Gender stereotyping has been happening since ancient times, with women being told they cannot do certain jobs and men being told to hide emotions are some of the more common ones. Students continue to experience gender stereotypes whether it is at work, in sports or even school.

Many stereotypes have stemmed from years of men being the head of the household and women being there to cook and clean. This was still seen as a traditional value as recently as the 1980’s-1990’s and while both men and women have been stereotyped in their own ways, men are usually stereotyped for being strong, aggressive and not wanting to show emotions.

“More than anything, it’s kind of the stoic, kind of has to be the strong, silent, always providing type,” senior Rowan Campbell said.

Women are usually stereotyped for having too much emotion, being not as smart as men, known for their looks and always being polite.

Even in recent years many women face discrimination in the workforce with not being paid the same as a man, getting promotions, and even harassment by other employees.

“Women were paid 21.8% less on average than men in 2023, after controlling for race and ethnicity, education, age, and geographic division,” the Economic Policy Institute stated.

“I see it a lot as like women are typically underpaid for working the same job as a man,” Kaitlyn Anderson said.

Along with working many times sports can be confined to one gender. With sports such as volleyball, it traditionally has been a female dominated sport but even just last year the high school created a men’s volleyball team. Another sport for example is football, which has been male dominated, but there is a flag football team that is currently in the process of being created this year at the high school. These types of changes are helping to break gender stereotypes in athletics.

“I’ve seen it happen on my sports teams. Like, it’s typically the women are meant to be, like, the smaller, not holding, the powerful positions in the sport,” Anderson said.

Although over time gender stereotypes have slowly died down there are still problems now with sports, work and other daily experiences and events. The pressure to play up into these stereotypes and stray away at the same time can be a lot especially for teenagers who are still developing who they really are. Social media has also played into this with the use of photoshop and growth of artificial intelligence. People can end up glamourising their life for more likes or views.