Abstract:

Gender stereotypes, that is, the consensual beliefs about the personality traits, role behaviors, physical characteristics, and occupational positions that characterize men and women, still prevail in modern society. People generally assume that men are oriented toward agentic goals and women toward communal goals. In this paper, we study the prevalence of gender stereotyping of personal traits that characterizes typical men and women. The attributes related to instrumentality, dominance, and assertiveness are believed to be more typical of men than women, while the qualities related to expressiveness, warmth, and concern for other people are believed to be more typical of women than men. A sample of 262 college men (n = 128) and women (n = 134) rated the typical man and typical woman by completing the Bem Sex Inventory (BSRI), which alternated feminine and masculine traits. The results showed that the different attributes mean scores are only moderate. However, as expected, women are significantly attributed more feminine traits than masculine (e.g., affectionate and sensitive to the needs of others), while men are attributed more masculine traits than feminine (e.g., aggressive and individualistic). An additional interesting finding is the moderate ratings for the typical women also on masculine traits. Moreover, two traditional masculine items (i.e., strong personality and act as a leader) were ascribed equally to the typical woman and man. This reflect a more androgynous view of women. Overall, these results suggest that the traditional views of a man and a woman appear to be alive and well. These stereotypic ratings are consistent with the position that some people have different schemas for women and men, which may influence a wide variety of behaviors, including the processing of information about women and men.

Keywords:

Gender stereotypes, Bem Sex Inventory, typical woman and man, college students.