Gender stereotypes

A 1952 magazine feature stereotyping women drivers.

Gender stereotypes are widely held beliefs about the
characteristics and behavior of women and men.[9] Gender
stereotypes are not only descriptive, but also prescriptive beliefs
about "how men and women should be and behave". Members of
either sex who deviate from prescriptive gender stereotypes are
punished. Assertive women, for example, are called "bitches,"
whereas men who lack physical strength are seen as "wimps".[10]
Empirical studies have found widely shared cultural beliefs that
men are more socially valued and more competent than women
at most things, as well as specific assumptions that men are
better at some particular tasks (e.g., mechanical tasks) while
women are better at others (e.g., nurturing tasks).[11][12][13] For
example, Fiske and her colleagues surveyed nine diverse
samples, from different regions of the United States, and found
that members of these samples, regardless of age, consistently
rated the category "men" higher than the category "women" on a
multidimensional scale of competence.[14]
Gender stereotypes can facilitate and impede intellectual
performance. For instance, stereotype threats can lower women's
performance on mathematics tests due to the stereotype that
women have inferior quantitative skills compared to men's.
[15][16] Stereotypes can also affect the assessments people make
of their own competence. Studies found that specific stereotypes
(e.g., women have lower mathematical abilities) affect women's
and mens perceptions of those abilities such that men assess
their own task ability higher than women performing at the same
level. These "biased self-assessments" have far-reaching effects
because they can shape men and womens educational and
career decisions.[17][18]
Gender stereotypes are sometimes applied and created at an
early age. Various interventions were reviewed including the use
of fiction in challenging gender stereotypes. One study was done
by A. Wing in which children were read Bill's New Frock by Anne
Fine and then discussed its content. Wing observed that children

were able to articulate, and reflect on, their stereotypical

constructions of gender and those in the world at large. There was
evidence of children considering 'the different treatment that
boys and girls receive' during classroom discussion which enab