Basically, I ask this because I have been doing some research for an art project I am doing on gender issues.

So, what do you think? Are women still caught in societal stereotypes? How far have we really come? What does being a woman mean to you(whether your female or not)?

Hmm..
difficult subject. Especially since my head and my heart are completely different in it.

My head tells me that stereotypes and roles are something of the past, and especially the rather submissive role of women resulted in centuries of supression.

But then again my behaviour tells me the difference, I like being a woman, being taken care of, a bit guided maybe - I like to care for my futur boyfriend, keep him happy and stuff. I could never take the lead...
But I would also never resign myself to be a little housewife - I just couldn't, being too independant for that.

I have no idea really...
and wait for some more replies :)

Laila

Well, I've very mixed feelings about this topic. (I may be young, but hey, I think about this stuff too.)

I would never let anyone look down on me, or let anyone "take care of me" because I'm a woman, it annoys me!
I'm an independent, human being, female or male, whatever.
I wish women would be treated equal, but they, - we, are not.

It's still men who are the ones with power, and they are often getting more paid then women.
I know it's so much better now the it was 50 years ago, but we still have these wicked stereotypes, right?
Since I was a little kid, I've been taught that men are responsible of the family, still, it's mostly the women who cooks, does the laundry, and stuff like that there.

I might be wrong, but that's my opinion on the whole. *shrug* Which doesn't make any sense whatsoever now when I'm reading through it, but whatever..

:)

True about stereotyping being more prominent in the past, and it seems better now what with the rights for women and stuff. But I think there are still some discrimination of some sort towards women at work.

There's this thing about women being bosses of men, and how independent women being labelled headstrong. Men can stay single and be called bachelors even at the age of 60 with a tinge of admiration from the other people, while women are deemed spinsters by the time they reach, say, 30 years old! (exaggerated numbers) A man who manages to attract lots of women at the club is admired, but a woman who does so is labelled a slut or something.

The examples above are less serious I reckon, quite difficult to express into words what I feel

And to go on further, I think the men are being discriminated slowly :lmao:

Heh, one mild insult at women and they are shot down. Kind of sad really! There's actually something else I wanted to say, but I kind of forgot :blush:

Well of course discrimination and differences with men have diminished with the years, but as always, there's still men who think women's place is the kitchen and that's it. And there's still women who don't want to try to be something else.
I'm not saying that's wrong, but those attitudes won't make the battle of sexes end up in a tie.

I don't really see myself as a housekeeper, meaning the one to do the washing up, cook, and stuff. (Maybe only cause I just can't do such things -_-). I'd like someday to get married and have a husband that will take care of me, but just in the way I'd take care of him. Of course there's things men do better than women, but remember: there's others women do better than men! Perhaps we're not made for certain stuff, but we don't have to let prejudices keep us from what we can do, and, sadly, many women do.

I'm still young, but I want to study to become a movie director, and that's one of many jobs monopolized by men. Of course there's women directors - take as an example Sofia Coppola, who's being really acknowdledged for her work now - but they're not as many and not as recognized. Maybe it's not because of discrimination, but, let's face it, when someone says movie director, or fabric worker, or (insert more examples here) you think of a man! I do it too. It's just the stereotypes we're too familiarized with.

I don't think any of us will live to think of those people as women, maybe very future generations, but not for now.

Dunno, I think if a woman wants it, she can do whatever she wants. It might cost her a bit more, but we've proven to be strong enough... Of course it depends of the lady, but I dunno... I'm glad that we've got all the rights that were kept from us years ago.

That is all.

Unfortunately, I do believe that most women are still caught in the thread of these types of stereotypes. As many have said, it's slowly progressing and getting better and better--I mean, women used to have a set role... and it's getting far better as we go through the years.

Yes, today there are still men and women that believe we shouldn't be more than a house-keeper, and so forth... that kind of discrimination. There are still women who get paid less, many who lose a potential job to men--it's sad, but everything is getting better, I believe.

I wouldn't be able to fall into that role--I wouldn't allow myself to.

That's my humble, tiny opinion.

Love
Kay

Yes, there is still discrimination (gender and racial). Yes, the situation is gradually improving.

Think about it...when was the last time you saw an article asking MEN how they "juggle career and family"?

Not to impugn men. Personally, I like men, a lot. But, no one asks them to sacrifice their ambitions for family the way we women are.

Namaste,
Cassandra

I was having lunch with one of my advisors the other day. She is a 31 year old post doc student (meaning she has done her BSc and her MSc and her PhD and is now kind of doing an internship) who actually quite recently (YAY!!) was appointed as an adjunct faculty member (just to give you some background). We got into an interesting discussion (about women in science of course since we are *duh* women in science). She said that it's still very dominated by men (which is true, at least in my field). Even though my undergrad degree was totally overrun with women (we had 4 guys out of about 80 or so people in my year), you don't see many female professors. For some reason women disappear after grad school. Meaning if they do grad school and get an MSc and maybe then a PhD, you still don't find many female professors. For some reason they go into other fields after spending so much time on their degrees (it is possible that they are sick of everything after spending so long on it, but I know men like that too). It's an old boys club. Why are all the women disappearing? I don't plan on disappearing. I want to be a professor. My department now has 4 female profs (my advisor being the fourth) - granted one of them is the Dean of Academics of the College.

Part of the problem is the view on pregnancy and motherhood. My advisor told me that to be hired as a faculty member or to get a big grant, she would lie if she had to (and her friends that are in the same position as her) would lie and say that they would not have a child in the first 5 years. Even if it is not a lie, think about it this way: you spend 4 years doing your BSc (so you are 22 or 23 when you are done - I started university at 19), 2 or so years doing your MSc (so you are 24 or 25), and then up to SIX years doing a PhD (assuming all goes well - PhDs can take anywhere from 3 or 4 years to infinity)...so you are now 30 or 31. Spend a year doing a post doc (31 or 32) and then hopefully get hired as a faculty member. Then if you do not start having children until you are 36 or 37...wow. I mean, my mom had me when she was 32 so I am in no way rushing to have kids, but starting at 36 seems old to me (right now anyway...who knows what will happen in future). I know lots of guys who are doing their MSc or PhD and are married with kids, but I only know one girl who is doing her MSc and is married with one small child and is currently pregnant.

So it might be that women are being pushed out of academia b/c the institution is not designed to deal with as many family issues. It is true that if you are working with dangerous chemicals in a lab, you cannot be pregnant at the same time (when I did anatomy the profs and techs informed us all that of course the formaldehyde is very dangerous to a fetus). As a scientist, you are expected to be productive and have lots of papers published and bring prestige to the university, and if (God forbid) you happen to have young children, you may not be as productive as you potentially could be.

So, I don't know -there is still a problem out there. Obviously if you are a determined woman you can make it, but you may have to give up or post pone some other personal ambitions. It makes it so hard!! I don't feel the need to apologize for my ambitions, but I do get looks from time to time from certain family members at Christmas or whatever when I (begrudgingly because I know what it will get me) tell them what I want to do for a career and the potential timeline.<_<

What do you guys think? Can we have it all? If we have to balance both a career and a family life, do one or both suffer in some way? Do you think it is a good idea to lie or fudge the truth to a potential employer about your plans for family? I believe (at least in Canada) that it is ILLEGAL for an interviewer to ask you about your plans for family (just another form of discrimination - but it happens of course).

On a side note of interest: my 31 year old advisor (I also have a late 50s year old male advisor who is GREAT) just got a tiny little diamond stud in her nose this summer. This was before she was appointed to the faculty. The next day one of the 'old boys' (seriously...he's been here since the 60s) took one look at her and said "and you think you want to be taken as a serious scientist and want a faculty position?" She just laughed it off b/c he's such an old fogy, but it kind of bothered her.
What do you guys think of that? The nose stud is the SMALLEST thing ever...you can hardly see it (she also has a few tattoos) - but does it matter if someone in a professional appointment has body piercings? I don't think it does.

:lalala: Small rantings....

This is a very difficult subject and everyone has different opinions and various reasons for their opinions but mu opinion is:-

The law state that men and women are equal, so yes, women have stepped up within the last 50 years. But what about regular men, men that aren't politicians. They believe that they are better. Like someone above said (or it was similar), if a woman sleeps around, they are labeled a slut, if a man does it...Then he earns, possably, even more respect from his peers.

I once heard a saying 'Anything a man does, a woman has to do twice as well, to be thought half as good.' I believe this holds true {even though the rest of that saying was 'Luckily for us, this isn't hard' lol} and I highly doubt that this is going to change for a long time, no matter how hard we women try.

As for myself, I do not believe that men are better than women, we are all equal and I doubt that any time soon I am going to become a devoted house wife that stays at the kitchen sink 24/7. I am far too independant and focused on my career for that.

Just my input.
Frankee
xox