What is gender bias?
Gender bias is the inaccurate generalizations of or discrimination against someone based on their gender.
What does gender bias look like?
Gender bias presents itself in numerous ways. It can be on a large scale, such as political or societal gender bias, or it can be on a smaller scale, like in your community, in your school, or in your home. Gender bias can be split up into two main categories: explicit and implicit.
Explicit Gender Bias: Intentional sexism usually driven by the belief that not all genders are equal. Whether it's the deliberate use of sexist language in order to make a person of another gender feel inferior, or physical violence directed at someone as a result of their gender, explicit gender bias is generally easy to recognize.
Implicit Gender Bias: Any type of discrimination or bias that does not directly result from a belief that one gender is inferior, but instead consists of beliefs, values, or expectations that have been ingrained into everyone due to the inherently sexist nature of our society. Many people use sexist language without realizing it or make assumptions about someone based on their gender, not because they have bad intentions, but because it is normalized. Since implicit bias is a pervasive part of society, it is more difficult to recognize and therefore can be even more harmful. Implicit gender bias is not the fault of any individual, but is a product of society as a whole.
Explicit Gender Bias: Intentional sexism usually driven by the belief that not all genders are equal. Whether it's the deliberate use of sexist language in order to make a person of another gender feel inferior, or physical violence directed at someone as a result of their gender, explicit gender bias is generally easy to recognize.
Implicit Gender Bias: Any type of discrimination or bias that does not directly result from a belief that one gender is inferior, but instead consists of beliefs, values, or expectations that have been ingrained into everyone due to the inherently sexist nature of our society. Many people use sexist language without realizing it or make assumptions about someone based on their gender, not because they have bad intentions, but because it is normalized. Since implicit bias is a pervasive part of society, it is more difficult to recognize and therefore can be even more harmful. Implicit gender bias is not the fault of any individual, but is a product of society as a whole.
What are examples of gender bias?
Political
Societal:
Educational:
- Women are highly underrepresented in the government, especially in legislative branches.
- Specifically, Vermont has never sent a woman to Congress and has only ever elected one woman governor.
- Every President of the United States has been male, even when female candidates were far more qualified.
- In many states, abortion is illegal, so women have an extreme lack of control over their own bodies.
- There is a double standard for female presidential candidates, as they are expected to have a "nice personality" and also leadership skills, but when they act kindly they are deemed weak and when they take charge they are called bossy. This makes it even more difficult for them to get elected.
- There is currently no federal legislation enforcing paid maternity leave, which can harm families physically and economically.
Societal:
- For every dollar a man makes, a woman will make 80 cents. This gap increases drastically for women of color and disabled women.
- Women are expected to have certain jobs and men are expected to have others due to gender roles and ingrained expectations about capabilities and behavior.
- It is more difficult for people of genders other than male to succeed in their careers due to discrimination. Only 5% of Fortune 500 companies have female CEO's.
- 1 out of 6 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime and 321, 500 people are sexually assaulted each year in the United States.
- The advertising industry sexualizes women, as well as creating a vision of the "ideal woman" and encouraging women to change themselves in order to conform to an impossible standard.
Educational:
- Females are expected to excel in the humanities while males are expected to excel in STEM fields, placing either gender at a disadvantage if they wish to pursue a different subject.
- Teachers often discipline males less strictly under the philosophy "boys will be boys."
- The dress code perpetrates rape culture, body shaming and victim blaming, as well as sexualizes young girls and makes unfair assumptions about male behavior.
- Traditionally "male" sports receive more funding and enthusiasm than traditionally "female" sports.
- Non-binary individuals are often not recognized and the systems set into place, such as standardized testing, online class/sports registration, and bathroom configuration, don't usually allow for the possibility of genders other than male and female.
- When people of different genders work on a project, the males are typically given more credit.
- Verbal gender bias, whether it's explicit or implicit, is incredibly prevalent.
- Curriculums are frequently structured around gender roles or gender-based assumptions.
What can you do to help?
There are so many ways to approach this issue that it can be overwhelming. However, if you break it down, it isn't too hard to choose a few solutions and start working!
Large Scale Solutions
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Small Scale Solutions
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