The theory of gender schema and roles in culture

Gender schema theory was presented by psychologist Sandra Bem in 1981. It is a cognitive theory that aims to explain how individuals adopt a gender in society and how the characteristics socially associated with each sex are maintained and transmitted to other members of the same culture.

Bem stated that Children learn about male and female roles from the culture in which they live. According to this theory, children adjust their behavior to align with the gender norms of their culture from the earliest stages of their psychosocial development.

The author suggested that Freudian theories were too focused on the influence of anatomy on gender development and proposed a new conception. So, for Bem, A child’s cognitive development combined with social influences influence thinking patterns (schemas) that correspond to accepted masculine and feminine traits.

Cultural influences on the gender scheme

Gender schemas have an impact not only on how people process information, but also on the attitudes and beliefs that direct behavior considered “gender appropriate.”

For example, a child living in a very traditional culture might believe that a woman’s role is to care for and raise children, while a man’s role is focused on work and industry. Thus, They build an internal mental scheme related to what men and women can and cannot do.

Gender schemas also dictate a person’s value and potential in that culture.. For example, a girl raised in a traditional culture might believe that the only path available to her as a woman is to marry and raise children. On the contrary, a girl raised in a more progressive culture, according to her assumptions, could pursue a university degree, avoid having children, or decide not to marry.

Many of these influences are overt, while others are more subtle. In this sense, it is worth noting that even the placement of gender titles in the vocabulary (usually the masculine before the feminine) systematically places women in a secondary position.

All these influences that prevail in society, no matter how imperceptible they may seem, influence the construction of the gender scheme of each individual. It’s more, Both men and women are tacitly aware of the consequences of not adhering to the cultural norm regarding their gender.

Therefore, when they find themselves in a situation of social disapproval for not manifesting the expected traits according to their gender, they may feel pressure to change their behavior or face rejection from those who do not approve of them.

Gender stereotypes according to gender schema theory

Since gender schema theory is a theory of process and not content, it can also help explain other types of processes. For example, those through which Gender stereotypes are so strongly ingrained in our society.

Specifically, having strong gender schemas provides a filter through which to process all incoming stimuli in the environment. This allows the person to more easily assimilate the information that will become stereotyped, which further solidifies the existence of gender stereotypes.

In this sense, and in relation to adolescent development, Bem hypothesizes that, although children can choose between a large number of dimensions related to sex, gender schemas will lead to the adoption of behaviors that conform to the cultural definition of what it means to be a man or a womanalmost without the possibility of choice.

Furthermore, the psychologist affirms that there is a Primal “subschema of heterosexuality”which probably led to the development of the gender schemes we know today.

In fact, most societies treat heterosexuality as the benchmark for defining appropriate masculinity and femininity. Or what is the same: The norm, in many societies, is heterosexuality.

So, The heterosexuality subschema implies that men and women are different from each other. But also that “sexual” type individuals (those who identify with their assigned gender and process information through the lens of that gender schema) are predisposed to employ this schema in social interactions, behaving differently. towards individuals of the opposite sex, depending on whether they find them more or less attractive.

About the gender schema theory

Bem believed that Gender schemes are limiting for men, women and society in general.. In fact, he believed that raising boys and girls free of these stereotypes and limitations would lead to greater freedom and fewer restrictions when exercising free will.

For their part, critics of Bem’s theory claim that the author portrayed individuals simply as passive spectators in the development of gender schemas, ignoring the complex and varied forces that contribute to the construction of gender.

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