Alpha bias - this occurs
when the differences
between men and women
are exaggerated.
Therefore, stereotypically
male and female
characteristics may be
emphasised.
Beta bias -this occurs when
the differences between
men and women are
minimised. This often
happens when findings
obtained from men are
applied to women without
additional validation.
Androcentrism - taking
male
thinking/behaviour as
normal, regarding
female
thinking/behaviour as
deviant, inferiour,
abnormal, ‘other’ when
it is different.
Positive Consequences of Gender Bias
Alpha Bias: • Has led to some
theorists (Gilligan) to assert the worth
and valuation ‘feminine qualities’. •
Has led to healthy criticism of cultural
values that praise certain ‘male’
qualities such as aggression and
individualism as desirable, adaptive
and universal.
Beta Bias: • Makes people
see men and women as the
same, which has led to
equal treatment in legal
terms and equal access to,
for example, education and
employment.
Negative Consequences of Gender Bias
Alpha Bias: • Focus
on differences
between genders
leads to the
implication of
similarity WITHIN
genders, thus this
ignores the many
ways women differ
from each other. •
Can sustain
prejudices and
stereotypes.
Beta Bias: • Draws
attention away
from the
differences in
power between
men and women. •
Is considered as
an egalitarian
approach but it
results in major
misrepresentations
of
both
genders.
Consequences of Gender Bias Kitzinger (1998) argue that questions about sex differences
aren’t just scientific questions – they’re also political (women have same rights as men). So
gender differences distorted to maintain the status quo of male power.
• Women kept out
of male-dominant
universities. •
Women were
oppressed. •
Women
stereotypes
(Bowlby)
Feminist argue that although gender
differences are minimal or
non-existent, they are used against
women to maintain male power.
Feminist argue that
although gender
differences are minimal
or non-existent, they are
used against women to
maintain male power.
Judgements about an individual women’s
ability are made on the basis of average
differences between the sexes or biased
sex-role stereotypes, and this also had the
effect of lowering women’s self esteem;
making them, rather than men, think they
have to improve themselves (Tavris, 1993).