STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICE, & DISCRIMINATION

Group: 5
Members: Tayros, Dona Khria
Madamba, Angelica
Lumpinas, Anne Glayzhel
Gabonia , Jeans Klare

Introduction.

We commonly say that we “should not label” others but we cannot help but do so. We
categorized people according to their nationality, gender, allegiance, and affiliation among other
qualities. Although categorizing can be useful, it can also result in serious and negative consequences
when labels are associated with a person or group’s worth. We are an individual that full of beliefs,
identities, and more to help make us unique. “We don’t want to be labeled just by our gender or race or
religion. But as complex as we perceive ourselves to be, we often define others merely by their most
distinct social group”, Fiske, S.T.(2024). This module focuses on biases against individuals based on
groups membership and against groups.

People naturally create mental categories. Categories are helpful because they provide a mental
roadmap for how to interact in novel situations. However, it gets complicated when we apply them to
humans. We naturally categorized people by age, language, occupation, ethnicity, income, and many
other qualities. In abstract these mental maps can help us understand how to interact with new people
based on educated guesses about their category. Unfortunately, problems can also arise from our
tendency to categorize.

STEREOTYPES
It is a biased thought about a person due to the incorrect belief that the category accurately
describes them. Stereotypes can be positive or negative and when overgeneralized are applied to all
members of a group. Some stereotypes conveys positive example such as, STEM students stereotype as
intelligent or matalino, and Filipinos being known as hospitable. However, most stereotypes are drawn
from negative generalizations like equating our Muslim country men as terrorist and viewing farmers as
“mahihirap” and less educated.
2 Categories of Stereotypes;
 Explicit - the person is aware that they have these thoughts toward a group of people and
they can say it loud.
A person can choose not to turn their stereotypes into actions.
 Implicit - the person does not know if they have these stereotypes since it lies on their
subconscious.
A person has no control or awareness of it, and may manifest into actions or
behaviors.

GENDER STEREOTYPES
Significantly, stereotypes about gender are beliefs about the characteristics and qualities
attributed to men and women in society. ( Eagly & Mladinic,1989). Stereotypes in gender create widely
accepted biases about certain characteristics or traits and perpetuate the notion that each gender and
associated behaviors are binary. Under this assumption, if a man or women act differently from how
their gender is expected to behave there is a disconnect in the evaluator’s mind. As our society moves to
a broader construct of what gender means, individuals who are stuck in this binary idea of gender have a
difficult time wrapping their brains around individuals who do not fit into a strict gender dichotomy, or
do not identify with any gender at all. Stereotypes about gender can cause unfair treatment because of a
person’s gender and can cause disoriented in perceptions. When individuals don’t conform to our gender
stereotypes the result can lead to a discrimination and unequal treatment to a certain person who chooses
to defy people’s assumption about his/her gender . When gender inequality occurs in the background of
gender stereotyping, this in the most basic sense sexism.

Traditional Gender Stereotypes

Women Men
Not aggressive Aggressive
Dependent Independent
Home oriented Dominant
Emotional Tough
Sensitive Active

4 BASIC KIND OF GENDER STEREOTYPES

1. Personality Traits. Women are often expected to be accommodating and emotional, while men
are assumed to be self-confident and aggressive.
2. Domestic Behavior. Some people presume that women will cook, clean the house, and take care
of the children, while men take care the finances,work, and home repairs.
3. Occupations. Some people are quick to assume that teachers and nurses are women, and the
doctors, pilot, police and engineers are men.
4. Physical appearance. Women are axpected to be thin and graceful, while men are supposed to
be tall and muscular.

HYPERFEMINITY & HYPERMASCULINITY STEREOTYPES

These are two gender-specific personality dimensions that represents adherence to extremely
traditional gender-role ideologies. Hyperfeminity is an exaggerated adherence to a femine gender role as
it relates to heterosexual relationships. In this manner, people usually exaggerate the qualities they
believe to be female. It may include being passive, naive, sexually inexperienced, soft, flirtatious,
graceful, nurturing and accepting. Hyperfeminine women believed that their success is sustained through
romantic relationship with a man and thet their sexuality can be used to keep this relationship. (Murnen
& Byrne,1999)

Hypermasculinity is a psychological term for exaggeration of stereotypical male behavior such as

importance of physical aggression, strength, and sexuality while exhibiting emotional self-control as an
indication of durability as well as composure and impassiveness in times of stress. In these case, people
exaggerates the qualities they believed to be masculine. They are aggressive, wordly, sexually
experienced, insensitive, physical imposing, ambitious, and demanding. They are more likely to be
physically and emotionally abusive to their partners. (Siddhanta & Singh, 2015)
INFLUENCES ON GENDER IDENTITY AND STEREOTYPES
Gender identity is a complicated developmental process that is believed to be influenced be
several factors.

1. Media. Gender stereotypes are pervasive in media and popular culture.

2. Friends ( peer groups). Friendship patterns and peer pressure contribute to gender stereotypes
especially on boys, who tend to self-police peers, ridiculing those who demonstrate feminine
personalities.
3. Family. Parents begin to transmit sex-role stereotypes as soon as a child is born. Girls and boys are
treated differently. Mothers mostly favored affiliative play with their daughters. They encourage
interactions that were responsive, supportive and warm. Fathers, on the other hand, respond negatively
to cross-gender behavior especially with their sons.
4. School. The role of school has become more prominent in the lives of children. Teachers have
prefference to treat boys and girls differently through role assignments, rewards, & punishments for
academic work.

COMMON TERMS IN GENDER STEREOTYPES

1. Gender role - Socially constructed and cultural specific behavior and expectations for women.
2. Gender division of labor- societal healthy ideas and practices which define roles and activities
that are believed and appropriate for men and women.
3. Gender identity- ones psychological sense of oneself as male or female.
4. Gender dysphoria- term that applies to the discontent with the physical or social aspect of
person’s sex.
5. Gender schema- term applies to the organized set of beliefs and expectations that guides a
person’s understanding of gender or sex.
6. Gender consistency- understanding of our own and other people’s sex is fixed across
situations regardless of superficial changes in appearance or activities.
7. Gender script- refers to a temporarily organized gender related sequence of events.
8. Gender typing- term applied for the classification of an infant at birth as either male or female.
9. Gender expression- a behavior and physical appearance that a person utilizes to express their
gender
10. Gender discrimination- a systematic, unfavorable treatment of individual by their gender,
which denies those rights, opportunities or resources.

PREJUDICE
Prejudice is an unjustified or incorrect attitude usually negative towards an individual based
solely on the individual’s membership or social group. It represents our emotional response upon
learning a persons membership to a specific group like age, skin color, race, disability, generation,
nationality, religion, sex, & sexual expression . Common form of prejudice is sexism which believe that
one sex or gender is intrinsically superior to another.
Prejudice put into action is an attack to human rights, including the right to life and safety, the
right to housing, education, healthcare,decent work, and so on. Most people assume that it only refers
and prevalent bias against women and girls. However gender prejudice also negatively affects trans
people and people outside the gender binary. Gender prejudice can be overt or subtle. It is the first step
to ending it and the discrimination that follows. These negative attitude could manifest into actions such
as bullying, discrimination & violence.
THEORIES OF PREJUDICE

 Social Identity theory. A person’s sense of self comes from their overarching group
background. People are put into groups. It is believed that the groups are
assigned to shape who people are and who they become. Since, this
group believe that it happen naturally, stereotyping is a part of
normal brain functioning and is how people understand things.
People naturally look for similarities & differences within
groups. The “ in group” is what is considered normal for a person and
the “ out- group” is what is considered different. Basically, it
“us vs them” mentality that discrimination is formed. The in-
group will seek to seek to find fault in the out-group to elevate
thier own status, become more appealing, and increase their self-
esteem.
 Scapegoat Theory. It says that prejudice is a way for people to blame others for their problems.
Support for this theory comes from the fact, when times are tough,
prejudice seems higher. People who feel separated or
disconnected are more likely to find people to blame for their woes.
 Conflict Theory. Prejudice is present when competition exist over a lack resources. It says that
In order to hold onto their possessions, power, & status privileged classes will

Justify behaviors that keep the other groups down.

 Authoritarian Personality Theory. A personality type that involves rigid thinking, obeying
authority, seeing things in black and white, and
believing in a hierarchical structure of society. Authoritarian
personality believe that some people are just better than
others.
 Culture Theory. Called as cultural transmission theory, which says that prejudice is part of
culture’s norms and that prejudice is transmitted through culture.
Essentially, culture theory says that children are taught stereotypes of other
groups which leads to prejudice and discrimination.

DISCRIMINATION
It refers to action or behaviors towards an individual or a group of people. Discriminatory
behaviors take many forms but they involved some form of exclusion or rejection. People who are
discriminated on are treated worse than the way people usually treated just because they belong to a
certain group or they have certain characteristics.

Examples of discrimination:
Genocide. The action of recognizing someone as different so much as they treated
inhumanly and degraded.
Apartheid. It means separateness is a form of racial discrimination wherein one race is viewed as
less than other, resulting in the separation of black and whits and the mass murder of
Jews in concentration camps.
LGBT Discrimination. Happens when LGBT people are treated as lesser than straight people.
Discrimination happens early in the childhood as they get bullied when they act
or dressed differently than the other kids, during adolescence they get judge,
bullied or physically assaulted as they explore or express their sexuality.
Institutional Discrimination. Restricting opportunities or privileges that may be available to
other group is discrimination, like a right to vote on national elections. In the
Philippines women are only gained to vote in 1937 and before that, Filipino women
had no legal rights even to own properties. That formed for institutional discrimination
which refers to practices which serve to reinforce norms or preference, privilege, and
limited access to service or resources.
Gender discrimination. It is a subtle or overt display of unequal treatment in opportunities,
benefits, privileges, & expectations due to attitudes toward a particular sex. The
Judicial Council Advisory Committee on Gender Bias on Court Reports stated that
discrimination is a behavior or decision-making process which is based on or reveals
stereotypical views on the roles of men and women, and perception of woman worth or
a man’s relative worth and misconception about social and economic realities
encountered by males and females. Statistically women earn less than men and
often relegated to be solely responsible from child rearing and house chores. Men, on
the other hand are discriminated in the household responsibilities such as they
perceived as less manly when they do their share of house chores or when they become at
home husbands.
Gender discrimination affects all people, but studies show that women and people
who do not conform to society’s traditional gender expectation are most affected,
especially when they come from middle to low income groups. Moreover, people who
are discriminated for their gender usually also fall victim to gender violence.

TYPES OF GENDER DISCRIMINATION

1. Discrimination in education- the unequal treatment in admission, financial aid, grading, classroom
assignment, counseling guidance, academic programs and opportunities.
2. Discrimination in employment- has four ways in which people are discriminated in a workplace;
* Hiring the employer or the hiring officer has biases regarding the work
ethic of a gender.
* Promotions- prevent women and members of the minority sector from
rising beyond their level in corporate hierarchy.
*Pay and benefits- men generally receives higher pay and given more
opportunities to grow career-wise.
*Firing- being terminated from a job due to prejudice against one gender.
3. Maternity and pregnancy discrimination- a pregnant female can’t get a job because she is pregnant
while others get demoted of fired from work because of her pregnancy.

PATTERNS OF INEQUALITIES

1. Inequalities in political power and representation.

2. Inequalities in economic participation and opportunities.
3. Educational attainment.
4. Sexual and domestic violence.
5. Difference in legal status and entitlements.
FREEDOM & EQUALITY

Article 1 of the universal declaration on human rights states that all human beings are born free
and equal in dignity and rights. This declaration was drafted by member countries of the United Nations,
including the Philippines, in 1948, this monumental document outlines the fundamental rights of every
human being that should be protected by everyone at all times. Its preamble recognizes that the inherent
dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of
freedom, justice and peace of the world.
While discriminatory policies, traditions, ideas, practices, and laws exist in many countries,
many have shifted towards making opportunities and privileges accessible to everyone. In many
countries people with same sex can now get married and create their own families while enjoying the
same rights like straight couples. In the Philippines, all establishments are now required by the law to
have an access ramp for people with disabilities.
Appreciating diversity of the human race is key to make a safer and more inclusive environment,
regardless or race, sex, gender, religion, sexuality, or creed.