Script:
Good morning everyone!
If I tell you that, on average, women do not perform as well in math as boys, you may believe it, and you may have heard this statement before. In the same way, you will think that it is easier to judge a sensitive woman, and conversely, a potency man. And generally speaking, everyone knows this. This is often data that will be used for advertising campaigns fighting gender stereotypes. And they are good data, real and rigorously collected by researchers in social psychology.
But… We also have other studies that don’t show as many effects of gender stereotypes. And it’s a pity that we don’t talk much about them, because don’t these studies used by feminist advertisements that want to fight against inequalities, in the end, reinforce them by supporting these stereotypical effects?
Already then, as far as attributing more so-called feminine qualities to women, and vice versa, it was quite true in the 1970s, when in Condy’s survey, people judged the personality of a child they saw playing, and depending on whether the first name was feminine or masculine, the adjectives were not the same. But more recent studies no longer show this effect. The child is judged in the same way, regardless of the gender of the first name.
Then, for the popular belief that boys are better at mathematics than girls, this is totally false! In fact, we only see these results in the laboratory, and when we highlight the threat of stereotyping. But otherwise, there is no difference in grades between boys and girls. Moreover, girls are more and more interested in scientific subjects.
So in fact, we tend to overestimate the weight of stereotypes. I’m not saying that there aren’t any, but let’s not overdo it, there is still progress to be made!
On the other hand, there are surveys that overestimate the effects of ordinary sexism. This time, the results are replicable, in other words, they are still being observed, but… we have some fairly directed conclusions.
For example, we have the Tougas neo-sexist questionnaire which claims to evaluate the degree of sexism of individuals. We then have items such as “men are incomplete without women”. And if the person answers yes, they will be judged sexist. So first of all, we are not obliged to judge as sexist a person who sees differences between men and women. Being different does not mean inequality, just as identical does not necessarily mean equality. In fact, some feminists claim these differences, but wish to value them, not that everyone becomes the same, and that we no longer observe gender differences.
Finally, as a last experience, I will talk about the Gender Implicit Association Test, which consists in making associations that go either in the direction of stereotypes or in the opposite direction of the stereotype. If the person makes the associations more quickly in a situation “in the direction of the stereotypes”, then it is because he or she has integrated these stereotypes. And overall, we observe these results a little all the time. But, contrary to what the studies would have us believe, this is not necessarily why people are sexist. No, we associate all literary teachings as more feminine, and scientific teachings as more masculine. But wouldn’t it be mainly cultural knowledge of the subjects, since this has long been the case?
Again, we should not underestimate the threat of stereotypes and real gender inequalities, but we should also note the recent developments towards gender equality. I hope that this new vision on the study of this subject will give you back a smile and hope, because contrary to what we see a lot in social psychology, we are a little less far from gender equality.
I will leave you with a description of the sources I used, including Tostain’s article, which enlightened me on a more positive view of studies on gender inequality. Goodbye.
Music:
Reset – Jaunter
References:
Condry, J., & Condry, S. (1976). Sex differences: A study of the eye of the beholder. Child development, 812-819.
Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. L. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: the implicit association test. Journal of personality and social psychology, 74(6), 1464.
Tostain, M. (2016). Faut-il en finir avec les stéréotypes de sexe? Revue de questions critique sur les études psychosociales des relations entre sexes. Bulletin de psychologie, (3), 163-178.
Tougas, F., Brown, R., Beaton, A. M., & Joly, S. (1995). Neosexism: Plus ça change, plus c’est pareil. Personality and social psychology bulletin, 21(8), 842-849.