In an article “How Gender Stereotypes Kill a Woman’s Self-Confidence” by Dina Gerdeman she discusses how gender stereotypes contribute to holding women back from certain professions. She specifically states that women “lack confidence in their ability to compete in fields that men are stereotypically believed to perform more strongly in, such as science, math, and technology” (3). This is because stereotypes oftentimes, obtains women from achieving a certain goal since they feel intimidated by men.

In relation with the novel, Edna wanted to fulfill her own life and wasn’t a typical women compared to others. She felt like a stranger and property to her husband when in reality she was unhappy with the life she had. Her husband had the freedom to fulfill whatever life he’d please however, since she was a woman she was limited in her actions.

This article states that a man names Coffman had recently co-written an article in the American Economic Review aimed to study men’s and women’s beliefs about their own abilities. It was said that “women are more likely than men to shrug off the praise and lowball their own abilities” (7-8). Gender stereotypes distort views women hold for themselves and others. It caused women to create a bleak self-image upon themselves which held them back professionally.

Mrs. Pontellier said that women “idolized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angles” (19). In her eyes women where all the same intending to fulfill motherhood but in reality she herself was unhappy with the way gender norms had created this image.

Another study was mentioned in this article, where Coffman and her colleagues quizzed participants both male and female to answer questions in several categories of different interests. Women tended to answer questions based on the average female response and vice versa. The thing that stood out to them the most was that women had a lot less confidence through the scores on their tests then men had since they felt intimidated to look at the scores men received even before answering the questions.

It was noted that in the studies even men felt less confident in different areas to as where women had shined. Coffman said “It’s not that women are simply less confident; what we find consistently is that individuals are less confident in fields that are more stereotypically outside of their gender’s domain,” (18). As the “maleness” of the questions increased, women were less likely than man to share their ideas or viewpoints on the given subject.

In conclusion, I found it to be interesting how gender stereotypes affect the way each gender preforms. This is caused because of the feeling of not feeling confident enough since one gender exceeds more then another gender in different areas. The fact that these stereotypes affect us unconsciously even if we don’t want it to, it can hold us back from pursuing a certain dream or speaking our minds.
When Mrs. Pontellier starting persuing her dreams and wanted to be an independent women. Her husband went to seek help for her because he was unfamiliar to her behavior. He said “Her whole attitude—towards me and everybody—has changed”(170). Mrs. Pontellier was tired of feeling trapped into her unhappiness and didn’t love her husband anymore.

Works Cited:

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. Herbert S. Stone, 1899. Print. Gerdeman, D. (2019, February 25).

Gerdeman, Dina. “How Gender Stereotypes Kill a Woman’s Self-Confidence.” Working Knowledge. Harvard Business School. 25 February 2019. hbswk.hbs.edu/item/how-gender-stereotypes-less-than-br-greater-than-kill-a-.... Accessed 28 January 2021.