Gender Role Stereotypes Research Articles

Investigating Gender-Based Stereotypes in Advertisement Landscape: A Multimodal Analysis of an Indian Town

Abstract This study examines the prevalence of gender stereotypes in outdoor advertising within an Indian satellite town, focusing on the portrayal of women and men in stereotypical gender roles. Images of outdoor advertisements were collected from the busy streets and subjected to purposive sampling for analysis. The analysis was done with critical discourse analysis and multimodal discourse analysis. The results reveal a clear endorsement of men in powerful and high-status positions, while women are consistently depicted as objects and confined to traditional roles as homemakers. The purpose of this study is to emphasize the importance of addressing gender issues, not only for cultural understanding but also for recognizing the pervasive influence of gender-based social conditioning, which undermines the foundation of an equitable society.

Креативные установки в контексте жизненных и профессиональных ценностей студенческой молодежи: гендерное измерение

The problem studied in the article is caused by the need to develop creative sectors of the Russian economy and generate innovative processes in all spheres of life, which require creating conditions for creative self-realization for both women and men equally. The article is devoted to the identification of the connection between students' attitudes to creative activity and their life and professional values, special attention is paid to the search for gender differences in creative attitudes of students. The empirical base of the study is the data from a survey conducted in 2024 among Russian university students (n=750). The results of the study identified the priority of essential terminal motivation of creative activity due to the high importance of selfactualization values in the structure of life and professional values of students. The following gender features of attitudes toward creative activity among students were identified: women are more involved in the development of creative projects and advanced training at courses and trainings, men – in programming, mastering and improving technologies; women are more often involved in the manifestation of creativity in creative hobbies, education, social and civic activism, men – in scientific research, politics and management. It is concluded that the institutional conditions existing in Russian society and gender role stereotypes rooted in the public consciousness influence the nature of women’s creative attitudes and their choice of areas for realizing their creative potential. Gender asymmetry in areas of employment and the “closedness” of women’s access to areas such as management and politics do not contribute to women’s desire to show their potential in them.

Contrasting Realities: Italian Advertisements and Non-Sexist Linguistic and Social Norms

This research aims to scrutinise whether sexism is confined solely to the Italian advertising domain or extends into the language employed by the general populace and the broader cultural fabric of society. In Italy, despite numerous efforts made over the past decades to eradicate sexism in advertising campaigns, marketers frequently resort to its various manifestations, deeming it a powerful tool for attracting potential consumers. The prevalent utilisation of the female image in a sexist manner, portraying women as objects of desire, remains commonplace. Surprisingly, even renowned influencers aligned with the radical feminist movement often incorporate such tactics in their social media content. Sexism manifests through two principal avenues: firstly, the erotic portrayal of women’s bodies and/or their sensual behaviours, frequently coupled with language expressions encompassing with dual meanings; secondly, the perpetuation and reinforcement of stereotypical gender roles. While the latter has largely diminished in the contemporary era, the former persists prominently. This case study research employs a qualitative analysis approach. Various data sources, including legal documents, historical records, and contemporary media, are critically analysed. The findings suggest that, despite the societal and linguistic rejection of sexism in contemporary Italy, where gender equality prevails across social, economic, and legal realms, the advertising industry continues to rely on such practices heavily.

‘It just seems that they don’t act like men’: The influence of gender role stereotypes on women’s entrepreneurial innovation activities

The purpose of this study is to explore how gender role stereotypes influence women entrepreneurs in their innovation activities. To examine how women perceive and respond to stereotypes that deem them less capable of initiating innovation processes of creative destruction in Schumpeterian terms, I draw on symbolic interactionism. The ethnographic field study I conducted in an entrepreneurial ecosystem reveals that relevant actors and institutions still attribute women as exploring innovation potentials of limited scope, having higher risk awareness, and exploiting identified innovation potentials in niche rather than mainstream markets, while they are more often driven by emotions. To challenge these stereotypes and thrive in exploring and exploiting innovation potential, they need to invest considerable resources in legitimation efforts, building strategic alliances, and managing expectations. These findings contribute to the development of theory on the impact of gender on the performance of innovation activities.

‘I walk around with a list in my head’: qualitative research on perceived causes and consequences of the unequal gender division of mental labor in Croatian households

ABSTRACT The mental labor is the combination of cognitive and emotional labor, which is performed predominantly by women. It consists of anticipating needs, identifying options, making decisions, and monitoring their execution for all household members, and the emotional labor associated with this work. This qualitative study, conducted through focus groups, explores how women and men explain gender differences in mental labor, identifies the perceived consequences of such inequalities, and examines men’s perceptions on women’s mental labor. Thematic analysis yielded six key themes with the richest explanation of how women perform the greater share of mental labor because of stereotypical gender roles. Other explanations rely on efficiency, reliability, and managing conflicts. Most explanations are differentiated into essentialist and constructivist beliefs. Both the perceived consequences of mental labor and men’s perception are predominately negative, characterized by an over-evaluation of men’s initiatives and a devaluation of women’s mental labor. In qualitative research, the mental labor is identified as primarily female labor, leading to exhaustion among women, while it remains largely unrecognized and unappreciated by men.

СОВЕТ БИЙЛИГИНИН АЛГАЧКЫ ЖЫЛДАРЫНДАГЫ КЫРГЫЗСТАНДЫН БИЛИМ БЕРҮҮ СИСТЕМАСЫНДАГЫ ГЕНДЕР МАСЕЛЕСИНИН СОЦИАЛДЫК-ФИЛОСОФИЯЛЫК АНАЛИЗИ

In this article, the problem of gender in the education system of Kyrgyzstan in the first years of Soviet power was analyzed from a socio-philosophical point of view and presented to the scientific community interested in the topic of gender. It can be argued that the study of gender relations in the sphere of education in the Soviet society is of special interest, and its comprehensive study is one of the topical tasks. The main purpose of the scientific article is to substantiate that the education system is an important tool of education and propaganda of the young generation and to present the facts about the problems of gender equality and inequality in the early years of the Soviet period. The results of scientific analysis allow us to analyze gender stereotypes in the education system of Kyrgyzstan in the first years of Soviet power and identify the contours of gender stereotypes. The article uses the method of theoretical analysis and on the basis of gender philosophy of scientist M.M. Edilova conducted gender analysis in socio-philosophical aspect. The study shows that the public discourse in the education system of Kyrgyzstan in the early years of Soviet power was accompanied by internal contradictions in the assessment of the status of men and women. The unqualified success of Soviet power made it difficult to introduce equality of civil rights of women and men into public consciousness. Stereotypical gender roles remained in the life of Kyrgyz society, and the image of a Kyrgyz woman was mainly associated with the private sphere rather than the public sphere. In realizing the set goals and objectives, the methods used in writing scientific papers were used and the principles were fully observed.

How gender differences in informal networking result in unequal access to interorganizational R&D projects

Women are underrepresented in interorganizational research & development (R&D) projects. This affects the innovativeness of such projects, the representation of female perspectives in the design of innovations and the career opportunities of women. Such projects often emerge from preceding interorganizational R&D projects and are particularly successful when they do so. We argue that instrumental networking in ongoing projects is constitutive for the formation of such follow-up collaborations and, further, that stereotypical gender roles hinder women’s participation in instrumental interactions with their current project partners. Hence, we assume that unequal opportunities to participate in follow-up projects can be attributed to women’s lesser involvement in instrumental networks. Empirically, we test our argument using data on 2746 directed and weighted personal relationships across 24 interorganizational R&D projects. We show that instrumental interactions are crucial for who initiates follow-up projects with which current partner. Furthermore, we can show that the low participation of women in these activities can be better explained by gender roles than by gender homophily. In doing so, we reveal an important cause of women's under-representation in R&D.

Meta-narrative review of gender portrayal in Disney movies for young children and its pedagogical implications

Many of Disney movies have been criticized for perpetuating traditional gender stereotypes which constrain opportunities for children at large. Its recent characters have also incurred heated discussions on gender portrayal. Moreover, stereotypes of gender roles, developed early on, can exert an immediate impact on individuals’ behaviors and utterances and a long-term impact on individuals’ perceived options academically, professionally, personally, and socially. Recognizing the significance of this matter, this paper employed a meta-narrative review to collect and conceptually and empirically synthesize previous literature on the impact of Disney movies on young children’s gender awareness. Through an academic database search, 49 articles were collected using combinations of the keywords Disney character, Disney movie, young children, early childhood education, classroom practices, and gender. Furthermore, this review, in the pedagogical implication section, highlights the authors’ call for teachers to develop critical mindfulness of gender and shares hands-on activities for children to play with Disney characters in a reconstructive and agentic way.

Leader's Conveyed Emotional Labor and Leadership Evaluations

Abstract: We examined whether leader gender moderated the relationship between leader's conveyed emotional labor (EL) strategies and followers’ leadership evaluations [effectiveness, trust, leader–member exchange (LMX)]. Participants read a fictitious interview of a CEO (male/female) reflecting on their strategy (surface acting/deep acting/genuine displays) to express emotions. The results suggest that conveyed EL influenced evaluations of female, but not male, leaders for the three measures. Notably, females received better trust evaluations for genuine displays (vs. surface and deep acting), whereas males received similar evaluations across EL strategies. Although less clear for effectiveness and LMX ratings, the results suggest leader EL might influence evaluations of female (vs. male) leaders more strongly. This study sheds light on the role of gender stereotypes in evaluations of leaders performing EL.

The Persistence of Gender Bias in Student Evaluations of Teaching: The Role of Gender Stereotypes

The Persistence of Gender Bias in Student Evaluations of Teaching: The Role of Gender Stereotypes

부부 동반 출연 예능 · 상담형 리얼리티 프로그램에 나타난 성별 고정관념의 재현과 갈등 양상

부부 동반 출연 예능 · 상담형 리얼리티 프로그램에 나타난 성별 고정관념의 재현과 갈등 양상

The gendered maths confidence gap, social influence and social integration

ABSTRACT While there is little discernible difference between girls and boys in maths competence during secondary education, on average, girls have lower confidence in their maths skills. Over time, this difference leads to gendered choices of education and occupation. Research explaining the maths confidence gap focusses on psychological factors and socialisation into stereotypical gender roles. However, how the peer context shapes the self-perception of competence and how this self-image affects social integration and popularity of girls and boys is barely understood. We analyse friendship networks and perceptions of maths confidence in Sweden and Germany to answer these questions using the CILS4EU dataset (N = 7,472) and multi-level, longitudinal network models. We find that maths confidence of girls accurately follows their maths grades and social relations have little impact on girls’ self-evaluation. Boys tend to overestimate their ability and are more susceptible to peer processes; social comparison processes inform boys’ maths confidence. This suggests that math ability is important for boys but socially irrelevant for girls. Concerning friendship choices, we find that boys and girls with higher maths confidence are often more integrated. Thus, we do not find social pressure on girls to adhere to gendered math-stereotypes – the opposite is the case.

How CEOs can Increase Public Engagement via Microblogs: The Role of CEO Gender and Content Orientation

AbstractIn the social media era, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) are increasingly using microblogging sites to communicate with the public. Drawing on schema‐congruity theory and gender egalitarianism, we investigate how CEO gender and work–life content orientation interact to influence public engagement with CEOs on microblogs. Using China as our research setting, we conduct a content analysis of data collected from 63 high‐profile CEOs’ microblogs and four laboratory studies with some 2000 respondents. Our results show that for female CEOs, work‐related content leads to greater engagement than life‐related content; for male CEOs, the effect is reversed. We find that such outcomes are driven by the incongruity between stereotypical gender roles and content orientation, which enhances perceived novelty and audience interest, thus leading to greater engagement. This effect diminishes when the audience has a very high or very low perception of gender equality in their society; or when the audience supports male privilege values personally. Our research provides new theoretical insights for online leadership communication, public engagement and gender research. It also offers useful managerial guidance for executives to effectively leverage the capabilities of social media in engaging with the public.

Exploring the Hidden Curriculum on Gender in Contemporary Picturebooks from the Book Dash Collection

In this article, I discuss how gender roles are represented in a selection of South African picturebooks, paying particular attention to how these books cumulatively constitute a hidden curriculum. The picturebooks of the Book Dash collection, an online collection of free children’s literature created in South Africa, have been chosen as the case study. The data have been analysed using thematic analysis. Eagly and Wood’s Social Role Theory provides the theoretical framework. Findings from this study suggest that when the picturebooks are read cumulatively, the persistence of gender role stereotypes can be observed in the Book Dash collection, which depicts gendered characters in various ways that could be read as both perpetuating and challenging stereotypes. The recommendation of this study for teacher education is that aspects of the hidden curriculum should be addressed carefully when teaching or selecting children’s literature for children.

Gender, Security and Poverty in Africa: The Bane of Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria

Nigeria is now experiencing complex existential challenges related to gender inequity, citizen security, and poverty. The establishment and maintenance of states are heavily influenced by gender dynamics, which are further compounded by the disruptive effects of economic and social inequalities. Non-state actors perpetuate discrimination and violence, specifically targeting women and girls, as a result of entrenched cultural norms that dictate stereotypical gender roles and relationships. The primary aim of the research is to examine the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals about gender, security, and poverty in Nigeria. The six geographical regions are descending into a state of ungovernability, as terror squads have completely taken control of rural and suburban communities. The paper's theoretical foundation is based on Robert Merton's Anomie Theory. The research used a methodical approach by using content analysis, specifically relying on secondary data. The study mostly gathered statistical data from reputable sources such as the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigerian Living Standard Survey, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, and SDGs Base line reports. The findings indicate that implementing policies such as the Micro-Credit Scheme and Conditional Cash Transfer as part of Social Investment did not effectively address the issues of poverty and security. The results of the study indicate that gender inequality, insecurity, and poverty are still widespread in all aspects of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Consequently, development is certain to be hindered. The article states that the expansion and implementation of universal social protection and social security schemes should not discriminate based on age, gender, disability, or education systems. The paper suggests In order to eradicate insecurity and poverty, it is imperative to develop more robust economies. This process starts by empowering women to transition from mere participation in the economy to attaining complete economic authority. Keywords: Bane, Gender, Security, SDGs and Poverty

Making Sense of Cyberbullying: Stories of Men and Women at Work

This article explores how women and men appraise and interpret their experiences of cyberbullying at work and how they respond to such behaviours within a gendered cultural space, using the theory of sensemaking. Within the interpretive research paradigm, data was collected through in-depth, in-person interviews from 10 male and 25 female employees who had experienced cyberbullying. The findings indicated the similar and different ways that sense was made by men and women employees about their cyberbullying experiences. While making sense of cyberbullying experiences has been a very social endeavour for women, it has been a relatively private and individual process for men. Further, women had been more assertive and had relentlessly attempted to clear their image and regain their fractured identities as respectable women, while men mainly had been passive in trying to protect their fractured identities as good performers. Further, gender role stereotypes and gender scripts appeared to have influenced the sensemaking process and the participants’ reactions. This article contributes to the limited literature on cyberbullying at work and develops existing understandings of how men and women understand and react to cyberbullying experiences in a gendered cultural context.

Do Investors Undervalue Female Directors Due to Gender Role Stereotypes? Evidence from the United States

We show that female directors are associated with higher equity undervaluation after controlling for the effects of female managers, firm performance, corporate governance, risk, dispersion in analysts’ earnings forecasts, firm size, stock price informativeness, and earnings quality. This association is less pronounced after increased societal awareness of female directors. Our findings are robust to the use of alternative measures of key variables and various tests of endogeneity. We further find that female directors’ committee membership, committee chair role, board tenure, and board experience are positively associated with equity undervaluation. Additional results show that female directors’ age and ethnicity also impact equity undervaluation, and the undervaluation of female directors mostly occurs for firms operating in male‐dominated industries. Our results collectively suggest that investors’ negative gender role stereotyping of female directors contributes to equity undervaluation of firms with female directors. Negative stereotyping of female directors is less pronounced after investors become more aware of the benefits of female directors. Therefore, our findings provide insights for policy makers and suggests that further increased awareness of the benefits of female directors is essential. Policy makers may also consider taking appropriate actions to further minimize gender stereotyping of female directors.

The impact of non-stereotypical gender role endorsement in live broadcasting on consumers' purchase intention.

Non-stereotypical gender role endorsement is becoming more common in e-commerce live broadcasting. However, there is relatively little research on this topic, and the mechanism of its impact on purchase intention is not yet clear. Based on schema theory and experimental methods, this study explores the impact of non-stereotypical gender role endorsement (compared to stereotypical gender role endorsement) on purchase intention in e-commerce live broadcasting. Besides, we take traditional gender ideology as the moderating variable. We first selected experimental materials available for formal experiments through two pre-experiments. Secondly, this study conducted experiments on male/female product groups, respectively. Participants were recruited through the Credamo platform for both experiments. Experiment 1 indicates that for female product, stereotypical gender role endorsement triggers higher consumer purchase intention compared to non-stereotypical gender role endorsement. The subsequent moderating effect test results manifest that traditional gender ideology plays a moderating role in this effect. Experiment 2 shows that for male product, there is no significant difference in the impact of the two types of endorsement on consumers' purchase intention. In other words, non-stereotypical gender role endorsement does affect consumers' purchase intention, but this effect exists only in female product, and is more significant for consumers with a high level of traditional gender ideology. This study not only has certain theoretical significance for expanding the application boundaries of schema theory and congruence between celebrities and products endorsed, but also has practical significance for brand owners and streamers to effectively adopt non-stereotypical gender role endorsement to enhance purchase intention.

Perception of gender norms and its association with bullying behavior among adolescent students

BackgroundInequitable gender norms are increasingly seen as a risk to health and well-being. Although adolescence represents a critical phase of development before adulthood, there is limited understanding about adolescents’ perception of gender norms in Egypt. Adolescents’ nonconformity with stereotypical gender norms is suspected to increase their exposure to bullying behavior. This study aimed to explore the adolescents’ perception of gender norms — especially towards romantic relations and stereotypical gender traits and roles — and its association with bullying behavior among school children.MethodsA cross-sectional study of a sample of 400 students 11–17 years from 10 public schools in Aswan city, Egypt was conducted. Data were collected via interviewer-administered questionnaires using the Gender Norms Scales and School Life Survey tool for bullying.ResultsSchool adolescents of both sexes showed no significant difference with respect to their attitudes towards romantic relationships engagement, but boys were slightly more permissive about romantic relationships than girls (54.4%, 46.1%, respectively). On the other hand, girls were significantly more likely to indicate agreement with a sexual double standard regarding boy/girl relationships than boys (75% vs. 46.4%, P < 0.001). Regarding gender stereotypical traits, girls’ and boys’ perception showed no significant difference, but boys had more endorsement, and 64.3% of boys perceived more agreement with gender stereotypical traits compared to 57.4% of girls. Also, boys were more likely to express more agreement with stereotypical gender roles than girls (74% vs. 52.9%, P < 0.001). However, 51% of students agreed that it was okay to tease a boy who acted like a girl, and 27.5% agreed that it was okay to tease a girl who acted like a boy. Students’ status of bullying and victimization was not significantly associated with any studied gender norms concept.ConclusionsPerception of unequal gender norms starts early in adolescence. Boys are more accepting of heteronormative relations among adolescents and more likely to endorse stereotypical gender roles than girls, while girls are more conservative and more likely to perceive a sexual double standard regarding boy/girl relationships. Moreover, adolescents of both genders perceived more agreement with deserving sanctions for atypical gender behaviors in boys with higher perception in boys compared to girls. However, both boys’ and girls’ perception of gender is not related to their status of bullying and victimization. This has important implications for understanding the development of gender norms and their impact on adolescent behavior and social interactions.

Mainstreaming democratic backsliding: The role of gender stereotypes

AbstractRadical‐right parties have gradually penetrated the political mainstream in many liberal democracies, marking a trend of ‘democratic backsliding’. We propose that women's increasing visibility as representatives of radical‐right agendas makes democratic backsliders, their policies and their parties seem more legitimate, and may help explain their growing public acceptance. Our studies provide the first systematic examination of this hypothesis in three countries – Israel, Germany and the United States (N = 7203). In Studies 1a‐c, we show that voters perceive democracy‐eroding policies through a gendered lens – they attribute gender stereotypes to the parties promoting these policies and to the public supporting these policies. In Studies 2a‐c, we experimentally demonstrate the effect of politicians’ gender on public acceptance of democracy‐eroding policies, politicians and parties, and demonstrate the role of gender stereotypes in mediating this effect. Finally, we show that the audiences susceptible to the mainstreaming effect of politicians’ gender are precisely those that are often particularly repelled by radical‐right agendas and their perceived masculine image: Women and left‐wing voters.