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Not all cultures are breaking gender stereotypes of gender. These cultures still practice the old system of values.

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Culture is a set of values, norms, rituals or ideologies that are practised and shared by a particular society. These elements describe a society and represent it. For example, performing pooja twice a day is Hindu culture, or, when a couple gets married, the wife moving in with her husband's family is Indian culture. Cultural concepts have historical roots, and stem from the conditions and situations during which that particular society came into existence. These concepts further shape the behaviour of the society, and eventually become its identity. With time, these ideas undergo several changes, as the society passes through phases wherein it gets exposed to new ideas.

A social construct is a mechanism or perception created by a society while also guiding its perspective. It is mainly 'constructed' through cultural or social practice. This construct does not exist independently in the natural world, and everything known or perceived as reality is in entirety, or partially, socially situated. Thus, different cultures have different social constructs and functions in accordance with them. One of the nascent ideas of culture are those pertaining to gender roles. Many cultural concepts drive roles, attitudes and practices of its people, while distinguishing them for men and women. Different roles are assigned to both, and they are expected to function accordingly. For example, a man is considered to be the bread winner of the family. A woman on the other hand, is expected to stay home and carry out all the household chores. Thus, men and women reversing these roles is considered as a violation of standard cultural norms. Gender therefore, can be termed as a social construct.

Children learn which emotions they should express, which colours they should like, what kind of hobbies to have, what toys to play with, what songs to listen to, whether to like sports or not, whether to learn cooking or not- based on the gender they are told to belong to. Boys are told to keep their hair short (and short hair thus is called a 'boy cut') while girls are instructed to grow their hair as it is a sign of femininity. A boy is taught to hold back his emotions and make practical decisions, while a woman being emotional or impulsive is considered to be normal. Men are also told to get married and 'take care' of their wife and kids, and treat them in a particular way. If a person deviates from these assigned roles, he or she is considered to be an outcast. The society then takes it upon itself to correct that behaviour. For example, homosexuals, bisexuals and transgenders are often ostracized or looked down upon and are told to go and 'treat' themselves.

Therefore, gender as a social construct speaks volumes about the culture that shapes it. In Indian culture, a woman is considered to be inferior and given secondary treatment. Her life is expected to revolve around her family's wishes and then her husband's and his family's. She is taught to be obedient, denied education and opportunities to fulfill her own dreams and kept away from decision-making. Hence, the fact that Indian culture treats its women in such a manner forms a part of its identity. Another example of the same would be if a boy chose to pursue arts or art, he is considered to be a failure. Indian men are expected to pursue science or commerce, while arts is meant for women, as it is viewed to have no future.

However, gender perceptions are undergoing a change. Earlier, working women were few in number. Now, the number has significantly increased. People are constantly questioning why certain habits are considered masculine or feminine when they are only human in nature. Feminist movements across the world have highlighted outdated cultural practices and shunned them. LGBT communities are coming out of the closet to discuss their lives, aspirations and the need to be treated respectfully. Through education and globalization, exchange of ideas across borders along with exposure to different cultures has changed the way people perceive gender identities. Gradually, both the genders have begun to find faults with the cultural concepts induced into their minds and are trying to break away from them. Gender equality in terms of occupation, wages, education, freedoms, etc. is much sought after.

Needless to say, all cultures have not been extended acceptance. While gender stereotypes are slowly being broken, these scenarios are prevalent in parts in the world. In India, although we have come a long way, there are cultures that yet practise the old system of values. A significant number of families are dual income households, they welcome the prospect of having a female child and educate their daughters, working women are becoming a common sight, boys taking up alternative careers is evolving, men doing household work has become essential in many cases and children are given the option to chose their life partner, career and lifestyle. A lot of women are seen having short hair, smoking and consuming alcohol, wearing shirts and pants, colouring their hair, roaming late in the night, etc. This is representative of the fact that the society is healthily evolving and coming to terms with these new cultural ideas. Dating has gained prominence and parents are slowly getting accustomed to the trend. Practices such as late-night parties, clubbing, going on trips in a mixed group, male-female friendship, etc. are getting normalized in some parts of the country.

Yet, a larger section of the population adheres to the system that bars women from entering the hall when the men of the family are having discussions, a married woman is expected to quit her job, female foeticide remains pertinent, wearing western clothing is considered uncultured, men get the upper hand in numerous matters as compared to women, the male child is given importance while the female child is treated as a liability. Although we do notice cultural changes owing to changes in gender perceptions, at the grassroot level, a lot needs to be worked on.

Picture Credits : girlsaskguys

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Culture is a set of values, norms, rituals or ideologies that are practised and shared by a particular society. These elements describe a society and represent it. For example, performing pooja twice a day is Hindu culture, or, when a couple gets married, the wife moving in with her husband's family is Indian culture.

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These are the differences of what's important to men and women.

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Stores all around the world are selling products separate to appeal to certain genders and coloring them accordingly.

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It's not only the men and women being stereotyped, its also our jobs. Women can be fire fighters/police officers while men can be nurses or chefs.

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"I'm not bossy, I'm the boss."

So proclaims Beyoncé in a video in support of the #banbossy campaign. The campaign highlights how when little boys take charge, they're often praised for being a "leader." But when little girls do, they're more likely to be scolded for being too "bossy."

And it matters for grownups, too. Research and media stories abound with examples of how gender stereotypes disadvantage women leaders. A woman manager is less likely to be taken seriously by the people who work for her.

When men direct others, they're often assumed to be assertive and competent. But when women direct others, they're often disliked and labeled abrasive or bossy.

Our new study puts a twist on this narrative. Gender bias doesn't merely disadvantage women, it also can disadvantage men. The reason? We don't just stereotype men and women. We stereotype jobs.

Firefighters and nurses

Many jobs in the economy are gender-stereotyped. Firefighting is thought of as a man's job, whereas nursing is thought of as women's work.

Previous studies have shown that these stereotypes-which shape our expectations about whether a man or a woman is a better "fit" for a given job-are powerful because they can bias a whole host of employment outcomes. For instance, they influence the chances that a man or a woman will apply for the job, that he or she will be hired, the pay each would receive, and even performance evaluations that determine promotions.

But how quickly do these gender stereotypes get attached to jobs in the first place? And, to what extent might such stereotypes affect the level of authority and respect that people are willing to give the man or woman who works in that job?

How a job gets stereotyped

To answer these questions, we studied a job that is ambiguously related to gender: a microfinance loan manager in Central America.

In this region, the microfinance loan manager job is new and gender-balanced in its composition. Unlike firefighters or nurses-jobs that are already strongly gender-stereotyped-loan managers at the microfinance bank we studied are about 50/50 men and women.

The nature of commercial microfinance makes managers' positions more gender-ambiguous. Microfinance is associated with the financial industry, which is traditionally masculine. But microfinance also has a legacy of social service and poverty alleviation, which are female-stereotyped activities.

Additionally, in the context we studied, the loan manager job had been around for less than 10 years, making it even less likely that clients would have strong preconceptions about whether it was a "man's job" or a "woman's job."

Loan managers at the bank we focused on are frequently reshuffled from one borrower to another. This quasi-random reshuffling allowed us to observe how borrowers' repayment patterns differed when they were paired with male and female loan managers. For example, a borrower might be paired with a male manager initially and then transferred to a female manager. This switching process allowed us to examine how clients' repayment rates varied when the only thing that changed was their managers' gender.

We examined borrowers' missed payment rates as a measure of the authority they afford their managers. Making a payment on time signals that the borrower views the manager as someone whose authority is legitimate and whose directives should be followed. In contrast, missing a payment signals that the borrower feels he or she can approach his or her responsibilities to the manager more laxly. When borrowers miss payments, it suggests the manager lacks the ability to secure compliance and therefore lacks authority.

We found that it took only one interaction before clients assigned a gender to the job and began to treat anyone in that role (man or woman) based on that stereotype, which meant less authority if the loan manager position was seen as a "woman's job." So if a client's first manager was a woman, they would tend to miss more payments on their loan-even if later transferred to a male manager-compared with one who was initially paired with a man. These effects persisted even when we accounted for other factors that might affect repayment, like income and loan size.

Male managers whose clients perceived the job as a "woman's job" experienced an especially large disadvantage compared to male managers whose clients perceived the job as a "man's job."

When men stepped in to work with a client who had initially worked with another male loan manager, the client was highly compliant with his directives. But when men stepped in to work with a client who had initially worked with a female loan manager, the client afforded them much less authority. They were much less compliant than they would have been if they had initially worked with a male loan manager.

Gendered jobs harm us all

When gender stereotypes get attached to a job, it biases the authority that people attribute to the man or woman who happens to work in that position. In this way, men experience negative bias when working in positions that others associate with women.

Our findings show that, when men work in a managerial job that people associate with a man and male stereotypes, they are able to wield a substantial amount of authority over clients. But when the very same managerial job happens to be associated with a woman, men who work in that position are viewed as significantly less legitimate sources of authority.

In other words, our study suggests that stereotyping a job as "women's work" and societal biases that grant women less authority than men harm us all.

Ideally, we want to live in a world where we perform the work that is best suited to our abilities and where an individual in a position of authority receives the same respect, regardless of gender. If we all can support both men and women who work in gender-atypical roles, perhaps we can become less likely to devalue some workers on the basis of arbitrary and old-fashioned gender stereotypes.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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The enduring reason you believe all nurses are women

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"I'm not bossy, I'm the boss." So proclaims Beyoncé in a video in support of the #banbossy campaign. The campaign highlights how when little boys take charge, they're often praised for being a "leader." But when little girls do, they're more likely to be scolded for being too "bossy."

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Boys are allowed to be rough with each other while girls have to be polite and nice to everyone, even other girls.