The Root of Gender Bias
Every woman at some point, in their lifetime, has felt that they have been treated unfairly by their parents just because they are women. It could be anything from an earlier curfew to being expected to be more polite and proper than boys. Similarly, conventional parenting also restricts men to being masculine, apathetic, and insensitive. Unpleasant manifestations of these biases can be seen all around us, however, some are less obvious than others.
Parenting styles adopted vary. The problem plagues us now is that a distinction can be found in the way different genders are dealt with. This becomes an important factor in a child’s development because parents are our primary influencers. Biases in a parent’s behaviour towards their children, consequently, leads to several problems. Some studies suggest that parents tend to take on a more authoritarian role with sons than with daughters. Girls tend to be given more decision-making autonomy by parents in comparison to boys, which would be consistent with daughters perceiving parental style as being less authoritarian than sons would. However, this must be appreciated in terms of socialised expectations of children.
Psychological research suggests that parenting differs mainly based on demandingness and responsiveness. Based on this division various researches have taken place. One such study suggests that high responsiveness and demandingness of the parent could lead to healthy gender identity borrowing from both masculine and feminine identities. Other parenting styles could lead to more extreme gender identities, which are often associated with poor mental health. The main problem with this is that parents are often oblivious to the parenting style they have adopted. Moreover, the societal pressure reinforcing quintessential and thereby extreme gender identities makes it difficult to identify the issues associated with it.
Apart from several negative effects born out of certain parenting styles, children themselves imbuing those gender roles is another potential setback. Children imitate what they see and consider it a norm. In several families gender roles between the husband and wife are very defined. Watching this, children absorb the gender biases even though this may not be intended. Children are constantly bombarded from various sources with various stereotypes that are considered correct. This gives parents a second role– actively rejecting gender stereotypes at every turn. They should not be passive observers. For example, as a child, I always believed that my mother is the head of the house because my mother managed everything and worked as well. When I said this in school, my teacher reprimanded me, saying that my father must be the one who is the main earner and hence be the head of the house. When I asked my parents, instead of denying the truth of that statement, they laughed and accepted the teacher’s opinion. Even though this seemed harmless at the point, it was a representation of passive acceptance of gender roles. This factor becomes particularly deplorable when reproduction of these observed behaviours don’t present themselves immediately, rather manifesting negatively years later.
Sociologists have shown that parents are likely to encourage their sons to engage in competitive play and discourage their daughters from doing so. Instead, parents tend to encourage girls to engage in cooperative, role-playing games. These different play patterns lead to the heightened development of verbal and emotional skills among girls and to increased concern with winning and the establishment of hierarchy among boys. Boys are more likely than girls to be praised for assertiveness, and girls are more likely than boys to be rewarded for compliance. This is again a way of enforcing gender stereotypes right from the start of a child’s life. Moreover, these reinforced natures make it more likely for men to dominate and believe they are “above” women, who tend to be cooperative.
All these problems lead to various outcomes, however, one that is particularly plaguing our society today is women empowerment and safety. The only long-term viable solution for gender discrimination is working on it at the grass-root level. Therefore, parenting becomes an important factor to influence the reduction in these biases. This can be brought about through the introduction of parenting classes and gender-conscious education for adults. Battling off symptoms of gender discrimination cannot be our only solution to the problem. Hence, utilising long-term solutions like this become one way to reach a more gender-neutral world.
Josika Mahindru
