Femininity Is An Expensive Stereotype

Although more people are starting to question traditional gender-based roles in society, the quality of being feminine is still associated with the behavior of a woman. Some females grow up hearing about the need for them to be feminine, but there is also pressure on trans women to take on feminine qualities to pass as a 'real' woman. These qualities are not physical. They are trivial aesthetic qualities like putting on makeup, wearing ‘ladylike’ clothing, or hairstyling. In many parts of the world, feminine behavior is being quiet, submissive, motherly, and gentle. But not all women want to dress, or act the same way. China has reportedly raised effeminacy as a problem. However, effeminate males do not necessarily identify as women. This goes to show that gender is simply a social construct, and femininity being the definition of this social construct. Femininity is nothing more than an unnecessary stereotype that not only perpetuates the unrealism of the gender binary, but also costs women heavily.  

The ‘pink tax’ is a phrase that has been thrown around in public spheres lately. The pink tax, as defined by Healthline, is not a tax, but ‘an upcharge on products traditionally intended for women which have only cosmetic differences from comparable products traditionally intended for men.’ To the casual observer, the pink tax is a ridiculous conspiracy theory created by radicals, but evidence for the pink tax can be found at your local supermarket. In 2015, the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs released a report comparing the prices of 794 products for males and females from 91 brands sold throughout New York. They found that the price of shampoos for women can be 48% higher than men’s, razors 11% higher, and body wash 6% higher. The products compared had no differences in terms of ingredients, fragrance, and benefits. For toys, the price of girls' toys was 7% higher than those of boys. This price disparity hurts impoverished women most. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, more than 56% of the people living in poverty in 2018 were women. In that same year, 12.9 percent of women lived in poverty compared to 10.6 percent of men. These products are sold under the guise of being feminine by using pink packaging, floral-smelling scents for personal hygiene products, or fashion dolls for toys. The pink tax is attributed to these differences, although products for men have the same functions and lifespan, and both genders can use those products regardless of how they are gendered. The pink tax is a classic example of how capitalism imposes the patriarchy on women.  

An even more direct example of the link between gender stereotypes and finance is the growing issue of unpaid care work. A common aspect of being feminine is taking time away from work to care for the household instead. The OECD uses the definition of unpaid care work that was used in Elson and Cagatay’s 2000 economic paper, ‘The Social Content of Macroeconomic Policies’. The definition is as follows; ‘Unpaid care work refers to all unpaid services provided within a household for its members, including care of persons, housework and voluntary community work.’ Unpaid care work thus refers to cooking, cleaning, and childcare for the household. Those are considered work because a third person can be hired to carry out those activities. In 2020, unpaid care work accounted for 40% of the global gross domestic product. If care work was to be valued equally as other work, it would represent 10% of the world’s economic output. Care work is important, but it is the fact that women and girls bear most of the burden of doing care work that makes unpaid care work such a pressing issue. 16 billion hours are spent on unpaid care work every year, with women spending 3.2 times more hours than men on care work. Women and girls carry out at least 75% of unpaid care work in the world, and 42% of women cannot secure a job because they are responsible for caregiving. These impacts affect women living in marginalized communities the most. Unpaid care work stems from harmful gender stereotypes because those stereotypes encourage an unequal distribution of work between men and women.  

In poorer countries, the impacts of natural disasters disproportionately affect women. In poorer countries, natural disasters lower the life expectancy of women more than that of men (Neumayer 2006). This is due to biological and physiological differences, social norms, and role behavior. During the Asian tsunami in 2004, 70 percent of the victims were women. In many countries, women are expected to stay behind to take care of children, the elderly, and the household’s domestic property, hindering their self-rescue efforts. Some women are taught to only act on orders from the male head of the household, which hampers their decision-making ability in times of disasters. In addition, feminine dress codes which usually call for dresses or flowy clothing restrict movement. For example, the sari makes running and swimming difficult. Many women are also not taught how to swim because of feminine stereotypes, lowering their survival chances when floods strike. Feminine stereotypes also lead to girls not receiving education in traditional communities. Worldwide, there are 130 million girls with no access to school, and only 39% of rural girls attend secondary school, compared to 45% of rural boys. If the male breadwinners of a household turn up missing in the aftermath of a natural disaster, women do not have the education qualifications to secure a job. These women have to turn to prostitution to feed their household or marry into an abusive household. This can be seen in the aftermath of cyclone Aila in 2009 in the Indian Bengal Delta, where an uptick of 20%-25% of migratory sex workers in Kolkata was noted. 

Femininity is also characterized by being timid and passive. There are too many examples of women called ‘crazy’ or ‘annoying’ when they raise their voices in male-populated professions. The suffragettes of the early 20th century were slammed for being unreasonable and violent, while female music stars like Taylor Swift have been criticized for writing songs which are too emotional or with too many sexual innuendos when their male counterparts can do the same without protests. The #MeToo movement has also brought awareness to how many women are expected to stay silent after being assaulted because of a lack of listeners. This distrust of ‘loud’ women persists till today. Many people around the world still hold a deep distrust of women in power. The most recent survey of the Reykjavik Index supports this notion. In Japan, only 38% of people in Japan were comfortable with the idea of a female head of government or a female CEO of a major company, in Germany, 41%, in Nigeria and Kenya, 59%. The average score for all G7 countries was at 78%, which is still unexpectedly far from a score of 100%. Americans tend to overestimate the representation of women in Congress. For example, women only account for 20% of the total members of Congress and about 25% of state legislature members. At the corporate level, women only make up 20% of the Fortune 500 board members in 2016. Women are not less capable than men in their professions. Rather, they are held up to higher standards than men are. Gender stereotypes also demand that women juggle domestic matters with work while men are not expected to help as well. According to a Pew Research survey, Women are also twice as likely as men to say that they have experienced at least one of eight specific forms of gender discrimination at work. 

Women have to bear the burden that feminine stereotypes place upon them. Many women are redefining and reclaiming what being ‘feminine’ means, but for women in traditional or marginalized communities, being feminine is still a tool of oppression. It was not until recently that being feminine came to be seen as less of a role that women have to fulfill but more as empowerment. Yet, gender stereotypes are still prevalent in many societies, and femininity is not a positive word for many other women. There are women and men who choose to be feminine, so let femininity be nothing more than an aesthetic. When femininity is no longer a role that women are expected to play but an aesthetic that certain women or men choose to follow, then can women truly be free from oppressive gender roles.