For a vast issue such as gender inequality, there are many factors including stereotypes, social norms, unconscious bias, and fundamental differences. Before I address those factors, it is important to remember that gender equality means that both men and women are entitled to equal treatment regardless of their gender or other physical or emotional characteristics.
In this video, a female, Eline and male, will set up an experiment to test whether people are more likely to stop and intervene if the female is being aggressive to the male or vice versa.
Created by BBC Three, entitled “What Happens When A Woman Abuses A Man In Public?” First, Will was aggressively abusing Eline. In the span of 1.5 hours, 7 people stopped and help Eline. However, when the tables turned and Eline started abusing Will, only one person stopped to help him after the same amount of time.
People that stopped to 'rescue' Eline said that Will looked abusive. One person said "she was flinching...and looked scared. It looked quite abusive." However, people that saw Will being abused by Eline thought that Will must have wronged Eline (touched her inappropriately) and that he looked 'soft.' One man that saw Will being abused stated, "I wouldn’t let a girl hit me like that"(BBC Three).
When a woman is abused by a man, he is labelled as an abuser. However the situation does not seem as serious or severe when a women abuses a man. This is because many people have the conception that the victims of gender inequality are always women.
Many aspects of gender inequality are events that men will never face, but constantly shape women’s mental health and opportunities, such as access to Prenatal Care and Maternal Mortality, causing women to be seen as more vulnerable compared to men. However, this does not mean that men are not victims of gender inequality. Social norms have shaped men to be masculine and unsentimental figures.
In the 21st century, many people are aware that gender inequality is a prominent issue. This causes women to be seen as the victims in many situations due to efforts towards gender equality. However, it also creates the conception that men are more capable of harm than women, causing men to be seen as the abusers. Now, women are constantly seen as the vulnerable; men have become the offender. Hence, not only has the fight for gender equality backfired, it has caused even more gender stereotypical prejudice for both men and women.
Men: masculine, aggressive, serious, powerful.
Women: feminine, neurotic, agreeable, powerless.
The fixed identities of women and men are reinforced with the belief that fundamental gender differences exist. While it is unclear whether there are gender-based traits, society's sex-based expectations causes provocations to behave according to social norms, restricting a person to their gender. Hence, this constricts people to have fixed perceptions of others according to their gender.