Gender Bias and Social Problems

Personal and social problems are common things that play apart in society. The difference between the two characteristics would be personal problems “have an impact on large numbers of people and are matters of public debate.”, whereas, social problems are “things that affect individuals and their immediate surroundings.” A common social problem that often goes unnoticed would be gender bias. Gender bias gets causally brought up in everyday situations. This is brought about from personal beliefs, who’s right and who’s wrong.

It’s so casually addressed on a day to day basis and has become so frequent, that it is impossible for it to be unavoidable in society. Hidden bias has become so nonchalant, that it’s easily mixed in with the other types of bias, unknowingly having that effect in a situation.

Women can’t simply have a dispute with a male without them having the justification of, “Are you on your period?” Or comments are made about how a woman is dressed defines the way she will be treated or thought about. Or simply jobs are categorized by gender, women aren’t often obligated to do a “man’s job”. Or if a woman has a higher body count than a man, she is considered “whorish”, whereas if it were the other way around majority of men gets praised for the number of women they sleep with. It’s rare for men to get sexually looked down upon based on the things that they do in life, it’s a superiority thing.

Men think they are entitled to a woman. Those are just a few examples of the causal bias that people are unaware of and potentially don’t stand up for because it is considered the norm in society. Gender bias comments happen every day and it becomes a joke, something to laugh about to the ones that it doesn’t affect. As stated before, these issues have become such a commonly thing that’s spoken about, that people are now prone to speak upon more than just one bias topic at a time. That would be called implicit bias. Being an 19 year old African-American female, implicit bias has played a factor in one of many of situations that I have dealt with so far in my lifetime.

I myself was IMPLICIT BIAS 3 unknowingly unaware of these actions until I actually took the time to analyze it. Those certain bias’s I’ve experienced all together have broken down to gender bias, racial bias, stereotypes and authority. Just because you’re a certain race people think they’re obligated to point out or say racial remarks to you. Many people assume that blacks have an image of being scary and rudely loud mouthed individuals. Verna Myers talks about how there’s still part of us that still crosses the streets, lock the door, clutch their purses when they see blacks. The same stereotypes and prejudices that caused deaths from racist police brutality are still fueled in us to this day. From my own view, there are always two types of reactions to this view; those that feel they have to be nice to you out of fear of being “retaliated against” or simply the ones that avoid you at all costs and keep their distance.

I was in a predominantly white high school where I was literally the only African-American in all but one of my classes. This was the time of the 2008 Presidential election. Comments were made to me “Obama is going to get assassinated because he’s black! I feel bad for you.” I had a teacher who in front of the whole class asked me personally to talk about the election with her and for me to understand that’s its wrong for a black to be elected in office. Gender bias and authority were exemplified in this situation when my opinion was loathed upon because I was apparently too young of a female to have any knowledge of how the presidency works.

The racial stereotypes occur here because picking me to antagonize based on my skin color, somehow made me obligated to speak for all African Americans in this discussion. She abused her authority of being a teacher, by talking over me when I stated something she disagreed with. She deliberately bashed me, into believing that her perspective was right over mine. Author Derman-Sparks touches base with this particular topic. He states that

“Young children are aware that color, language, gender, and physical ability are connected IMPLICIT BIAS 4 to privilege and power. Racism and sexism have a profound influence on children’s developing sense of self and others.” From being 11 years old in this particular situation, I too was observant on how white supremacy was a key factor on how I was treated. People who aren’t or will never be in the situations you go through based on your different gender, race, cultural beliefs, etc. are quick to say you are wrong or find some type of justification to the bias act. Not everyone can relate but everyone can be open-minded instead of retailing against something they may never experience. As we all may or may not know bias is an everyday norm that doesn’t get negative acknowledgement on to be stopped. Just like stereotypes, bias is not categorized by a specific group of people. Parents are bias; teachers, friends, siblings, strangers.

It saddens me how we are still in a world where people still judge you based on racial stereotypes, not knowingly realizing everyone is different. Certain traits or actions are not categorized by cultures or skin shade. Ignorance is bliss in America, only open mindedness and being educated about these beliefs, is a positive way to overcome these types of problems. After years of thinking this way people are stuck in their own mindsets, Derman-Sparks educational book teaches adults and kids at a young age about types of bias and how to overcome feeling that way about people. Just because it hasn’t happened to you, doesn’t mean you can’t be concerned and step up.

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