I will be the first person to admit that women are not always easy to understand. There is a very simple reason for that. Not all women are the same. We react to things differently. We express ourselves differently. We think and feel differently. That is a big part of the reason stereotypes are so unfair. There are women who fit into every stereotype on this list like it was written for them. There are women who fit into every stereotype on this list. There are some women who won’t fit into any of them. Others still will fit into one or two but be the total opposite of others. Stereotypes try to paint an entire group of people with one brush and that’s why they don’t work. No stereotype will ever apply to an entire group of people. The female stereotypes on this list refer to the exceptions, not the rule. Few women will fall under them all. I have used personal experiences to support my argument on why these stereotypes aren’t true where possible, including pointing out the ones that apply to me.
10: Women are bad drivers.
Let’s start with an easy one. Several studies have been done on this myth and most have shown that what is in your pants has little to do with how you drive. My mother drives better than most of the men I know as do most of my close female friends. There are, of course, exceptions. The worst driver I know – a driver I refuse to ride with – is a woman and I can honestly say I have no idea how she managed to get her license. The second runner up? Also a girl. If I was coming up with a top ten list though, I’d have to give the rest of the spots to the boys.
09: Women always try to change the men in their lives.
I’ve covered this topic in a few of my other articles, particularly my relationship articles, but I needed to include it here. There are a lot of women out there who will try to change the men in their lives. I will freely admit that. Those women often learn though, that asking your man to change for you won’t work. They may change for a while but unless they really want to change – not just for you but for themselves as well – they will always become the man they were in the first place eventually. I think my husband and I are a good example of this. He has some flaws because he’s human. I have some flaws because I’m human. We accept those flaws and love each other completely. I’ve never tried to change him and he’s never tried to change me. That’s not to say though that I didn’t destroy a lot of perfectly good relationships before I met my husband because I wanted the person I was with to be someone they weren’t. I still know lots of women who will try to change their partners. I know other women who won’t. The challenge is to find someone who accepts and loves you for who you are and offer them the same in return. It’s possible. Not all women will try to change you because not all women are the same.
08: Women never stop talking, especially when with other women.
There are some women who fit this stereotype but there are also a lot of women who don’t. I am a woman who doesn’t. Despite the fact that I make my living writing articles online, I have a lot less to say when it comes to face to face conversations. I’m just not good at socializing. On the other side of the coin, I know a lot of women this stereotype does apply to. I know a woman who could talk the ear off of anyone who would listen. It wouldn’t matter if that person was a friend, a casual acquaintance or a complete stranger. The woman has been blessed with the gift of gab and that’s fine. It’s just not typical.
07: Women love to spend other people’s money.
This is true of some women, I’m sure, but it’s not true of any woman I’ve ever met and it’s certainly not true of me. I hate spending other people’s money. I while back, I lost a job I’d had for seven years and was unable to find another job right away. Because there is little stereotypical about my household (I’m the sole breadwinner while my husband cooks, cleans and looks after the yard) we found ourselves in a very tough spot. With no money coming in and our savings quickly disappearing, we needed food and the basic things to help us get by. A good friend took me grocery shopping and told me I had $100 to spend of her money. Even though I knew we needed the help, it was agonizing for me. I’m not unique here. There are a lot of women who have a hard time spending other people’s money, even if that money is being spent on things they need to survive. I like making my own money. I like being able to buy things for myself and for my family. There’s a sense of pride in that I don’t get if someone else is footing the bill.
06: Women only want successful, rich men.
I’m sure there are women out there who prove this stereotype but I certainly don’t know any of them. Maybe I’m just lucky and have only met the rare exceptions to the rule, but I find that hard to believe. Most of the women I know don’t really take what a man does for a living into consideration when they’re trying to meet someone. I’m not saying the women in my life always go for the nicest guys or the guys that respect them the most but most of them don’t really take money or social standing into consideration.
05: Women don’t like working or don’t like working hard.
This one always bothers me because, like all of the other stereotypes on the list, there are some women who seem eager to prove it’s true. Those women make the rest of us look bad and that bothers me. I work hard but I can see why people would think I don’t. I don’t leave the house to go to work and spend most of my time in my pajamas. Even so, I spend at least 12 hours every day working on some aspect of an article. Whether I’m writing, finding pictures or researching a topic, I pretty much work all of the time. The worst part? I barely make enough to get by. That’s fine with me though as I genuinely like what I do. My mother is another great example of a woman who isn’t afraid of hard work although maybe she’s an example more people can relate to. Mom spent most of her adult life working in a plant that manufactures tires. She was a single mother so she had to look after me while still working shift work to make sure we had food and to make sure our bills were paid. I have never once heard her complain about any of it. My mother is not unique in this. None of the women in my life are currently not working. Again though, not all women are like this. There are women out there who prefer to sit back and let someone else do the working for them. I’m not talking about stay at home Mom’s here. I’m talking about the women who don’t have kids, don’t have a job and are content to let their boyfriends or husbands pay the bills while they sit on their butt and watch their maids clean the house. Those women bother me and those are the women who give the rest of us a bad name.
04: Women are obsessed with their looks.
I know this one is going to be hard for many people to believe because I think we all know at least one woman who is obsessed with their looks. These are the women that spend hours primping and preening before they’ll go out for groceries. I am not one of these women and to be honest, most of the women closest to me aren’t looks obsessed women either but that doesn’t mean such women don’t exist. Those women just aren’t all of us. I have met women who won’t answer the door if they don’t have makeup on. I don’t understand it myself but every woman is different.
03: Women cry at the drop of a hat, often over nothing.
I am a crier. I cry when I’m happy. I cry when I’m stressed out. I cry when I’m angry. Oddly enough, I rarely cry when I’m sad. This is one of the few stereotypes on this list that suits me to a tee. Crying is my go to emotional response for a whole host of issues. The majority of the women in my life, though, are the complete opposite. One of my closest friends has been in my life since I was fifteen which means I’ve known her for fifteen years. In that time, I’ve seen her cry twice and I’m pretty confident the things she shed tears over would’ve made anyone cry. And those tears? No dramatics with them. No sobbing, no wailing – just a few tears rolling down her cheeks and that was it. Furthermore, the lady I mentioned earlier with the gift for gab? I’ve known her for ten years and she has been through things I could never imagine. In the ten years I’ve known her, I have never seen her shed tears.
02: Women are jealous and catty.
This one irks me in ways I can’t describe with mere words and mostly because there are a lot of women out there who fit this stereotype perfectly. I know many of them. In fact, it seemed my entire high school was filled with catty, mean spirited girls who seemed to live to make other girls miserable. I think that’s a big part of the reason I have such a hard time making friends with women. There is still a small, traumatized part of me that always thinks I’ll be the butt of some cruel joke if I let my guard down around a woman. With that said, since leaving high school behind I have met a wealth of awesome women who don’t have a jealous, catty bone in their body. In fact, I’d say I haven’t really met any “mean girls” since high school ended but boy, let me tell you, those high school mean girls really left their mark on me and many women like me.
01: Women are fragile little flowers, ready to break down at the slightest hint of trouble.
The strongest people in my life are women. From my mother to my best friend, the women in my life have shown more strength and courage than any man I’ve ever met. We already talked about my mother but let me tell you about one of my best friends. She was diagnosed with breast cancer at 30. She fought it and she won. A short time later, she broke a rib and had no idea how it happened. Her doctor informed her that the rib was broken by a large tumor growing on one of her ribs. The back pain she’d been experiencing was the result of a tumor growing on her spine. The tumor on her spine was inoperable which basically meant there was no fighting it and winning this time. She had terminal cancer and she basically had two options. Try to shrink the tumors and try to prevent the cancer from spreading further or to forgo the treatment which would basically mean giving up and letting herself die. She chose to go through treatment again and is back on her feet. She has two kids and wants to see as much of their lives as she can. The best part. She has kept a smile on her face and a positive attitude in the face of things I can’t even imagine. Women are stronger than we get credit for and more than that? We’re stronger than we give ourselves credit for. Is that true for all women? Heck no. I can think of three women off the top of my head that crumble into a pile of emotional rubble at the slightest hint of trouble. This stereotype, just like all the others, has examples to support it and examples to prove it isn’t true.
