Impact of Gender Stereotypes

By Kareem Opeyemi

From the beginning of time stereotypes have  guided our actions and inactions. There are many labels given to people from the moment their gender is revealed, even before they are born. How the girls are automatically expected to take up motherly roles like cooking and taking care of their siblings even at a young age. How it is assumed that  girls are better at reading and cooking while the boys are better at science or math. How boys are encouraged to engage in sports and other physical activities, but not activities like ballet or music. How women are believed to be too emotional for  certain occupation. How men who are not belligerent are considered unmanly, among others. There are many stereotypes directed at both genders, not women alone.

“I don’t agree with the image that society has painted an ideal woman to be. She cooks, cleans, makes babies, bows to her husband.  I’m not doing all that. It should not be expected of me as a woman,” says Josephine.

“I am a nurse and yes, I am a man. Nigerians still find it funny, the idea of a male nurse. This ‘nursing is for women; doctoring is for men’ ideology needs to stop,” says Ajibola.

“I saw a tweet about after school activities for boys and girls in one of the top schools in Lagos. Activities like ballet, cooking, reading were for girls while activities like taekwondo, science and tech were for the boys. That  is a stereotype that doesn’t sit well with me. Why shouldn’t the boys learn how to cook and the girls how to fight? I’m glad times are changing,” says Desmond.

Solape Ajayi is concerned about career stereotype, “I think career wise; gender stereotypes need to be handled. It is almost as if careers are allocated by gender. When you tell a random person you want to study Engineering as a woman, they think you can’t handle it. When you become an Engineer and  work for someone; they would think you can’t do it because you are a woman. It’s bad.” 

Constraining a gender to particular roles can be attributed to the constant gender disparities that exist in the society. Many people advocate for equal rights for both genders. However, with some gender stereotypes still in place, the idea of such equality is a pipedream. If the ideology that women can’t occupy certain roles because they don’t ‘look’ like they can or that men who don’t assert dominance are not ‘breadwinner material’, is not eradicated, then we had better start getting used to the inequalities.

Sexism is another breed of vice that gender stereotypes encourage. These stereotypes feed into discrimination of sexes. There is no denying that  constant labelling of the sexes has resulted in  prejudice against them. 

Stereotypes restrict people from dreaming or achieving their dreams or career goals. It should be known that people characterize themselves based on the stereotypes attached to their persona. A young woman aspiring to be a doctor in a society where female doctors are deemed abnormal, will immediately self-correct her dreams, giving up on it. Also, these stereotypes limit the experiences of both genders. There are many people who have lost job opportunities because of their gender.

How we unintentionally live by these stereotypes is causing  huge gaps between the genders in our society. The silver lining is that people are becoming more aware of the harm they cause  and are willing to provide remedy.

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