By: Genesis Figueroa

The discrimination based on gender has endured throughout history due to the social roles in society. The term sexism is used to label this type of discriminatory behavior towards sexes. Particularly, women have been victims of discrimination in many areas of society. History has demonstrated how women were marginalized and did not acquire equal rights to men. Women could not vote, or obtain any private property because it was unlawful at the time. These rights were reserved to men only because they were seen as superior. The role of women was to remain at home and maintain the children as well as do household chores. In essence, women had no liberty to engage in social mobility. Though women have gained many liberties since then, women are still told they are not capable of doing certain tasks because of their gender. They may actually believe these false claims and behave as if they are incapable. In social psychology, this is known as the self-fulfilling prophecy. 

In society, there are many labels placed on different careers regarding which sex is more likely to do a particular job. People may claim that nursing is a job for women and others may claim construction is a manly job. These remarks create stereotypes in society where they exclude groups of people from achieving their goals. This is when the self-fulfilling prophecy becomes an issue. The Self-fulfilling prophecy is described as being “when people cause their initially inaccurate perceptions of others to become true” (Madon et al., 2013). Women in particular are victims of this prophecy because in comparison to men, women are inferiorized. Many industries have a patriarchal hierarchy and it may remain this way for years because women are discouraged from pursuing these jobs. Especially sexism in the workforce is prevalent, women even receive unequal pay or are not given the opportunities to get the job. Due to this type of competition and constant fight for equality, many women do not even attempt to go after a certain position. Hence, the self-fulfilling prophecy occurs within the workforce because many women become intimidated by sexist remarks and begin to act like they can not do a certain job,when in fact they can. And probably even better.  

As the self-fulfilling prophecy states, there are people who actually take in false stereotypes and begin to live within these barriers. As previously discussed, women have gained many rights but continue to be marginalized in other parts of society. In a study about sexism, psychological distress and diffcult sexual situations, their results showed that “there is the need to develop HIV prevention strategies for women that address two mechanisms —psychological distress and difficult sexual situations — that link social discrimination to women’s sexual risk for HIV” (Choi et al., 2011). This study suggests that women who are in distress and who are enduring gender as well as power inequality, are have unprotected sex. They also address how women have to deal with the stress of being disadvantaged compared to men. Women have to deal with being judged by society about having too many sexual partners and they are more physically abused by men. In essence, this study shows how women become too stressed with society’s view of women having unprotected sex and having multiple sex partners that they begin to confirm those expectations. This self-fulfilling prophecy occurs which in turn leads to statistics demonstrating that “women account for more than a quarter of all new infections, representing 26% of the estimated 37,163 adults and adolescents diagnosed with HIV/AIDS” (Choi et al., 2011). 

Women are constantly cheated out of opportunities because they are told they do not have the capability of accomplishing it. Sadly, many women take the advice of these people and bring it into existence. Personally, I have been surrounded by women who have told me stories that display this self-fulfilling prophecy. My aunt was in her late-twenties when she began aspiring to become a civil engineer. She was in a relationship and her child was a toddler at the time. She told her partner that even though they had a child, she would try her best to go to school again and be there for her family. However, her husband did not support her endeavors, rather he dismissed them. He told her that it was too late for her to pursue that because she had passed the age range and he told her that civil engineering was a “man’s job”. They began to have many disputes and unfortunately, she did not apply for classes pertaining to civil engineering. She was  not able to pursue her desired career because she followed his advice. This is an example of how his sexist comment led to the self-fulfilling prophecy because she believed that she couldn’t do this career due to the fact that she was a woman. He discriminated against her because he didn’t think that a woman would be able to become a civil engineer. In essence, these occurrences demonstrate how women have to keep pushing barriers to equalize opportunities because women are still being manipulated into thinking that they are not enough. 

In conclusion, sexism against women is seen throughout society. Women are not equalized in many aspects of society and they still have to fight for change. As many centuries ago, men are still seen as the superior gender. In social psychology, the self-fulfilling prophecy is a concept that is discussed with other genders and age groups as well. It is used as an example to explain why some students earn better grades than others based on the teacher’s expectations. However, there are some critics that claim that the self-fulfilling prophecy does not occur because people do not have to fulfill the expectations of others. However, even if they do not have to do this, people still may unconsciously fulfill these expectations and may be driven to conform to society. In essence, women experience sexism on a daily basis and many fall victim to the self-fulfilling prophecy due to these sexist criticisms. 

                                                             Works-Cited

Madon, S., Scherr, K. C., Spoth, R., Guyll, M., Willard, J., & Vogel, D. L. (2013). The Role Of The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy In Young Adolescents’ Responsiveness To A Substance Use Prevention Program. Journal of applied social psychology, 43(9), 1784–1798. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12126

Choi, K. H., Bowleg, L., & Neilands, T. B. (2011). The effects of sexism, psychological distress, and difficult sexual situations on U.S. women’s sexual risk behaviors. AIDS education and prevention : official publication of the International Society for AIDS Education, 23(5), 397–411. https://doi.org/10.1521/aeap.2011.23.5.397