Dr. Elaine Heffner: The gender divide
The change in women’s lives that has taken place in the last two generations, and in the opportunities available to them, might lead to the conclusion that a gender bias no longer exists as part of our culture. Admission to law schools and medical schools has shifted toward women so dramatically that in many schools the number of women now exceeds the number of men. The number of women in the U.S. Senate has risen significantly, and the fact that women occupy many other political offices is now taken for granted.
Whatever controversy remains over the role of women in our society seems to focus these days on how few women break through the glass ceiling – or on the need for affordable quality child-care so that women are not held back in employment opportunities. Despite those remaining problems, it would appear that women have prevailed in their struggle for equality.
It therefore comes as something of a shock to find that a study of Google searches seems to suggest American parents are concerned about their sons being smart and their daughters being thin and pretty. Parents were more likely to ask about sons rather than daughters on every question related to intelligence. The concern about daughters on the other hand, was disproportionately expressed in anything related to appearance.
Are there ways in which ingrained ideas about gender differences have an impact on the way boys and girls develop? To what extent are our ideas self-fulfilling prophecies – that is, do we treat our children in ways that then result in the affirmation of our biases?
Read more:
http://www.chillicothetimesbulletin.com/article/20140128/NEWS/140129203#ixzz2ricP71ej
Of course, these things should not be "a shock" to those of us in HOF, or anyone who has been really paying attention the way boys and girls are socialized into their respective gender roles. The patriarchy is so normalized, so culturally ingrained, that it's no wonder that a lot of well-meaning people believe it when someone says, "Boys will be boys" or "Men and women are innately different."