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Gender Roles and Stereotypes on Adolescent

Many young people live in gendered surroundings and are affected by the traditional

stereotypes of male and female roles. These roles are imagined and fixed to children and

adolescents on how they are expected to behave and fit certain criteria in the community.

These traditional gender roles and stereotypes are administered without considering their

influence on the adolescent's development and well-being (Saewyc, 1). When growing up,

Boys were expected to play outside, be masculine and protective; girls, on the other hand,

were to play with dolls, be feminine and less aggressive. School misconduct and inequality in

future careers are some of the effects of stereotypes and gender roles on the adolescence.

Misconduct in schools has been a threat to the learning and future careers of students.

According to (Saewyc 1), male adolescents are more likely to engage in school misconduct

than their female counterparts. This is because, during their infancy and childhood

development to adolescence stage, boys are expected to be masculine. Therefore they could

feel obliged to engage in these behaviours to show their masculinity. These adolescents also

get the pressure and sanctions to abide by the gender stereotypes and roles created for them

by society; hence, they have to become gender congruent.

Career selection in the future of these adolescences is often shaped by the stereotypes

and the gender roles exposed to them when growing up. Interest in STEM(science,

technology, engineering and mathematics), reduced in young women during their adolescent

period; this is because their careers begin to take the course and given the alignment on the

stereotypes of their perceived capabilities, they tend to think that girls are good in reading and
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subjects like maths and engineering are masculine which should be done better by boys(Barth

et al., 3). This often affects the women performances in these disciplines and later career

selections. Stereotypes and gender roles shaped my attitudes to date in believing that the male

should do outdoor and difficult tasks. Although these stereotypes are inevitable and have

been there since time immemorial, caution should be taken not to further affect the

development and functioning of children and the adolescent since these perceptions go all the

way to their adulthood.

Works Cited
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Barth, Joan M., et al. "Matching abilities to careers for others and self: Do gender stereotypes

matter to students in advanced math and science classes?" Sex Roles 79.1 (2018): 83-

97. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-017-0857-5

Saewyc, Elizabeth. "A global perspective on gender roles and identity." Journal of

Adolescent Health 61.4 (2017): S1-S2.

https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(17)30356-7/abstract