Why Doesn’t America Appreciate Powerful Women?

Being a professional, career-driven woman in today’s society comes with a enormous set of challenges that our male counterparts never have to face. Women and men don’t even start out the race to the top on the same track; it seems that women have far steeper of a run, with many obstacles to hurdle on the way…while men have a clear flat path and a head start. When you consider the heavy gender schemas that Valian describes in her chapter in Women at the top in Science – and Elsewhere, the reasons why this disadvantage exists are not so hard to grasp. These gender schemas build up from the time we are born, categorizing in our minds what it means to be a man, and what traits define a woman. This becomes the main source of subconscious judgement used throughout our daily lives, and causes us to, “overrate men and underrate women,” (Valian 32).

As I read through Valian’s chapter, I realized how painfully true her statements were. She described a study where men and women were told to evaluate workers based on their profiles, and even when two profiles were equal, raters saw men as more competent than women across the board. Even the women rated the female workers as being less competent, with no valid reason for doing so. And when the profile made it clear that the woman was more competent, raters described the male and female as equal while adding that the woman was definitely more hostile. My first reaction was denial; how could this be possible? Don’t women want other women to succeed? Then I thought harder and realized… How many times have I been pulled over for speeding, and groaned when I saw a woman step out of the police car? ‘Lady cops’ are always being put down and stereotyped as uptight and cruel, while in my actual experience I have not noticed a difference in the attitudes or demeanors between male and female cops.

The same goes for women as leaders and bosses in the workplace. TV shows, movies, and everyday conversations between coworkers show how a strong female in a leadership position is perceived as mean, rude, or cruel by her workers. This is directly caused by gender schemas and stereotypes, as a man with the same qualities as the woman in this position is seen as confident, professional, and in control.

Now comes the hard part: how in the world do we go about stopping this? How can we change the schemas ingrained in the subconscious of billions of people and convince them of the truth, that women are just as capable of being in charge and performing well as men are?

Truth is, we can’t. But we can educate the masses and possibly change some of the opinions of Americans, and teach our children from birth to always treat people equally, since what talents they have inside will often surprise you. People are far more than the stereotype that surrounds them, which Valian shows through the striking data and analysis within her chapter. Its about time for the world to wake up and realize that women have far more to offer to the world than baking and housekeeping.