Abstract
Patriarchy and Gender Stereotypes in the Contemporary World makes an expansive contribution to scholarship surrounding gender inequalities. Through an in-depth exploration of gender stereotypes across various contexts, Tabassum and Nayak demonstrate the complex issue of gender stereotyping and the deep-rooted impacts of the patriarchy. Combining backgrounds in gender research and political economy, Naznin Tabassum and Bhabani Shankar Nayak's research areas form a nuanced and well-informed perspective on the interactions between gender, work, and culture. Their backgrounds feed into the multidisciplinary approach within this book, drawing on psychology, management studies, cultural theory, and global political economy; particularly in the global south. With this approach, this book creates a clear picture of the intricate ways that gender stereotypes are interwoven throughout the contemporary world, highlighting the challenges that they present across time and cultures. Representation of women in the workforce may have increased with time, following years of activism and building resistance against male dominance; however, gender equality is far from achieved. So far, in fact, that “gender equality will not be accomplished fully for another 170 years” (79). This supports the great importance of continued literature questioning these issues, and Patriarchy and Gender Stereotypes in the Contemporary World successfully unpacks some of the most prominent causes of persistent gender inequality.
Aimed at a wide audience of students, researchers, policymakers, academics, and activists, this book covers a suitably broad range of topics to engage with. Through a multidisciplinary critical lens, the exploration of gender stereotyping is accessible to readers with diverse research interests. In the introduction to this book, Tabassum and Nayak extensively outline the meaning of patriarchy and its impacts on gender stereotypes through multiple different lenses. Patriarchy is described here as a historical process in which “men hold primary power and authority in various aspects of society, including politics, economics, and the family structure” (1). This introduction to the topic may be especially beneficial to audiences who wish to expand their understanding of patriarchy. They present these issues as culturally shaped by society, going past just biological and psychological explanations. This positions gender stereotypes as complex and positioned within cultures, an idea which is demonstrated through later chapters focusing on ideas around gender and patriarchy within Bangladesh and contemporary Orissa. The introduction also outlines the overall aim of the book to “reshape the understanding of gender stereotypes and patriarchal attitudes in the modern era” (5). It could be argued that rather than entirely reshaping contemporary understanding, this book more so consolidates and expands upon current knowledge from unique perspectives. Throughout, the authors frequently highlight the most common stereotypes of men as strong leaders and women as nurturing and passive, exploring the impacts of these attitudes in different environments. Therefore, they expand upon current understanding of gender stereotypes and apply these to lesser-explored areas within the modern day, including around artificial intelligence (AI).
Patriarchy and Gender Stereotypes in the Contemporary World compliments and builds upon key works on the subject, such as The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir (1949) and Theorizing Patriarchy by Sylvia Walby (1990), focusing on impacts of patriarchy in employment and higher education in the contemporary day. Tabassum and Nayak's book highlights the ways that women's independence in society has progressed since the time of these previous works; however, patriarchal values persist. De Beauvoir's (1949) work presents the idea that gender and gender roles are constructed by society rather than driven by purely biological differences, and this is echoed in Tabassum and Nayak's book. This book also expands upon many prominent works in this area by offering a more international perspective on gender stereotypes with key cases based in the UK, Bangladesh, and Orissa. With a title as broad as Patriarchy and Gender Stereotypes in the Contemporary World, there may have been scope for an even wider international approach. However, understandably, not all countries and cultures could be covered by just one book and their focus on experiences in the global south alone are still valuable due to underrepresentation in mainstream scholarship.
Across eight chapters, this book presents a variety of different contexts in which patriarchy influences gender stereotypes and specifically women's experiences, significantly highlighting inequalities within the workplace. Opening with the theoretical background to psychological dimensions of gender stereotypes, Chapter 1 creates a baseline of understanding of gender stereotypes and where they can originate from, exploring both traditional and contemporary explanations. Within this first chapter there is brief mention of additional underrepresentation of women of color; however, this could have benefitted from a deeper examination of intersectionality within gender inequalities. By drawing on feminist scholarship such as Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex by Kimberle Crenshaw (1989), they could have highlighted the significant discrimination faced by women of color.
Following this, the book introduces a key focus on women's careers by exploring challenges faced by women in senior management positions (Chapter 2). This book does a great job of presenting just how many complex expectations female leaders must meet; they are expected to display masculine characteristics to fulfil the (stereotypically male) role, as set out by historical tradition, but must also display communal characteristics to meet female gender role expectations. In order to succeed in these roles, women often need to have higher resilience and strength to navigate gender stereotypes and discrimination; yet, as raised throughout this book, strength is still more commonly associated with men. These stereotypes persist not because they are necessarily true, but because they are convenient for a majority to accept rather than challenge. One of the key takeaways about the impacts of gender stereotyping that is put forward by this book is how much more work women have to do, outside of their job requirements, in order to survive and succeed in employment. This informs the formation of support programs for female employees to build confidence and resilience; however, this additionally places more responsibility on women to lead change.
Chapter 3, authored by Vivek Mohan and Naznin Tabassum, diverges slightly to discuss female expatriates, for which there is a clear gap in previous research about the influences of gender stereotypes. A particularly interesting part of this chapter is how it highlights the role of other peoples’ perceptions of identity. For example, stereotyping varies depending on whether people perceive an individual to be a local or a foreigner, regardless of their actual identity. This leads to differences in whether they are “judged to local standards for women” (55). Mohan and Tabassum signal a need for further research in this area to broaden knowledge of ethnic differences in stereotyping. This would provide an important intersectional perspective which could feed into a wider understanding of how stereotypes are shaped by a society.
This book also considers various factors which influence stereotypes, such as education and organizational factors, presenting the ways that gender stereotypes are inbuilt and developed from a young age through to adulthood and employment. The intergenerational transference of stereotypes makes them difficult to avoid, as they are nurtured through childhood. This places significant responsibility on teachers, who have an “unparalleled authority to construct social reality” (36–37), to teach against stereotypes despite often battling against stereotypes themselves. A lack of empowerment for women from a young age feeds into higher education, seen in low numbers of women in male-driven university courses, and linking then with representation in employment. Authors of Chapter 4 effectively frame the ridiculousness of the lack of representation of women in managerial roles with the fact that “CEOs are more likely to be called ‘Steve’ or ‘Stephen’, than they are likely to be female” (61). Overall, the exploration of stereotypes in different contexts and the resulting lack of representation of women presents another key take away from this book: gender stereotypes cannot be challenged if women are not encouraged throughout their lives to challenge them.
Through an exploration of women's entrepreneurship in Bangladesh (Chapter 6), Tabassum demonstrates the importance of specific initiatives and financial support for women. This chapter highlights the role of society structures, where if a society is not built for women to succeed outside of their traditional gender roles, then skills alone are not always enough to run a business. To avoid discrimination they may face in other workplaces, women may start a business out of necessity. As a result, this can lead to the creation of more jobs for women in a growing economy. However, Tabassum highlights the ways that women running their own businesses in Bangladesh still have to manage balancing their work with structural issues, family issues, and social constraints imposed by religion and tradition. The following chapter, centering on gender and culture in contemporary Orissa, similarly discusses the impacts of tradition on gender expectations. Here, a strong respect for tradition, which is upheld by patriarchal values, acts as a barrier to development of ideas around gender outside of gender stereotypes. Historical folktales and proverbs passed down through families reinforce the patriarchal ideology where “the female sex is often likened to a weak puppet requiring extensive care and protection” (110). This chapter is key in providing insight into the ways that patriarchy shapes all aspects of life; it not only impacts employment structures, but it also influences standards for friendship, love, and intimacy. This chapter also raises additional impacts of class and brings to light the ways that even women in power can reinforce patriarchal values, highlighting how placing more women in leadership positions is not the only solution to improving gender equality.
The final chapter, written by Memoona Tariq, presents a growing topic of inequalities within the use of AI. As a rapidly expanding tool, AI is becoming a heavily integrated part of society and this chapter emphasizes how these tools often reproduce discriminatory practices and gender biases from human ideals. Tariq cites an article by Manasi et al. (2023), which presents the way AI-based resume screening systems used by Amazon previously discriminated against women due to the underrepresentation of women in the data it was trained on. Whilst Tariq states that this model was discarded due to this issue, it highlights a potential issue with overreliance on AI systems which could continue to replicate the persistent under-hiring of women. This chapter goes on to present the main industries which are likely to be transformed by AI the most, such as healthcare, education, and the military; however, there is little reference to specific impacts on women and gender stereotypes within these. Whilst this chapter presents an interesting perspective on AI and the need for research in this area, it could benefit from a deeper exploration of how AI may perpetuate gender stereotypes and impact people who are already facing challenges under patriarchal practices.
A prominent strength throughout this book is that the authors utilize several methodological approaches to investigating stereotypes at multiple levels. In-depth reviews of previous literature help form conceptual models of gender stereotyping, creating a backdrop of both the historical and contemporary impacts of the patriarchy. The extensive exploration of previous research not only provides a useful overview of the topic but also highlights areas for further development, such as research on female expatriates. The authors also make use of semi-structured interviews to bring forward personal experiences and perceptions, including interviews with future managers (Chapter 4) and female staff in a UK university (Chapter 5). The interviews from Chapter 5 stand out as they bring to light individual perspectives on the opportunities given to and challenges faced by women working in higher education. The integration of this study grounds the chapter in lived experiences and gives women a voice on things that directly impact them, something which is vital in a book on this topic.
Overall, Patriarchy and Gender Stereotypes in the Contemporary World presents a comprehensive view of stereotypes through a combination of extensive literature exploration as well as empirical evidence. Readers can benefit from the range of perspectives on patriarchy and stereotypes across time and cultures, examining the ways that language and expectations passed down through generations reinforce gender roles. Understanding the roots of patriarchy can bring forward conversations about future cultural shifts, in ways that may break down restrictive and unnecessary prescriptive gender stereotypes. Despite minor critiques around intersectionality and scope, this book represents an important conversation within the contemporary landscape where gender inequalities persist. The discourse surrounding adherence to social norms, implicit bias, and responsibility highlight the complexity of a topic like this, signaling a need for continued reevaluation of the impact of patriarchy in an ever-developing society.
