One origin of gender stereotypes comes from social learning. Children are taught almost from birth what it means to be male or female in society. People buy baby girls pink and baby boys blue. They have different infant toys and different toddler toys. Children are rewarded for doing what is socially acceptable for their gender, and discouraged for doing what is not. People will buy a girl dolls and Barbie's, and they will buy a boy cars and sports equipment. If a little boy tried to play Barbie's he is often deemed a sissy or a wimp. If a little girl plays with cars or sports, she is called a tomboy. Society teaches children to play with their gender appropriate toys.
Another origin of gender stereotypes come from cultural institutions. Through television, movies, and magazines, society defines the roles that males and females should play. The media portrays guys in sports movies, the women as the homemakers; the women take care of the children while cooking and cleaning, and the men as the breadwinners. Although the media has come a long way, they still show more men working than women and more men as being the dominant ones. The show the women taking the kids to school, and then they come home to clean or go shopping. Traditional TV shows also show the mothers as the housewife and the fathers as working. The Brady Bunch, and Leave it to Beaver are perfect examples of this gender stereotypic role.
Commercials show mothers with the children and the fathers coming home from work. They show the mothers picking up after the children and getting them something to eat, but you hardly see the fathers doing that. They also show the women doing the cooking and cleaning. On the rare occasion that you see a man cooking on a commercial, they are advertising something that is easy and microwavable. There are commercials that say things such as “strong enough for a man but made for a woman,” which show that men should be the strong ones. The textbook gives another example of “choosy moms choose Jif.” This is implying that the moms are in charge of the health of the children. This shows that advertisements think that mothers are the only ones that shop or cook.
Society still sticks with many different gender stereotypes. You can see this in the media, from what parents buy their children, to how the toys in the department store are arranged. There is a boys section with active sports toys, cars, and fighting figurines. The girl section has cooking sets, cleaning sets, and baby dolls. It shows what society thinks males and females should be doing. We have come a long way in the past few decades, but we still have much further to go.
