Gender Stereotyping: Breaking the Female Chains
by Amanda Beatrice C. Deang
Women are supposed to stay at home, to cook and do housework, and to be responsible for raising children, but is the role that society has imposed on them the only purpose of their lives?
Gender stereotypes have long been the basis for how members of a certain gender should be: how they dress and present themselves, what their occupation should be, how they behave, and the like. Female gender stereotypes have established how and what a woman should be, even before she explores what she wants for her life. Stereotypes limit their opportunities and, in the worst cases, kill a woman’s self-confidence.
More than what they are
In the Philippines, it is a perceived societal standard that a woman’s ‘level of decency’ depends on how much fabric she wears, and her degree of capability depends on how great and diligent she is at housework.
Many advocates against female gender stereotyping have raised their voices regarding this societal error, but despite having proven that women can go beyond the boundaries of the norms and roles associated with them, a survey from Guerrero (2022) has proven that women's gender stereotypes, especially in cases of breadwinning and home-tending, are still upheld by many Filipinos.
Being a woman in the Philippines is equivalent to being subject to a pervasive system, and it is already expected that a woman seeking to apply for traditionally male roles such as jobs that require technical skills will be held to very high standards. And at times, when they do land the job, workplace discrimination on the basis of gender identity does tend to take place right after.
The gender stereotype also hinders a woman from developing her personal abilities and making decisions for herself, which leads to negative consequences as it ultimately affects their mental, physical, and emotional health and leaves them with zero self-confidence in regards to their personalities.
Exceeding the expectations
Are the roles that society has imposed on women the only purpose of their lives? Will women be able to break free from the chains of female gender stereotypes, or will such stereotypes continue to drag them down unwillingly? And as these harmful gender norms continue to persist and influence relationships, when will we really be able to say that society has already outdated and eliminated such stereotypes?
With all the stereotypes surrounding women, one notable fact that should be imprinted on society’s mind is that gender judgments are inaccurate, as these only stem from forms of bias that society has established for women over time.
Despite what society expects from a woman, there is no law or rule on how a woman should particularly be when it comes to her decisions or on how she wishes to project herself.
Men and women are equally capable of controlling what role they want to associate themselves with. Many may ask and doubt the possibility of such things, yet the latter is fully capable of much more than the roles that society forcibly associates to her.
