When Role Change Is Not Enough: Gender, Discourse, and the Persistence of Stereotypes

• In Event: Open Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 5: Gender, Work, and Inequality

Abstract

Social role theory argues that gender stereotypes emerge from the gendered division of labor and will shift as role distributions change. Yet is increasing women’s representation in high-status domains sufficient to transform the preexisting stereotypes? Examining the social sciences — where women now earn more advanced degrees than men — I analyze public media portrayals of eight highly accomplished social scientists. Drawing on the Social Categories and Stereotypes Communication framework, I show that language remains a powerful carrier of gendered expectations. Even at the highest levels of achievement, women are more likely to be portrayed as relational caregivers and “specific experts,” while men are constructed as intellectual authorities and “universal experts.” These findings suggest that structural change alone does not recalibrate the cultural meanings attached to expertise. Without revising the script that defines competence and legitimacy, new actors merely enter an old story.

Author

• Jennifer Jiwon Lee, Stanford University