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Paige Marshall

Jackie Burr, Instructor

English 2010, Section 3

21st April 2021

Double Standards in Gender Equality

Double Standards, what does that mean? It has been around since the late 1800s, the idea

of double standards was there to apply morality and ethics in individuals. By the 20th century,

the idea became an expression that was “used in just about any context to describe two different

sets of rules for the same thing.” (D, 2021) It became a beacon in economic debates and sparked

a rebellion and formed programs to support both males and females.

Are men and women different? Educators and scholars cannot provide a satisfactory answer to

this question. Gender cannot be accurately captured in the traditional sense, of being female and

male. However, with complex social systems, we can say that they are constructed through life

experiences. Mrs. Dixie Sevison, Director of Women's Services and Resources at BYU shares

her experience “I can think of several experiences in my life…. My coworker recently had a

baby. Just the other day we were talking about the weird thing that happens to a pregnant woman

in public. For some reason, all of a sudden total stranger think it is okay to touch a pregnant

woman’s body. We each had stories where a total stranger walked up to us and touched our

stomachs. One man even said to her as he reached out and touched her, “I just love pregnant

women.” NOT OKAY!” (Formal)

Gender is embodied within us, after all, we are born with that identity. Society's standards or

commonly known as the norms; that define and require us to behave and act a certain way.

Standards may drag behind negative consequences, may be discriminative, restrictive, and harm
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the well-being. A type of consequence from society’s social norms is Double Standards. Double

Standards are more typically viewed as “social interactions [that] involve comparisons across

participants, their attributes and their actions” (Foschi, 21) Typically viewed negatively, a target

is judged in different ways; by a trait, a behavior on two different groups of individuals

especially the evaluation of men and women. “As humans, we tend to look to others for our

social cues. So, media plays a large role in showing us what is okay or what is not okay.”

(formal)

The Consequences of double standards have difficulty being defined; how do we judge a person.

This is done by evaluations, perception, the situation, and spread awareness? Evaluation is a way

to analyze an individual. “Evaluation processes are a cornerstone of most market and

organizational settings, and their outcomes have significant economic implications.” This is

evaluated in a variety of methods. Research, research on double standards is “generally a theory

based on discrimination, this discriminative research “suggests that status characteristics, such as

gender, affect evaluations even when more-pertinent performance information is available”

(Botelho, 2017)

Gender roles are not a universal concept, they are socially, historically, and culturally subjected

to be by chance. (Nash, 2016) They emphasize the environmental conditions that influence these

specific socially acceptable norms the values, beliefs, and behaviors of a particular group into

learning how to behave as a male or female.

Double standards bring to the eye that it involves more than just an attribute, it is generally

characterized by their ethnicity and nationality, their gender, and personality traits. Standards are

believed to fall after the expectations that society puts on an individual. Expectation factors

include the assumed perception to be “masculine” or “feminine.” These expectational double

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standards ingrain filters that allow a contribution to maintaining the “status quo” regarding the

whole array of social interactions (e.g tasks in informal group settings, formally hiring decisions

process, relationship, and dating choices.) (Foschi, 2000)

Evaluations denote the impact and the

importance of the person. (Nash, 2016) Many of

the gender stereotypes obscured in society today

were not always present in the past. Why do you

think there are so few women in STEM? “There

are several reasons and none of which have

anything to do with a woman’s ability. One

reason is that there is a lack of role models for

women in STEM fields. Another reason is

because of stereotypes and sexism in

universities and in the field. Because of these

things, many women opt for a major that has

fewer issues and seems to be woman-friendly.’

(Formal)

Gender expectations have evolved and relatively

shaped and changed into new trends in society.

Inequality between men and women, “we know

gender inequality still persists here in the United

States as women still make only about 80% (less

here in Utah) of what men earn for full-time 3

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work. Also, women are less likely to hold managerial or supervisory positions. One of the

reasons for this is societies’ belief that men should do certain types of jobs and women should do

certain types of jobs. Most of the jobs viewed as male jobs pay more than the jobs as viewed as

female jobs. Once again, we see issues of stereotyping keeping us from being who we are or

from being what we want to be... early in my career in higher education. I had a man I was

working with tell me I should be home taking care of my children and not working. What I

wanted to say to him but did not was, “I am working to take care of my children.” Stereotypes

can come out of nowhere.

Gender roles around the world are more than less dictated by the environmental needs under the

pressures of society. (Nash, 2016) The environment that we perceive is based on the historical

and cultural background of the society. For instance, native tribes- were matriarchal- meaning

women were the important figures in their community. On the other hand, in the eastern

communities for most Asians and Europeans, men are and were the only ones in control of major

power. Society has evolved from the gender roles, from the past, therefore, and should be viewed

as a guideline of how certain sex should behave not a standard that discriminates. Because it is

not reliable and is ever-changing.

Although many choose to fit within specific lines of masculinity and femininity, they are simply

creating a generation that shaped society into ingrained clear-cut behaviors, “Behaviors of others.

Take place in the context of social interactions... It contains three key elements: (a) a perceiver,

who enters the interaction with a set of beliefs about gender and with personal interaction goals;

(b) a target individual, who enters the interaction with his or her gender-related self-conceptions

and interaction goals; and (c) a situation, which can vary in the degree to which it makes

gender-related issues salient. (Deaux, Kay & Major, Brenda, 1987) (see figure 1, above) The
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perceiver enters with their own set of beliefs- that are based on assumptions and past

experiences- about the target. Through these beliefs, the perceiver acts upon them towards the

target. And those actions are tallied in general negativly.

Double standards present regardless of age they are held to the same standards as an 85-year-old.

“If you look around, double standards are everywhere. I also believe you can see double

standards in grade schools all the way up to retirement homes. Just to illustrate one double

standard, men are still being paid more than women. We are seeing change; however, it is

happening very slowly.” (Formal)

Spread awareness. “There are so many ways we can address gender issues and I believe there is

not just one way that will solve this issue. With that said, I believe the best way to address this

issue is to focus on where you are. For example, if you hear someone in one of your classes

(teacher or another student) say something that you believe creates inequality between the sexes

– speak up! Say something. Open the dialogue. You don’t have to be aggressive, but you do need

to speak up. Even saying something as simple as, “that’s not okay and here’s why.” If we stay

silent, nothing will change.”

The question asked earlier “Are men and women different?” Other than the physical attributes,

are men and women different? “There is not a short simple answer to this question. One of the

reasons is because of all the stereotypes that we have bought into for way too long. So, I am

going to answer this in a way you may not be expecting. We are all different, yet we have more

in common with each other than we realize. When we overlook gender differences, ultimately,

we may end up reinforcing damaging stereotypes that society has created.” We have evolved as a

society, maybe for the better. Society has evolved from gender stereotypes from the past. “we are

moving toward a better place. One way to see the movement is to look at old magazine and TV
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ads from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. As the phase goes, “We’ve come a long way baby.” (Formal)

Double Standards in Gender equality can now be see with new eyes. We can’t overlook gender

differneces like Mrs. Sevision said or we will damage our society for the worse. Gender can not

be singlarly judgded by the way someone behaves, it involves more than just an attribute.

Society is growing and changing for the better.

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Works Consulted Page:

Formal, Dixie. Gmail Interview. 27 April 2021.

Botelho, Tristan L., and Mabel Abraham. “Pursuing Quality: How Search Costs and Uncertainty

Magnify Gender-Based Double Standards in a Multistage Evaluation Process.”

Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 62, no. 4, 2017, pp. 698–730. JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/48561367. Accessed 19 Apr. 2021.

Foschi, Martha. “Double Standards for Competence: Theory and Research.” Annual Review of

Sociology, vol. 26, 2000, pp. 21–42. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/223435. Accessed 26

Apr. 2021.

Deaux, Kay & Major, Brenda (1987). Putting gender into context: An interactive model of

gender-related behavior. _Psychological Review_ 94 (3):369-389.

Nash, Joy. “Gender Roles in Modern Society.” One World Education, 2016,

www.oneworldeducation.org/our-students-writing/gender-roles-in-modern-society/.

D. (2021). Double standard. Retrieved April 27, 2021, from

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/double-standard