Social Cognitive Theory Of Gender Equality Essay

The issue of gender equality is one that is still extremely prevalent in today’s society and culture. Despite societal attempts to reprimand derogatory behavior or comments that promote sexism, scandals such as the Harvard men’s soccer team’s ‘scouting report’ show that the problem still remains. Many males still view women in a negative way and feel a sense of superiority over them. This explains how events such as the Harvard men’s soccer scandal could have happened. Although there is no excuse for the inferior attitudes men sometimes place on women, I believe that predetermined biological, social, and cognitive factors that have been so heavily inflicted throughout the lifespan have made this behavior accepted and, in most cases, the social …show more content…
If we as mankind do not strive to fix this problem, we will never have true equality in society and women will continue to be viewed as less than a man. Looking towards the behavioral and social cognitive theory of development and more closely examining the social cognitive theory of gender can show us how to better handle these behaviors and lessen the occurrences in the future. This theory states that children’s gender development occurs through observation and imitation of gender behavior and that the consequences of behavior produce a change in the probability of the behavior (Santrock, 2016, p. 372). Those that violate women’s rights to equality and privacy should be held accountable for their actions and in turn, through observational learning, the behavior of others would be shaped. Sexism cannot be tolerated on any level, especially not in the ways that the Harvard men’s soccer team exploited the women’s team. This was a clear violation of their privacy and a very demeaning way of belittling and objectifying these women. Future generations should never be exposed to this type of behavior and that is why it must end now and be left in the