Stereotypes: Consequences and Controversies

What is stereotype? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines stereotype as “believing unfairly that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same.” Stereotypes are everywhere. Stereotypes cover racial groups, gender, political groups and even demographic. Stereotypes affect our everyday lives. Sometimes people are judged based on what they wear, how they look, how they act or people they hang out with. Gender and racial stereotypes are very controversial in today’s society and many fall victims. Nevertheless, racial and gender stereotypes have serious consequences in everyday life. It makes individuals have little to no motivation and it also puts a label about how a person should act or live. When one is stereotype they

Sex or gender discrimination is treating individuals differently just because an individual is a female (woman) or male (man). One issue in today’s job market is gender stereotypes in the workplace and hiring. Gender plays an important role in the workplace. Gender stereotype play a large factor in the workplace. It is evident that females, when compared to males in the workplace, take more subservient roles. Gender stereotypes in the workplace stemmed from the assumption that women belong at home taking care of the children, while men work and make money to support the family. Despite reductions in blatant forms of discrimination, women continue to experience subtler forms discrimination, such as having their input in groups ignored and having their performances devalued (Ridgeway and Correll 2004; Valian 1999). Although many presumes that gender stereotypes targets women, there are just as many stereotypes geared toward men. Both men and women have legal protection against gender discrimination in the hiring process or workplace. Gender stereotypes do exist and influence perceptions of both men and women in everyday life. Sometimes gender bias in job descriptions can deter women that qualifies for the job from applying for the positions. There were many studies that proved that gender and racial biases can affect how employers evaluate potential candidates’ applications, leading employers to favor white male applicants more over equally qualifies women and people of color. The impact of gender bias in the hiring process is implausible. For example, in a double-blind study, science faculty members were asked to evaluate a fictitious student application who was randomly assigned a male or female name for a laboratory manager position. The applicants name was either John or Jennifer. Although both applicants had the same qualifications and experience, the results from the study showed that the faculty members