past. (Mothers- 34 hours/ week,
fathers- 26 hours/ week) Mothers still hold more caretaking responsibilities for children
than fathers do. Play is also different between fathers and mothers. Fathers’ play is more
physical and rough and tumble, and mothers are more likely to play with toys or art. This
is true within other cultures, as well.
Communication style is different for moms and dads. Mothers talk more to
children, particularly girls, and they use more feeling words. They offer more supportive
language- praise, approval or agreement as well as criticism or disapproval. Fathers use
more direct orders or informative speech.
Interactions respond to the gender of the child, as well. Parents play more roughly
with boys than girls, because girls are thought of as more fragile (not true, by the way.)
Girls are encouraged to stay closer to home and boys are given more freedom to wander.
Discipline styles are different, as well. Mothers are more authoritative, meaning
they set clear standards for behavior, as well as consequences for violations. They also
deal with infractions consistently in the interest of teaching children cause and effect of
one’s behavior. Fathers are more authoritarian, meaning they demand compliance with
orders, and may not explain why. Fathers are more likely to use physical punishment for
violations.
Who does what?
Parent model gender roles through division of labor within the home. Even
when mothers work fulltime, they still do the lion’s share of the everyday chores in the
home. (Women- 16 – 20 hours/ week; Men- 10 hours/ week) More even than actual
hours, the men only spend about 4 hours/ week on “core” household tasks- those that
must be done daily or more so- cooking, cleaning, bathing children. Most of women’s
tasks are core tasks- essential to the regular needs of the household. (Blair & Lichter,
1991 estimated that men would have to shift 60% of their family work time to achieve
gender balance in the division of home labor) For a couple married 10 years, the woman
will have performed 3000 more hours on household work than her male partner. Yikes!
This gender stereotyping regarding tasks really cranks up when couples marry or
cohabit. And it increases even more as children are added to the formula. Parents even
direct children into stereotyped activities as they take on chores. Boys mow the yard and
wash the car; girls do laundry and learn to cook. Even by the end of high school, girls are
doing 4 hours more per week than brothers on chores. Boys have more free time for
games or sports. This pattern is common in other Western countries, with the exception
of Sweden. Because of a long-standing commitment to equality between the sexes there,
parents share more of the household chores. The government also offers childcare so
mothers can afford to work, and it offers parents with young children the option of
working 6 hours/ day rather than 8. As a result, teens in Sweden do not show the same
denigration of traditionally female pursuits as in other countries.
Girl’s World, Boy’s World
Parents create gendered environments from birth. This is reflected in
colors used in rooms, toys selected for babies, and clothes chosen. This environment is
based on nothing in the child, but the stereotype associated with the sex of the child.
Toys- girls are given things related to housekeeping, child-rearing, or
beauty enhancement. Boys are given sports items, action figures, vehicles, building sets.
Girls will play with gender neutral toys (games, PlayDo) as well as girls’ toys, but boys
usually only play with boys’ traditional toys. These preferences come through children’s
requests for gifts. Parents will give cross-gender toys, but only if the child requests them.
Once the children have learned how to play with these toys, they continue to desire them,
due to familiarity of expectations and skills learned with those toys. Different toys
develop different competencies in children. Boys’ focus on cars, blocks, building sets
develop a more acute spatial sense. Girls’ focus on dolls and story-telling develops verbal
skills and relational skills. Parents of the same gender are more involved and responsive
to the child’s play if it is stereotypical for their gender. Alexander believes that children
evolved different visual processing abilities over time so boys prefer object movement
and girls prefer color, order, and people-oriented play. Toy manufacturers say they have
tried over and over to produce toys that both boys and girls will play with, but they have
not gone over well at all.
Racial and Cultural Variation
Ethnicity affects gender socialization. Minority parents often try to teach
traditional ethnic values, as well as teach children how to fit in well with the majority
culture. The book cites Hispanic family structure which is traditionally male-dominant,
even putting boys ahead of mothers in the hierarchy. The idea of machismo and male role
is very strong, but in reality, as many Latino wives work, they have more say in family
decisions than is traditionally described. Even so, Latino women and girls hold more
traditional gender expectations than other groups, especially African American women.
The restriction of girls’ freedom is found cross-culturally around the globe, as well as
women’s activities being less valued than men’s.
How Strong is Parental Influence?
Childhood socialization does influence later gender-role beliefs and
behaviors. Daughters often hold similar views as their mothers regarding gender. But
girls tend to develop specific attitudes about their work identity based on their personal
experiences at work. And as generations age, culture changes, so younger women tend to
have more liberal views regarding gender than their mothers at the same time in history.
This was especially true of baby boomer girls going through the massive changes of the
1960s. These women did begin seeing themselves as something other than a mother and
housekeeper, even if that is what their mothers had always been.
Gender Roles Across the Life Span
Some interesting studies have shown how children shift in their rigidity about
gender roles. Four year olds told a boy wants to play with a girl’s toy, but has been told
he shouldn’t because that’s for girls, said they thought it would be okay if the boy wanted
to play with that toy. Six year olds said it was not okay for the boy & he should find a
boy toy to play with. Nine year olds were more flexible, seeing nothing wrong with it.
This rigidity seems to shift as children master gender identity. At 4, they don’t understand
gender very well, so they are open. At 6, they are really trying to master the concept, and
so they develop rigid beliefs in order to better understand and fit in. By 9 they understand
gender is more flexible and people are different.
Gender intensification seems to happen during adolescence, as teens are shifting
schools and trying to figure out how to fit in and be accepted. They are also developing
interests in the opposite sex, and want to be desirable. They adopt more rigid gender
behaviors and attitudes. Teen girls tend to be more flexible in this area than boys. Social
environment shifts affect this, however. Moving from elementary to junior high to high
school causes insecurity about place and expectations, so flexibility increases at first.
Once the shift is adapted to, flexibility decreases.
Gender boundaries are invisible lines separating boys’ territory from girls’
territory. Most girls and boys stay within the appropriate boundaries. If they violate these
boundaries, they can be ostracized. Children are considered more socially adept and
popular if they behave in sync with gender expectations. Boys particularly rate other boys
around their traditional masculine behaviors. The more feminine behaviors a boy
displays, they more negative the child’s friendship rating becomes. Girls rate boys with
feminine behaviors higher, but they still don’t prefer to play with boys. And they rate
girls with exclusively feminine traits more highly. Boys and girls prefer to play with
other same-sex children who exhibit appropriate same-sex behaviors.
Parental imperative is the tendency for men and women to engage in more
traditional gender-stereotypic behaviors once they have children. So even more
androgynous parents will engage in more stereotypical role behaviors once they have
children. As children grow up, the imperative lessens and women become more
independent, active, and assertive. They don’t give up their feminine traits, but they add
more masculine behaviors to their repertoire. This shift becomes particularly evident at
mid-life. This parental imperative actually results in women being least satisfied with
their marriages at this point. But both parents report least satisfaction with each other
when children are young. Young children are an exhausting and very regular demand on
parents.
Teachers and Schools
The AAUP Report in 1992 outlined just how biased the environment in the
schools was against girls. Even though girls got generally better grades than boys, they
didn’t get equal attention in the classroom. It seems they achieved in spite of their
neglect. This bias was so subtle, that when videos came out showing it, many teachers
were astonished. They often tried to excuse their biased behavior by saying they gave
boys more attention because they didn’t do as well in school. But when girls began to fall
behind in harder classes, teachers did not begin giving them more attention. Girls just fell
through the cracks of teacher attention. Some of the differences in teacher treatment:
Boys were called on 8X more often than girls
Boys were given more time to give an answer, & were asked to elaborate
Girls were given vaguer and less challenging responses from teachers
Boys are praised for the content of their work, girls for the appearance
Boys get more attention, time, praise, correction, help, & criticism
Boys are given more detailed instructions & encouraged to work more actively
This bias may be due to the fact that most people entering teaching hold more
stereotypical gender beliefs. So they display these beliefs accordingly. Women teachers
are seen as more supportive and warm, men teachers as more task-oriented &
authoritarian. School staffs also model stereotypes. More women teach younger children,
but more men hold administrative positions. Women teach more English & humanities
classes, men teach more math and science classes.
Gender biases have been seen in books and curriculum. Women hardly show up
in history or science class information. And when girls don’t see themselves represented
in non-traditional areas, they can’t envision themselves going into those areas
themselves. The biases include ethnic differences, as well. African American girls get
less attention from teachers than white girls. Teachers attend more to high-achieving
students than struggling students. The cumulative effect of such regular and covert bias is
to lower girls’ self esteem and restrict their expectations for their future. They do not
consider non-traditional fields, and they learn to be silent in class, rather than reveal their
inadequacy. This passive learning behavior is detrimental to long-term achievement.
In college, women are often exposed to a chilly classroom climate which gives
different treatment to males. Males are called on more in class, and teachers carry on
more in-depth discussions with male students, while talking about lighter subjects with
females. Sexist humor is often used in class, which also shuts down women’s responses.
Many of these behaviors have begun changing as this information is given to teachers,
but these are very ingrained behaviors and they change slowly.
Media
In the past, parents screened the information regarding the world that their
children were exposed to. Since television, however, that vital role of filtering incoming
information for children has been abandoned. Many social changes have followed. Media
are so well designed to gain attention that they transmit rapidly social expectations in
both positive and negative ways. And the media use stereotypes rampantly in order to
better capture and audience and sell products. Their policies affect gender in 3 ways:
1) images portrayed reflect our cultural understanding of gender
2) images reflect what men and women “should” be like
3) what we see is decided by a narrow group of people, mostly males, in charge
of programming. Media influence becomes very homogenizing.
The 3 main themes displayed in media:
1) women are underrepresented in media
2) both men and women are shown stereotypically
3) relationships between men and women are displayed stereotypically
Television
Viewing habits differ between boys and girls. Girls watch more TV than
boys, and boys watch more cartoons and action shows. Adolescents watch about 4 hours
a day. Viewing patterns hold up over time as children grow up.
Prime-time shows
Men are 60% of the main characters on evening shows. Males outnumber
females in TV production by 4/1. Women only represent 19% of news sources.
Characters in prime-time hold stereotypical roles, although some women are portrayed in
police, medicine and law roles. Most are shown as single, although white married women
are often shown as homemakers, even though not that many are at home any more.
Women of color are portrayed in a wider variety of roles & jobs. There is a lot of sex
displayed in prime time- and only 14% of sexual references are made by people who are
married to one another. There is almost no reference to safe sex, and no issues of STDs or
pregnancy discussed by characters. This normalizes sex outside of marriage and shows
women as sexual objects. Typical characters are white, single, young, attractive,
heterosexual, and usually very well off. Only 2% of characters are over 65. Older women
are almost never shown in films, or they are displayed negatively. Ellen shook up the
viewing audience by coming out on the sit-com she starred in, but most characters are
heterosexual on TV. (Or gay characters are played way over the top for comedic value.)
In advertising, stereotypes abound. Women mostly sell household products;
rarely do voice-overs for anything other than feminine products. In soaps, since women
are the biggest consumers, the themes of soap operas are designed to appeal to women.
These characters reinforce stereotypical images of women. Story lines include romance,
relationships, and marriage. Most of the sex is between unmarried partners (11 incidents
per hour!) They rarely display any negative consequences of extramarital sex. Violence
against women is also a common story line. Sex was accompanied by violence 13% of
the time. After cheating, rape was the 2nd most common sexual behavior displayed. In
spite of these numbers, viewers believe the stories are realistic and relevant to their lives.
This is in spite of the fact that single mothers were portrayed as having good jobs,
affluent, living on their own, with no children problems to deal with. In reality, single
teen mothers live at home, rarely finish school, struggle to pay bills, and have low-paying
jobs. Interestingly, soaps in England portray real lives of blue-collar people who tend to
watch them there. The other negative in soap opera images is women as victims, helpless,
needing others to rescue them, and always in crisis. If not that, then they are portrayed as
seductive, evil vixens. These are not images we want our girls to grow up imitating.
Daytime talk shows also pander to women staying home. Some do allow women
a voice- Phil Donahue, Oprah, but once again women are often shown who are in crisis,
victimized, sexually active, (with all the consequences that accrue), with health and crime
experiences that are not the norm. Oprah said her goal was to empower women, and she
has spotlighted women’s socioeconomic status, sexual abuse, as well as women’s issues
with weight and attractiveness. Less uplifting shows include Jerry Springer, with his
focus on extremely bizarre characters and violent means of working out problems. These
shows illustrate so many stereotypes that they only rarely depict women in strong,
resilient positions.
Children’s programs begin the stereotyping early. Saturday morning cartoons
are sexist, showing 2 – 4 times as many male characters as female. This is true even on
Sesame Street and other educational programs. This occurred as executives discovered
that girls were willing to watch boy-oriented shows, but boys were not willing to watch
female-oriented shows. Another bias is showing boys doing active things, and solving
problems, while girls watch on the sidelines. Males are more aggressive, and females are
more compliant, dependent and nurturing. Minority characters are rarely portrayed on
Saturday morning. When 4 – 6 year olds watched a Sesame Street show in which the
muppets said they wouldn’t play with certain toys, the children said they would not play
with similar gender-neutral toys. The more TV a child watches, the more gender
stereotyped s/he becomes. When TV does show counter-stereotype behaviors by
characters, children do consider accepting women in nontraditional jobs.
Disney Film stereotyping is changing, but many children have lots of Disney
videos and they watch them over and over. Older films are more stereotypical, of course.
Cinderella and Aurora in Sleeping Beauty are beautiful, charming and take care of others.
They have little control over what happens to them. Parents tell them what to do, and
fairies fix her circumstances after a jealous, evil and unattractive queen tries to have them
eliminated. (and only because they are so beautiful are they rescued.) In Beauty and The
Beast, Belle is smart and doesn’t care what people think about her. Ariel in the Little
Mermaid is a strong character in the beginning, defying her father to do what she wants.
But she falls in love and hands over her identity to the man she loves. Females accounted
for only 1/5 characters in Disney films; or 1/3 for main characters. Characters have
become stronger and more self-directed, however. Pocahontas and Mulan represented the
new breed of girls in Disney films.
Magazines and Books
Children’s literature underrepresents females half the time, and still
portrays them in stereotypical ways. Boys are shown as independent and girls shown as
passive and dependent more often. Most women were shown in traditional occupations,
and males in a wider variety of occupations. Males were shown doing more exciting
things, as well. Boys are shown getting good outcomes by their own efforts, and girls are
shown getting good things due to help from others. It makes a difference if the author is
male, however. Males tend to give more positive characteristics to male characters.
Teen magazines focus especially on issues of dating, sex, love and
appearance, as these are assumed to be the issues of greatest interest for teen girls. Stories
included show males and females in stereotypical roles and jobs. Boys’ magazines offer
more stories about hobbies and celebrities, but girls’ magazines focus on beauty and
figuring out how to make relationships happen.
Women’s magazines are prime spots for messages about beauty and
desirability to men. 80% of the articles have to do with those messages. Articles address
relationships, sex (18%), understanding men, and communication differences. The
themes have to do with women feeling inadequate to form the relationships they want,
and feeling the burden to make relationships more satisfying. (Curious that men’s
magazines don’t include such things.) Advertisements are particularly stereotypical.
Women are shown in submissive or sexualized images if they aren’t portrayed as
mothers. Stereotyping in ads had actually increased in the 1990’s. How do they do it?
1) Superiority- showing women put in their place by positioning and
size compared to others in ad (read that “men”)
2) Dismemberment- showing women through disjointed body partsbutt, breasts, legs. The parts are more important than the whole person.
Men are not shown that way.
3) Clowning- showing women in playful pursuits. It depicts women as
children or as frivolous. Men are portrayed as serious.
4) Canting – unusual body positioning. Women are shown in twisted,
uncomfortable positions, while men are shown in a natural and more
powerful position. Men are shown facing forward in an assertive
stance, while women are shown sideways or in an unnatural pose.
This stereotyping is stable because these images sell products and capture the desired
demographic most effectively. Some magazine advertisers demand that an article be
published that supports a product they are selling. When Jamie Lee Curtis had a photo
spread done a few years ago that showed her body in athletic clothes without airbrushing,
she lost a significant ad client. She wanted to show her own daughters and other young
girls how a real woman looks to reduce the unreasonable images of women for young
girls. The advertiser did not want her displayed in such a common way. People are read
more of these stereotypical ads hold more stereotyping beliefs. And the effects are going
to younger and younger girls. These ads perpetuate sexist attitudes about women.
Romance novels- make up 35 – 40% of all paperback sales. Most of the readers
are women. Content is extremely stereotypical, with story lines of meek, innocent young
women encountering rough men who treat them poorly until they have a ravishing sexual
experience that reveals the man’s attraction to the young woman. All turns out well in the
end. The sexual scenes border on rape, although they are made to seem acceptable later
when both parties agree they really were attracted to one another. Women say they read
them as an outlet from the grind of their lives. They like the predictability of the story and
that it ends well for the women, no matter how brainless and helpless they are. They
particularly like that the man comes to realize his love for the woman without any
scheming on her part. So the woman character gets what she wants because of her
stereotypical wonderful qualities of courage, intelligence, gentleness and femininity.
Alrightey, then… As much as women are judged for engaging in this mindless
romanticism, men use visual porn to create the same fantasy life that they crave. Different
strokes for different sexes.
Other Media
Music videos – display highly stereotypical images of men and women.
Both are portrayed as physical objects.
Video games- males predominately use and enjoy video games, so the
content of the games reflects that. Mostly females are not represented at all in these
games. If they are, it is as victim in need of rescue. Other imagery is as sex object or evil
seductress who tries to block the hero. Most of these games include graphic violence.
Computers and the internet- females just don’t use the internet as much
as males. They use it for work, for talking to others, but not as much to scan for
information for fun. It just may not be as satisfying to women who prize interpersonal
relationships. Of course it has become a risk for young people who engage in talk with
complete strangers who may be pedophiles.
Media Representations of the Female Body
Attractiveness is the key to how women view themselves and how they
think others view them. Thinness is associated with attractiveness in the West. Judgment
is harsher regarding female looks than male. So more women say they are dissatisfied
with how they look, even if their weight is lean. Men usually only say they are
dissatisfied with their looks regarding height. Women’s dissatisfaction particularly
influences their general self-esteem. It also influences their freedom to enjoy their
sexuality. Media have produced such unattainable images of female beauty that most
women judge themselves very harshly, even when they know those images are airbrushed
and unrealistic. Even fit recruits for the military don’t measure up the average model’s
body. As women have gotten bigger over the last 40 years, the desirable images of
women have gotten skinnier. How perverse is that? IN the past, models were 8% smaller
than the average woman. Today models are 23% lighter than the average women. The
more young women and girls read fashion magazines, the more they say they need to
diet. Hours of TV watched also increase this. This doesn’t occur if the programs girls
watch are sports, but it does if they watch soaps, music videos and movies. One of the
most dramatic evidences of this effect occurred in Fiji. They did not have TV until 1995
in Fiji. Girls did not diet in Fiji. But after TV had been in Fiji just a few years, ¾ girls
said they needed to diet because they were too fat. Eating disorders doubled. Sad.
What do we learn from Barbie? Barbie was introduced by Mattel in 1959 and
became a big hit with little girls. Curiously, the model for Barbie was a German sex doll
that the designer brought back from Europe. Barbie’s body is completely unrealistic, yet
she set a new standard for attractiveness for little girls. She also set a standard for
unrelieved materialism. Maybe she was the model for Paris Hilton. Of course Mattel says
that she represents all the roles women can take in society. But what underlies all of them
is her feminine pulchritude. Oh, well…
Culture is significant in this area, as in impoverished parts of the world
plumpness is seen as abundance, wealth, and success. African American women don’t
have such negative body images, since African American men don’t find extreme
thinness that attractive. Also most models are white girls and African American girls just
tune them out as role models to imitate. The matriarchal nature of African American
society encourages more assertiveness in their girls which somewhat protects them from
this negative body image.
Play and Sports
Play Group Structure is gender segregated by age 3 or 4- gender cleavage.
Most children this age prefer to play with same-sex friends. So the play illustrates gender
differences in boys and girls. Boys’ play is more active and competitive and further from
home while girls’ play is more relational, verbal, closer to home, and communal in
nature. Both boys and girls engage in fantasy play but they use different themes. Boys’
play is more about establishing a dominance hierarchy, which is useful for later in life
when uncontrolled aggressiveness would put boys at risk. Once the hierarchy is
established, there is little jockeying for power. It establishes stability in boys’ society.
Girls don’t seem to need that competition in free play and they accept younger children in
their play, giving them less demanding roles to play. Mostly children segregate
themselves in this way because they don’t enjoy playing according to the opposite
gender’s norms. Girls feel boys don’t let them influence the style of play, so they prefer
to play with other girls where they can negotiate some power. Boys prefer more active
play to the talk-based role playing that girls like. Once girls and boys understand gender
differences, they also develop in-group preferences. Girls value girl things, and boys
value boys’ things. They denigrate the characteristics of the opposite gender. So children
do a lot of the gender socialization themselves through their active choices during free
play.
Athletic Organizations- in spite of Title IX, girls still are underrepresented in
athletic organizations. Girls get a lot of messages about sports being not so appropriate as
they age into puberty. Boys get lots of messages about how important sports are to their
popularity and achievement and value to others. So there is much more overt pressure
and expectation on boys to participate in sports than there is for girls. If parents are or
were athletic, however, girls tend to see sports as more appropriate for them. There’s
generally equal interest in sports in elementary school, but this drops as sports become
more intense and competitive in high school. Girls who remain in sports however, have
better body image, more self-confidence, less stress & depression than other girls. There
are still inequities in sports at the college level, but things are so much better than in the
past, most people don’t challenge this inequity. Since the soccer team’s success
internationally, girls have some very positive role model in women’s sports. Even so
women in sports still don’t get a fraction of the endorsements or payoffs that men do.