The Image of Women – a Sociological analysis of Social Stereotypes

Abstract

Nowadays, the image of the woman assimilates all valences, from the submissive and depreciated woman to the independent, dominant or the powerful woman. For a very long time, the imperative power of traditions provided a framed image of the status and roles associated with each gender, obviously favoring the male status. The social evolution of the last decades has caused the force of tradition to consistently lose its power and the gap between the male and the female status to shrink and, in certain communities, even reverse the power ratio. The contemporary social moment surprises two large categories of situations: a female status anchored for a long time in the struggle to obtain equity in the couple and a male status, predominantly traditionally socialized. The male is surprised by the fact that the tradition can no longer support the status culture in which he was educated. Thus, the changing of a behavior, as Bandura (1977) states, involves the changing of old thinking systems. However, this process stage is more advanced for women; the applicability thereof is difficult because of the male opposition. The changing of cognitions is therefore more difficult to achieve, which is why women try to act on behaviors while men, abandoned by the protection of traditions, re-argue their status by appealing to social stereotypes about women, which, being widespread, appear as generally legitimate arguments. The study aims to analyze the social opinions regarding the social stereotypes about women.