Gender Schema Theory

Gender schema theory describes how individuals process information related to gender. Accordingly, the theory posits that some people develop a lens through which phenomenon is sorted in terms of gender (sex‐typed) whereas others do not (non‐sex‐typed). A gender schema serves essentially as a cognitive filter through which one categorizes personal characteristics into masculine and feminine categories. Moreover, sex‐typed individuals are described as having a tendency to decide, on the basis of gender, which personal attributes are going to be associated with their self‐concept and which will not. Being schematic with regard to gender means having a readiness to sort information into gender categories even though differences could be grouped on dimensions unrelated to gender. Gender schema theory is not a global theory that claims to predict every part of an individual's gender psychology. Rather, it proposes to describe how people assimilate to cultural templates related to gender or become sex‐typed. Contemporary conceptions of gender identity challenge gender schema theory by illuminating critical factors such as identity dimension intersectionality, historical influences, and contextual fluidity.