There’s a deeply perceived myth in society, rooted in misogyny, that women are inherently more emotional than men.
You’ve heard it in passing comments, the concept that women are too emotional to succeed in general, in politics or in positions of power.
Former President Richard Nixon said, “I don’t think a woman should be in any government job whatever. I mean, I really don’t. The reason why I do is mainly because they are erratic and emotional.”
Polls revealed that 25% of Americans believe that most men are better suited emotionally for politics than most women, and many other surveys similarly showed that the majority of people thought women to be “too emotional” for positions of leadership.
This false notion is perpetrated constantly by patronizing stereotypes such as crying is a sign of weakness and women caring “too much,” preventing them from succeeding in leadership roles. Yet whenever women deviate from this standard, they are seen equally as negatively, but as controlling and domineering “bitches.” In this sense, women cannot win.
In older fictional movies, books and television shows, women in power are typically evil, cast as villains rather than heroines.
Older Disney works are a great example of this. Disney princesses are never shown in actual positions of power; rather they are revered for their benevolence, and in relation, their emotions. Women who are stoic, less kind and more self-centered are cast as villains; their lack of emotions becoming their downfall.
Society perpetrates an often-hypocritical set of ideals for women: “good” women are overly emotional, nurturing, and kind, which in turn causes them to be poor leaders, while “bad” women are stoic, cunning and aggressive, which also makes them terrible leaders.
While fictional media has started progressively dismantling these harmful stereotypes, real media has barely touched on the topic.
Most people believe that men and women have equal amounts of emotion. They believe women simply have poorer emotional control and have higher tendencies to emotional outbreaks, like crying or getting upset.
As Nixon said, “Men are erratic and emotional, too, but the point is a woman is more likely to be.”
However, emotional control isn’t the issue – it’s the perception of emotions are masculine or feminine.
Anger is seen as a very masculine emotion while sadness is seen as feminine.
Men and women are equally shamed for crying because it is seen as weak, even though crying is actually beneficial to your body. It releases endorphins in your brain and helps regulate your nervous system.
Men are allowed and often encouraged to be angry, because it’s seen as a sign of masculinity and power, rather than irrational or crazy, as anger is considered in women.
It is seen as commonplace for men to break controllers after losing a game of Call of Duty or punch walls if they’re angry, yet women crying at upsetting situations is seen as irrational.
These stereotypes, which prevent women from attaining positions in power, also harm men, who are taught from a young age to suppress emotions, because showing emotion is weak, and emotions are feminine, and femininity is weakness.
The problem isn’t women being emotional. The problem is that society enforces the idea that emotions are signs of weakness, not because they are harmful, but because they are associated with women.
Society never taught us to negatively view emotion; it taught us to negatively view women.
So, until society stops viewing women as the inferior sex, this stereotype will never truly go away.
Maureen Wardle can be reached at [email protected]