"How, in the year 2003 - when women are visible as astronauts, engineers, police officers, construction workers and other professions that shoe then in non-traditional gender roles - can it be so hard for a 6-year-old child to accept a group of woman winning a race or two on a TV show?" (t.org).
Gender roles and stereotyping have always been a problem. Men are to act a certain way and women are to act a certain way. Even though some stereotypes have been destroyed, the contradictory gender roles of men and woman in the twenty-first century are still present.
Just fifty years ago, a woman with a successful job, or any job for that matter, was rare. Women were to star home, raising children and keeping the house. Overtime feminists came to be and rebelled against their current status. Today it's almost rare to find a housewife. Women are becoming doctors, lawyers - anything they want to be. Little girls" dreams of becoming firefighters can actually come true.
Unfortunately, certain jobs for men are frowned upon. These jobs could include nurses, elementary school teachers, and househusbands. "There are feelings that teaching five-year-olds all your life is not enough of a career for a man." (teacher p169). Although men doing "female work" is more excepted than it used to be, it is still not as encouraged as it should be.
Granted that females having jobs is great, one thing that still is not admirable are women's rages. Females make approximately seventy-five cents for every dollar a man makes - and this is for doing the same exact work. However much this has improved over the years, it's still not enough. Money ultimately means power, so in turn, men control the power.
Stereotypes begin at a young age. With dolls and action figures separating the girls from the boys, it's inevitable. They are similar in the sense that they create pretend worlds for children. Action figures are tough, like to fight and always win.