What were some of these roles and stereotypes?
Women are meant to cook, clean, dress appropriately, be polite, nurturing, accommodating, take care of children.
Men are meant to be strong, aggressive, bold, “workers”, athletic, self confident, take care of finances, home repairs.
Some believe that teachers and nurses are women and that pilots, doctors, engineers are men.
To what extent are gender roles and stereotypes prevalent in your life ?
I see it everyday in my life. Women are expected to be thin and graceful whereas men are meant to be tall and muscular. Most judgements of people are based off of stereotypes, which I find infuriating as people should not be judged based off of societal expectations.
In what ways do you see Gender Bias or Gender Privilege in…..
your family?
What I wear (the limits) compared to my brother who can wear whatever he wants. Curfews for when I want to go out (earlier than my brothers)
your community?
In UWC, we do see gender bias but not as much as other schools, as our school has strict policies and it is very safe. We mainly see this in sports, in our school there is a boy’s touch rugby team and a girls rugby team. In Singapore, when a girl hangs out with a guy she is classified as slutty, whereas the guy is not judged.
Your World?
I disagree with most of the gender roles that society has dictated as a norm, people should be allowed to express themselves however they wish without judgement. We should all have a freedom of expression, choice, ourselves as people.
What role did you have? Where did you finish in comparison to others ? Why?
I was an unemployed blind man. I ended up at the lower end of the scale as a blind man may be signified as someone who is not capable of doing any activities. Blind, wouldn’t be aware of his surroundings, unemployed, wouldn’t have any skills or qualities people could benefit from.
In your view, what are the drivers for social mobility in society?
- Jobs
- Income
- Social groups/class
- Education
List some personal examples of either experiencing or seeing gender bias or gender privilege.
- Expecting men to be masculine (Athletics)
- Expecting women to be smart (Intelligence)
- Women to be hot, sexually appealing
- Social circles
What can you do within your community to combat negative gender stereotypes or gender bias?
There isn’t much people can do as this issue has been addressed in the past, yet no one is willing to change, for better or worse. I believe nothing will change as people are not motivated enough too.
