Final answer:
According to gender-role stereotypes, males and females differ in their attitudes, traits, or behavior patterns. This can be seen in societal expectations and occupational sorting. Additionally, parental socialization and normative expectations contribute to gender conformity.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to gender-role stereotypes, people believe that females and males also differ in their attitudes, traits, or behavior patterns. Gender stereotypes form the basis of sexism and involve overgeneralizing about the attitudes, traits, or behavior patterns of women or men. For example, society often views riding a motorcycle as a masculine activity and considers it to be part of the male gender role, while women may be thought of as too timid or weak to ride a motorcycle.
The drive to adhere to masculine and feminine gender roles continues later in life, with men tending to outnumber women in professions such as law enforcement, the military, and politics, while women tend to outnumber men in care-related occupations such as childcare, healthcare, and social work. These occupational roles are examples of typical U.S. male and female behavior, derived from our culture's traditions.
Even when parents set gender equality as a goal, there may be underlying indications of inequality. Fathers are often firmer in their expectations for gender conformity than mothers, and their expectations are stronger for sons than for daughters. Parental socialization and normative expectations also vary along lines of social class, race, and ethnicity.