Proposed Method
Participants
The proposed participants in this study will be recruited based on convenience sampling. A majority of the proposed participants will be female college students at Texas Christian University (TCU). However, in attempts to broaden the study, female TCU college students will be encouraged to bring female friends and family members with them for participation in the study. Participants in the study must be at least 18 years of age, and there will be no maximum age limit. This age limit is only in place for the ability to comprehend the study and the questionnaires, while additionally requiring less work with parent/guardian consent forms. Projection of participation is around 150 participants with a lower limit …show more content…
Higher conformity to female gender roles should relate to lower overall self-esteem, while lower conformity to female gender roles should correlate to higher overall self-esteem. This is hypothesized due to past research findings. First, depression and vulnerability was closely related to low self-esteem (Orth, Robins, Widaman, & Conger, 2014; Panayiotou, & Papageorgious, 2007), then additionally attributed to feminine gender role conformity (Bebbington, 1998), thus showing a possible direct or indirect relationship. Second, feminine gender role conformity may limit women’s ability to voice assertive opinions and restrict behaviors that are not considered feminine (Nelson & Burke, 2002), which may contribute to decreased perceived self-worth. Further, women that conform to feminine gender roles may score lower in stereotypical male competencies, such as in the math and sciences (Davies, & Spencer, 2005), thus indirectly showing a correlation since lower achievement may relate to low self-esteem (Anderson, Brion, Moore, & Kennedy 2012). Feminine gender roles also place importance on caring for needs of others, while assigning high demands on domestic roles (Bond, Galinsky, & Swanberg, 1998; Mahalik, et al., 2005; Nelson & Burke, 2002), which may leave female role conformers little or no time for self-love. Finally, feminine gender roles …show more content…
Conceivably, it would be important to start with educating future parents, parents of small children, school counselors, colleges, and teachers, since gender roles are usually learned and adapted by the age of five (Bem, 1981). Furthermore, these areas would be productive starting points in promoting less gender biases. This could be achieved by providing current literature on gender norms that may not always be apparent to people within our society, since gender roles may be tacit knowledge. Community education centers could provide free courses/lectures on stereotypical gender roles, their potential implications, and preventative measures. Health care centers could distribute informational packets and other literature to parents and future parents. Thus, giving young girls the opportunity to grow and develop without pressure to conform to gender norms. These girls would be free to explore their individual strengths and pursue their dreams, regardless of masculine or feminine stigmas. By shrinking the gap between gender roles in society, this may also diminish the negative attributes correlated to low
Participants
The proposed participants in this study will be recruited based on convenience sampling. A majority of the proposed participants will be female college students at Texas Christian University (TCU). However, in attempts to broaden the study, female TCU college students will be encouraged to bring female friends and family members with them for participation in the study. Participants in the study must be at least 18 years of age, and there will be no maximum age limit. This age limit is only in place for the ability to comprehend the study and the questionnaires, while additionally requiring less work with parent/guardian consent forms. Projection of participation is around 150 participants with a lower limit …show more content…
Higher conformity to female gender roles should relate to lower overall self-esteem, while lower conformity to female gender roles should correlate to higher overall self-esteem. This is hypothesized due to past research findings. First, depression and vulnerability was closely related to low self-esteem (Orth, Robins, Widaman, & Conger, 2014; Panayiotou, & Papageorgious, 2007), then additionally attributed to feminine gender role conformity (Bebbington, 1998), thus showing a possible direct or indirect relationship. Second, feminine gender role conformity may limit women’s ability to voice assertive opinions and restrict behaviors that are not considered feminine (Nelson & Burke, 2002), which may contribute to decreased perceived self-worth. Further, women that conform to feminine gender roles may score lower in stereotypical male competencies, such as in the math and sciences (Davies, & Spencer, 2005), thus indirectly showing a correlation since lower achievement may relate to low self-esteem (Anderson, Brion, Moore, & Kennedy 2012). Feminine gender roles also place importance on caring for needs of others, while assigning high demands on domestic roles (Bond, Galinsky, & Swanberg, 1998; Mahalik, et al., 2005; Nelson & Burke, 2002), which may leave female role conformers little or no time for self-love. Finally, feminine gender roles …show more content…
Conceivably, it would be important to start with educating future parents, parents of small children, school counselors, colleges, and teachers, since gender roles are usually learned and adapted by the age of five (Bem, 1981). Furthermore, these areas would be productive starting points in promoting less gender biases. This could be achieved by providing current literature on gender norms that may not always be apparent to people within our society, since gender roles may be tacit knowledge. Community education centers could provide free courses/lectures on stereotypical gender roles, their potential implications, and preventative measures. Health care centers could distribute informational packets and other literature to parents and future parents. Thus, giving young girls the opportunity to grow and develop without pressure to conform to gender norms. These girls would be free to explore their individual strengths and pursue their dreams, regardless of masculine or feminine stigmas. By shrinking the gap between gender roles in society, this may also diminish the negative attributes correlated to low