“Despite changes in legislation over the past 40 years, it still cannot be said that gender stereotypes have ended and that equality between men and women has been fully established. » Discuss the factors that have made it difficult to reduce gender stereotypes and achieve full gender equality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay Gender stereotypes are generalizations about the gender attributes, differences, and roles of individuals, both male and female, or of men and women as groups, but because each person is individual and very different from others, gender stereotypes are usually simple and incorrect. However, many people continue to make basic assumptions based on gender, which often begin in early childhood, for example the assumption that boys should wear blue and girls should wear pink. Until the 1940s, children were generally considered to wear gender-neutral clothing, which was a matter of practicality as white cotton could be bleached, but the change to gender-specific clothing took time to take hold since colors were introduced to children in the mid-19th century. century, but it was not until after World War I that color was presented as gender specific. Until now, most children wore the exact same clothes, because parents couldn't afford to buy a whole new set of clothes for each new child, and so the same neutral items were used over and over again. Gender stereotypes are deeply ingrained in people. and are often reinforced by mass media, and particularly social media, which include a much wider range of stereotypes from many different sources around the world. This can make it very difficult to reduce gender stereotypes, because what is said about gender stereotypes can very easily spread quickly and easily to most of the population, and since almost 90% of the population is on one kind of social network, it is very difficult to hide these ideas. Because there are also a greater number of celebrities and social figures, when stereotypes are portrayed by these types of people, many of their followers will consider what they say to be true and right, thus reinforcing the stereotypes. However, the media can also reinforce these gender stereotypes when popular figures attempt to challenge these ideas. For example, Kim Kardashian-West recently posted a near-nude photo on Instagram and was immediately attacked by people and media suggesting that she should not post such photos because she is a woman and should be “respectable” by covering your body. However, when high-profile male figures posted similar photos around the same time, negative comments on these posts were very minimal to non-existent, and were often celebrated for their attractiveness. It could be argued that media suggesting that women should stay covered to be "respectable", while men do not need to, reinforces this idea in people, particularly the younger and more impressionable. Even though the original intention was to break away from these gender stereotypes, the media backlash reinforces the very ideals that were trying to be challenged in the first place...