Descriptive and prescriptive features of gender stereotyping. Relationships among its components

Abstract

This paper explores the relation between gender stereotyping in traits and roles and sociodemographic variables, as well as the relation between the descriptive and prescriptive characteristics of such traits and roles. In Study 1, a representative national sample of 1255 participants was used. The results showed that trait stereotyping did not vary among participants, whereas role stereotyping did vary as a function of gender (women stereotyped less) age (young people stereotyped less) and educational level (people with a high level stereotyped less). The relation between trait stereotyping (descriptive) and role stereotyping (prescriptive) is very low. Study 2 was carried out to verify mainly the relation between the prescriptive and descriptive aspects of a single component: traits. The participants were 96 professional women. In this study, a weak relation was found between the descriptive and the prescriptive aspects of trait stereotyping, and a strong relation between the prescriptive aspects of traits and roles. These results are coherent with the assumption that the descriptive and prescriptive aspects of gender stereotyping are independent. In both studies, correlations were observed indicating that people who tend to stereotype in instrumental traits also maintain more stereotyped beliefs about the prescriptive trait and role aspects.