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Gender stereotyping applies across all echelons of society in Singapore. Across the world in countries both like and unlike Singapore, gender stereotyping is present and continues to be prevalent even in the modern and liberal societies that exist today. While other countries have women as their top leaders, it is ironic that in the Singapore parliament, less than 20% of the Members of Parliament are women as women make up half of our society. Media has also played a large part in contributing to gender stereotyping.
In both movies and text, women are depicted as being the ones who are in need of assistance or in a position that is inferior to that of men. As literature plays a large part in influencing the values and perceptions of a society, people would form their own perceptions of both men and women after reading books or watching movies. Movies commonly portray women as being sexy and thin, so do advertisements and even some book describe women as so. This has resulted in many women trying to achieve the looks of actresses in Western countries, as thinness is promoted as the ideal female form due to the presence of such media.
While trying to achieve such figures, women could develop disorders such as Anorexia or a chronic low self-esteem (as a result of being unable to achieve the figure). In order to achieve what the media portrays, they sacrifice their personal health. This has resulted in campaigns aimed to educate girls and women on the risks associated with Anorexia, showing how society puts pressure on women to conform to its definitions. The culture and religion of a person could be responsible in gender stereotyping amongst the people of that culture or religion.
It could also have been influenced by the type of activities that were prevalent in that time that most of the cultural norms were laid down or could be related to do with succession. Some cultures only allow the man to carry on the family name, which is why families preferred to have sons so that their family name could be carried on. This is evident in Chinese and Malay culture. Some cultures also advocate the wife being subservient to the husband and those who follow in strictly could put themselves into the inferior position.
With regards to religion, some religions have placed boundaries on who can preach, such as the Roman Catholic Church, which has held the hard-line policy of allowing only men to be become priests since its inception. While the church has allowed women to dedicate their lives to service by becoming nuns, it does not allow for women to take up important positions in the church as they must first become a priest to do so. Some, like the Anglican Church, have allowed for women to become priests, but faced a negative reception from the Roman Catholic Church