Women’s Psychology Unit 3

Unit Three: Similarities and Differences Gender Essentialism: ● A concept used to examine the attribution of fixed and innate qualities of women and men; differences between the two sexes. ● Sex and gender are two different things; however, they are associated in certain ways. ○ Sex: the biological label that is given to a person (Ex. male, female, intersex). ○ Gender: psychological characteristics of a person (a scale between masculinity and femininity). ● Sex/gender differences have served to justify sexism; however, sexism today is more subtle (nowhere do they describe women as explicitly inferior but more implicitly through advertisements, magazines, etc). ● A similarities-perspective emphasizes the ways in which men and women are similar and is aligned with liberal feminism. ● A differences-perspective emphasizes the ways in which they are different and is aligned with cultural feminism. ○ Relates to neurosexism (this strengthens and advocates for gender stereotypes) ■ Neurosexism: sexist assumption that gender differences perceived in character and behavior are caused by biological differences in brains. ● Sex/gender differences can change when other variables intersect— age, race, socioeconomic status. ○ Some may not experience the same (micro)aggressions as others. Social Role Theory: ● Emphasizes how gender roles are responses to different roles in society ● The theory holds that differences between the two sexes arise from roles they’ve traditionally held ( Ex. women as CARETAKERS and men as the BREADWINNERS ) ● Cognitive and personality differences reflect adaptation to social roles (Ex. women having nurturing qualities and men have better spatial skills) ○ In other words, the theory asserts that being a caregiver causes someone to be nurturing not that nurturing causes someone to be a caregiver. Expectancy Role Value Theory: ● Focuses on how environmental factors and gender socialization promote sex/gender differences ● The theory centers around the idea that women and men garner internalized stereotypes regarding how they are supposed to act ● This is why men have difficult times in going into caretaking roles because if they do so, it goes against the internalized belief that a man should be assertive and a breadwinner. ● 2 factors on how people make decisions regarding what activities to pursue ○ Expectation that doing the activity will lead to success ○ The value the person puts on the activity Differences in Cognitive Ability ● Mathematical Ability ○ In terms of cognitive ability, the stereotype is that women excel in verbal skills and men excel in math skills. ○ Research shows that women receive much higher scores than men, however there were indications that at the highest levels of math skills men did outperform women (like getting into better colleges, better benefits) ○ Although, men are more privileged and over-represented ○ Supports Gender Stratification Hypothesis ■ Gender Stratification Hypothesis: the differences found between women and men relate to the level of gender equality in the country ● Verbal Ability ○ Explains how women generally have higher verbal abilities than men according to data ● STEM ○ Many women are wanting to pursue STEM fields; however, they are being taken advantage of despite having skills that are much higher than men ○ Struggle to pursue due to barriers such as difference in race, gender, or sexuality ○ Discrimination persists as well ○ Stereotypes can influence expectations (lower or higher) ○ Expectations depend on certain groups ● Stereotype Threat: accepting and confirming into stereotypes ○ Ex: Conforming into the stereotype that Asians are bad at driving or is good at math)