Rethinking Stereotypes

'Blessed with a baby girl.'

Maya received this text from her friend, Madhu.

Maya could not control her excitement and quickly rushed down to the cafeteria.?

She decided to video call the new parents and congratulate them.?

The phone buzzed again. 'Double promotion it is. Just received a call from the office that I have been promoted to manager.'

The second message from Madhu widened Maya's smile. She could only think of how Madhu would be feeling about being a mother and getting her due promotion on the same day.

As she sat down for lunch, she shared this news with her colleagues.

"She must be lucky on being promoted just before her maternity leave," said Shashank.

"Lucky? Why would you say that?" questioned Maya.

"My experience of working with women after they get married has not been too well. They get carried away with their personal life and managing work becomes difficult for them. Don't even get me started on what happens when they become a mother," said Shashank.

"But you have seen me. I was always the high-performer post my wedding and my kids," said Maya.

"Oh yes! You are an exception," answered Shashank.

Shashank's bad experience formed a stereotype about women. With Maya's experience, he did not choose to question the stereotype but allowed it to deepen further. As Shashank learned about Maya, he saw her as an exemplar and chose to cling to the unfounded belief rather than defy the stereotype.

Stereotypes are beliefs about the characteristics, attributes, and behaviors of members of a certain group.??

An individual member from the group who defies the stereotype is often seen as an outlier due to one's inability of rethinking the stereotype. One's cognitive laziness makes one stick to their existing beliefs rather than questioning them. Questioning and defying the stereotypes are difficult but sticking to them comes easy.

Shashank had a stereotype about women and even if he was made aware of it, he was unable to ignore it. Shashank conveniently categorized Maya as an outlier and maintained his stereotypical beliefs without having to acknowledge that he was wrong.?

Maya paused at that moment. She felt that arguing with Shashank about his beliefs would make him disidentify with Maya and deepen his prejudices.

As Maya finished her lunch, she kept pondering on how distancing herself from Shashank would mean giving up on opening his mind and arguing with him at this point would make him disidentify with Maya and close doors for future conversations around the stereotypes.

Although many factors contribute for the maintenance of stereotypes, it was possible to change them under the right circumstances.

Maya realized that Shashank's views were widely shared but rarely questioned. She hoped to keep these conversations going for him to defy such stereotypes and build new beliefs on a stronger foundation.

After lunch, Maya went back to her workstation, and all she could think about making Shashank realize how little he knows about women and how shallow his stereotypes are until he starts to rethink them.

She knew it will take time but she was determined to acquaint Shashank with stereotype-incongruent behavior to bring incremental changes in his thinking and make him defy his stereotype.

For now, she had to THINK to make him RETHINK.

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