Since the dawn of time, women have been continually overlooked and ignored. The blatant disregard society holds for us is obvious. Throughout the world, our gender suffers each day with unforgiving scrutiny and prejudice. It leads one to wonder if women are truly appreciated, or if we’re simply tools.
While researching the bewildering subject of a subconscious gender bias within society, I discovered some astonishing points. When hiring, recruiters are more likely to respond to applicants with masculine sounding names. This is due to perceived increased capability a male applicant would have over a female applicant. Similarly, workers often assume that a man present is the “leader” of a given group because of presumed decisive behavior.
It is speculated on why exactly these perceptions occur on a nearly daily basis. Men have always been favored over women in most aspects. However, one must call to question why these preconceived notions even exist. Some argue that it is simply human nature. Men are stronger, more daring, and more competent than their female counterparts. While in some cases this may be true, men are no longer required to be stronger and “better” than women. Many are still trapped within the traditional mindset that men should possess more power than women. So much so that it kills.
Using more than 6 decades of hurricane death rates in the US, researchers found that feminine named hurricanes have a higher number of casualties than those that are masculine named. Unfortunately, this is because of lower supposed risk, leading to major unpreparedness. So many died because rather than taking shelter or evacuating, they subconsciously believed that they were not in any real danger and stayed put.
Another example of gender bias poorly affecting society is the planting of only male trees. In the early 20th Century, when city planners were deciding which trees to plant in certain spaces, they concluded that only male trees were to be planted in any area within the city. They decided this because they did not want female trees to be pollinated and produce fruit that they would then have to clean. However, the lack of female trees resulted in male trees’ pollen having nothing to fertilize. Therefore, it stays in the air, resulting in severe seasonal allergies. If planners hadn’t been sexist to a tree, allergies would not be as horrible as they are.
Despite these examples of gender bias affecting society, I was still missing something. I wondered if gender bias existed in any of my circles, and how prevalent it was. I decided to commit a social experiment within my newspaper class. I asked my teacher to hand out sheets of paper and instruct the students to draw their different perceptions of certain professions. The goal was to discover if students drew men or women more. The end result was what I had expected. Out of every 8 pictures each student drew, around ⅝ of the drawings were men. The occupations that were more likely to be drawn as a woman were doctor and teacher. This was clear evidence of a gender bias within society, even in my own circle.
So, what does this mean exactly? Well, it means that men are evidently favored within society through more ways than one. We should be striving each day to reverse these ideals and beliefs, in order to improve the lives of women everywhere, and women to come.
