Gender Stereotypes In Sheryl Sandberg's They Say I Say

Improved Essays
In the book, They Say I Say, there are three articles demonstrating different opinions on having a balance between the workforce and their personal life. The authors of these articles are Sheryl Sandberg, Anne-Marie Slaughter, and Richard Dormant. These writers focus on important topics including having a balanced life between their personal life and their careers, ambitions in life, and social expectations. Each of the writer’s opinions share common ideas while others have completely different beliefs. The purpose of these articles is to convey to the reader the social expectations that society has on people’s balance of their home life and their career. The authors of these articles all agree that family is very important, but when it comes …show more content…
“The gender stereotypes introduced in childhood are reinforced throughout our lives and become self-fulfilling prophesies” (Sandberg, 653). These writers acknowledge that the expectations hold people back from doing what they want to do. They hold people back from going to the career field they desire to be in. An example that Sandberg talks about is how woman don’t go into technical careers because these gender stereotypes discourage them to do so (655). In Slaughters article, she encourages woman to go against the social norm. She encourages the girls in her class to speak up in class and not to be afraid, while her husband encourages the men to actually listen and to speak less (695). Slaughter believes that if we go against social norms than the equality of both men and woman would increase and it would help make the society better. Richard Dormant explains how there is social expectations in the workplace. An example he uses is when men in their work place request family leave then they are considered to suffer from femininity stigma (711). The reason why they are considered that is because it shows weakness and uncertainty or as some people will call it “acting like a woman”

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