A culture’s ideas regarding the essence and social worth of gender disparities in competencies and attributes affect both the labor distribution and gender discrimination in that community. Individuals may be consistently classified as men and women throughout all circumstances and perceived as more or less suitable candidates for various tasks and places in a community according to these taken-for-granted assumptions. For example, in 2020, 56.2% of women participated in the workforce, 1.2% less than in 2019 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). In this sense, people of certain gender tend to be susceptible to gender-based expectations.
Gender stereotypes and expectations can be analyzed through social role theory. As per this theory, gender-based expectations are a result of the unequal distribution of men and women in terms of societal norms at home and at the workplace (Hentschel et al. 2). Women have traditionally handled the majority of household chores and served as the primary caregivers (Hentschel et al. 2). In the work, women have a tendency to work in service-oriented, people-oriented jobs rather than historically held by males, which are things-oriented, competing jobs (Hentschel et al. 2). Gender stereotypes are created as a result of the unequal distribution of men and women in societal positions and the conclusions that may be drawn about the characteristics of men and women as a result.
The method of choice for this study would be secondary data analysis. This method will be applied by using U.S. government reports and archives. In the end, this approach will be able to help in assessing the correlation between gender inequality, gender-based expectations, and unequal distribution of labor. Such a study will contribute to sociology due to its assistance in understanding the patterns of modern society and possible shifts in societal perceptions of genders.
Works Cited
Hentschel, Tanja, Madeline E. Heilman, and Claudia V. Peus. “The multiple dimensions of gender stereotypes: A current look at men’s and women’s characterizations of others and themselves.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol.10, 2019, pp.1-19. Web.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Women in Labor Force.” BLS, 2021. Web.