Stereotype threat Essay

To understand stereotype, you should define what it is. As Cambridge Dictionaries says, stereotype is a fixed idea that people have about what someone or something is like. No one chooses to be stereotyped or categorized under a specific title, and no one wants to be the victim of an unfair judgment. Despite those opinions, people make judgments on people they barely know. Stereotypes usually lead to incorrect predictions about a person or group. The use of stereotypes to judge another human being can cause serious harm to others.

According to traditional stereotypes, men are strong and dominant.

Whereas females are weak and submissive. Gender stereotypes disadvantage and discriminate against women in many places. Thus, this paper focuses on three negative stereotypes about women in the workplace, at school, and in society that could cause serious harm to them. Negative gender stereotype, especially being dependent or no self-confidence, impact women in the workplaces. According to the article ‘Media Portrayal of Women and Social Change’, “women are often stereotypically portrayed as playing lesser beings, dependent roles or sexual objects.

” This means it is more appropriate for women to stay at home doing housework and caring for children than getting a job. When women are offered employment jobs, they are not given good jobs because men believe that they could not handle traditionally masculine work. Men think that women are not strong enough or smart enough to work outside of the house. These ideas reflect the gender discriminations, which are not fair to women.

Nowadays, we can meet many women leaders in the whole world; such as, President Geun-hye Park of South Korea, President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca of Malta and President Joyce Banda of Malawi. For being a leader, being independent and having self-confidence are necessary. Therefore, it is not true women are too dependent. Kim 1 Another problematic stereotype for women that they are all bad at math. Many believe that females are biologically inferior at mathematics. In fact, on the SAT, boys score approximately 30-35 points higher than girls on the math (Angier).

There is another reason for this stereotype beyond the biological factor. Claude Steels said that when people are in a situation in which they might confirm a negative stereotype about a group to which they belong (based on gender, race, or ethnicity, for example) they perform worse in that evaluation than they do when they are not aware of the stereotype. In other words, when girls hear “women are bad at math. ” from parents, teachers and anyone, they lose their confidence on the test. Their poor performance convinces them that they are bad at math. In addition, this bias results in professional mathematical fields like science. We find that women are under- represented in math and science fields.

For example, there are only 14percent women physic professors in the United States. The gender gap in math and gender stereotype is highly correlated. The most dangerous stereotype for women is about their appearance. Throughout history, when we consider women in society, we imagine them as small and thin. The thing that plays a significant role in our modern world is mass media. In the media, most women are thin people especially in makeup commercial. Because of this depiction, many women want to be thin and to look a certain way.

We can easily find the cases that many people go through physical and mental problems to try and overcome this image. Gwyneth Paltrow is a good example of this. According to ABC News, “She has kept her body slim followed extreme diets for 11 years. She was recently diagnosed with osteopenia. ” It was a shock because this illness is known to mainly occur in elderly people. Hollywood gives the pressure to all actresses to Kim 2 stay slim and keep beautiful. We need to weigh the consequences of following this stereotype of media or keeping our health.

In conclusion, those stereotypes about women such as, weak and dependent,  keeping thin, and not good at math, are very dangerous for the future of women. Those negative effects cause harm, poor performance, and even health problem. While most people realize the stereotypes are untrue, many still make assumptions based on them and unfortunately they are still considered, “the norm” Kim 3 Works Cited Angier, Natalie. “Gray Matter and Sexes: A Gray Area Scientifically. ” The New York Times. N. p. , 24 Jan. 2005. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. Fsher, Luchina. “Is Gwyneth Paltrow’s Diet to Blame for Bone Disease? ” Abc News. N. p. , 29 June 2010. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.

Hall, Jenefer. “Top 10 Stereotypes About Women. ” K104. 7. CBS Local Media, 12 Mar. 2014. Web. 9 Nov. 2014. Luo, Y. & Hao, X. (2007) Media portrayal of Women and Social Change: A case Study of Women of China. Feminist Media Studies, Vol. 7, No. 3: p281-298. Pollack, Eileen. “Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science? ” The New York Times. N. p. , 3 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. Steele, Claude M. “Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans. ” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 69 (1995): 797- 811. 1995. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. Kim 4 a.