16 Beliefs Men Still Have About Women That Are So Last Century
Do you believe that women have finally achieved the gender equality that they’ve been fighting for years? With so many projects and causes devoted to gender equality, many still feel that it’s not enough.
The majority of adults in the United States believe that gender equality hasn’t progressed far enough yet. When you consider the years after the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, you’ll notice that while there were many changes, some concepts stayed the same.
We’ve gathered some of the beliefs that men have about women that will make you think they came straight from the past. Here are some beliefs that many may describe as sexist and misogynistic.
1. There Are Many Fish in the Sea
Men believe that women outnumber men in society. The idea is often applied to relationships, and the concept is that men have many options with which they can replace their partners if things don’t go their way.
The truth is that men and women are roughly equal in population. In 2022, the population of men was 4 billion, while the population of women was 3.95 billion, which means there were actually more men than women.
2. Women Owe Men Intimacy
Some men think that women owe them intimacy and that if there is a relationship, a physical relationship must happen. One instance of this is found in a Buzzfeed report, which features a Reddit story about a wife who shared that her husband sent her a spreadsheet detailing the times he had initiated physical intimacy, and she had declined.
Women don’t owe anyone anything. They often carry the consequences of it, from pregnancy to possible violence. It’s about time women get back the right to decide everything about their bodies.
3. Women Have an Inferior Role in the Relationship
Most men like to be superior in the relationship and set the terms. Based on a Journal of Personality and Social Psychology study, men easily feel insecure when their partners are succeeding in life compared to them while women’s self-esteem stay the same if it’s the other way around.
From deciding where to live and how to parent the kids, some men want to control all the major things in the family. Many women have simply surrendered to the idea and played the role of the submissive partner. That doesn’t mean that’s what they want, at all.
4. Women Should Take Care of the Kids
Some men believe women should be the homemakers while they go out and bring in the money. For most, having a job and paying bills is what it takes to be a good father, while for women, being a homemaker is seen as a default role and is often underappreciated.
The “woman is the homemaker” concept was based on the past societal roles when women had no other choice but to do so. Over the years, women have taken on jobs but still do over 80% of the housework and care for the family. How is that fair?
5. Women Are Property
One of the most harmful ideas that some men have is that women are their property. They believe women are born to serve them, which is why they may react violently when they don’t get their way. Domestic disturbances often happen with men putting their hands on women who don’t obey them.
It’s evident in the high number of domestic violence cases in America, where 1 in 4 women suffer from domestic violence, which may include physical, emotional, and even economic abuse. The numbers are enough to show that this idea of women as property is still prominent in some men.
6. Women Do Household Chores
Women today have more freedom to do the work they desire. However, the role of women as homemakers is so deeply rooted in society that they often do most household chores even if they have full-time jobs. According to a survey, women hold more responsibilities at home compared to their male partners even if both have jobs.
Families should share responsibilities, and it would be better to split chores equally between partners. Do not expect your partner to handle all the chores at home simply because she’s a woman.
7. Women Are High-Maintenance
Many men think that women are high-maintenance and require too much work to be with. The truth is that relationships need effort from both parties. Women are often labeled as high-maintenance when they actually have expectations of their partners and expect to be treated as equals.
In an Ask Men interview, University of British Columbia social and political professor Celia Edell claims that the “high maintenance” label is only attributed to women with expensive lifestyle choices. However, because of societal roles, women are expected to handle unpaid domestic labor without complaints.
8. Women Rely on Men for Basic Needs
Since women of the past often stayed at home and handled all the chores, they had to rely on their partners for financial support and the family’s daily needs. Men worked and earned money, while women managed that money for the family.
With women now working as well, saying that women rely solely on men for their necessities is a blatant lie. The notion of men as good providers came from their historical role as hunters. However, a new study suggests otherwise and claims that women were also hunters in 79% of the societies they studied.
9. Women Should Wait for Men to Approach Them
Traditionally, men pursued women if they wanted to be in a relationship with them. This started in the Regency era when women had to wait for men to make the first move. Women could then encourage or discourage the men based on their interests.
Dating is much different today, especially since women are more open to making the first move. However, some men are still stuck in the past and view it as their job to pursue women. They may get turned off when women make the first move.
10. Women Are Always Right
Are women always right? It’s a popular concept that has become a mocking comedic line men often talk about when describing women. Women tend to be more cautious in decision-making, which may have contributed to this claim.
Of course, women are not always right. It’s simply one of the stereotypes that remain in society. It often seems more like an insult than a statement of fact.
11. Women Are Difficult to Understand
For men, women can be difficult to understand. It’s a general statement that men can attribute to women and vice versa. Since men may lack knowledge about women, they tend to generalize and label them as difficult to understand.
Understandably, men find women different from them, but it’s not true today that they’re difficult to understand. The truth is that many men just don’t spend enough time and effort to learn and understand them better.
12. Women Are Unreasonably Demanding
Men believe that modern women have become unreasonably demanding. The truth, though, is that women’s standards in dating are higher.
According to a study, with women looking for emotionally available men who are good communicators, men often struggle to meet these expectations. Men may seem like victims in this circumstance, but it’s time to express what you want and need in a relationship. The bar is on the floor.
13. Women Are Only After Money and Security
Some men see women as people who are only after their money and just want security in their lives. Women indeed want security, which refers to both emotional and material security from a man. It doesn’t make them hungry for money, though.
A lot of the men who say women are gold diggers and are just after their money don’t even have that much money to share. And if it’s that much of a concern, get to know somebody completely, and your chances of getting burned will decrease dramatically.
14. Women Lose Their Value as They Age
The concept of beauty hinges on women’s youth and flawless skin, which is evident in the entertainment industry, where young women flourish more in movies and shows. Older women become less represented.
Older women then seem to lose their value as soon as they start showing wrinkles and imperfections. It’s one of the reasons why older women want to see themselves represented and portrayed in movies and shows, including the aging process, and show how natural it is.
15. Women Are Horrible Drivers
When men get annoyed by drivers who are too slow or seem to lack skills, they often assume that the driver must be a woman. There’s a presumption that if a driver is horrible, it must be a woman, but this belief lacks any basis.
In fact, women are safer drivers than men, as male drivers are involved in twice as many fatal accidents per mile driven. France has even launched a “Drive like a woman” campaign to urge people to drive safer and break the bias that women are worse drivers.
16. Women Provoke Men With How They Dress
How women dress has always been a controversial issue that society has been discussing for years. Men still misinterpret the clothes that women wear as a cue to them that they’re interested even when they’re not.
Do women use their clothes to provoke men? Definitely not. However, it’s still often heard in society today, which is even an alibi used by suspects of assaults and similar delicate cases.
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