Gender Stereotyping in Singapore
Gender stereotyping is a pertinent issue in today’s society. I seek to explore the causes and effects of gender stereotyping and the various gender stereotypes that are present in Singapore literature. The focus is on gender stereotyping in Singapore as portrayed in plays and short stories written by local authors.
3.1.4 – Summary
From this chapter we can see how gender stereotyping affects the life of people, mostly in a negative manner as they are unable to pursue what they want and have to conform to what society expects of them.
Chapter 3.2 – Social standing as a mitigating factor?
3.2.1 – High social standing
A high social standing would serve to mitigate the effects of gender stereotyping to a large extent. This can be seen in western countries, where the society is highly developed and more open to new ideas. People have a higher level of education and realise that women are just as capable as men in the working world today.
The higher level of education allows women to overcome problems associated with the lack of educational opportunities. Women will be able to find jobs more easily as these countries would have a knowledge-based economy compared instead of an agricultural economy. In such developed nations, agriculture is a possible occupation for women as there is a high usage of technology in farming in order to ensure greater yields.
The views of such societies are also more liberal and promote personal freedom above a common goal. With this larger amount of freedom women are able to choose what they want as it is advocated by society. In this case, society helps to mitigate the effects of gender stereotyping instead of compounding it.
3.2.2 – Middle social standing
With a middle social standing, it depends to a greater extent on the family and the culture. There are opportunities available but if the family is unwilling to grant that opportunity to the child, there is nothing that can be done about it. Cultural beliefs might compound the effects of gender stereotyping should a family stick too closely to it.
The state of the economy is also extremely important. The economy would determine where each gender stands for if the economy is good and there are enough jobs available for everyone, there would be little issue. However, if the economy is poor and there are insufficient jobs, women would be affected as employers would pick men over women as men would be more efficient workers as they do not have to deal with raising children and childbirth.
3.2.3 – Low social standing
A low social standing would bring about the opposite effects of a high social standing. Females would be less viable as workers since agriculture would be the main source of income and would probably be done without the assistance of technology that more developed nations have. This could result in women choosing to abandon girls as they do not want to have to cope with additional costs.
In underdeveloped nations, people tend to stick firmly to cultural beliefs. As such, they would prefer to have a boy to a girl due to their culture. Even if they have a girl, they would not have sent her to school as they probably could not afford to do so and instead would have taught the girl from young how to be a good wife and how to do different forms of housework.
As they are not receptive to modernisation, they would not have realised that education would be an effective way to bring about change and that a knowledge based economy would allow for the full utilisation of the workforce that is available. Society would compound the effects of gender stereotyping as people are uninformed and the large amount of jobs that are available are extremely labour intensive and not suited for women.
3.2.4 – Summary
From this chapter, we can see how social standing can help to mitigate the effects of gender stereotyping. Factors that serve to mitigate the effects of gender stereotyping include a knowledge based economy, a high level of education and exposure to modern views and concepts.
This paper has managed to answer the research questions that were posed. It has examined the factors that have lead to gender stereotyping and the impact that it has had on both society and a person. The information garnered from the literature review was used to aid in the examination and answering of the research questions. The effects of social standing were also examined.
However, this research is limited as it has not taken statistical data to prove the theories that have been brought up. It bases its conclusions on the literature used (Emily of Emerald Hill, Stand Alone and Little Ironies) as well as other studies that were conducted. This could serve as a stepping stone for future research into this area which explore this topic statistically.
Other forms of future research include the examination of how those who have been stereotyped feel towards it. This type of research would be more bottom up, rather than this paper, which is top down, starting with a wider topic and exploring deeper. A research on the feelings of those who were stereotyped would require a large amount of interviews, a possible limitation.
Liked it
