What is the Modern Day Woman?

Traditionally shyness has been depicted as a ‘female trait’ alongside with compassion, gullibility, moodiness, unpredictability and soft-spokeness. However, since the 21^st century the boundary between female and male shyness has been disappearing. Shyness has become more widely known as a social problem for both sexes, and in this post I will examine how this change came about.

In the 1950’s women were encouraged to be the so-called “good wives” for their husbands. The term “good wives” meant that women had their place in maintaining an orderly house while the men worked hard for creating money. Women were expected to be more modest and shy towards their husbands, and conversely men were expected to be assertive in nature. There was a large distinction between male and female roles which was created by the society they lived in.

By the time the 1980’s came about shyness was considered a failure to develop skills of self-disclosure, and assertiveness. Shyness was stereotyped as a ‘feminine trait’ and was seen as undesirable, especially for men. Therefore shyness was thrust upon women to adopt, while men were pushed away from this trait. Women having to accept the role of being shy created an internal struggle for seeking independence from such societal norms. Over the course of time women fought and were accepted to be considered equal amongst men and the role of women changed completely. *I know there is a whole history there and I have included references for those who wish to look further into the history.


The question that arises is ‘What is the new modern day woman’? Modern womaqn is strong, assertive, beautiful, inspiring, and responsible; yet she is also caring, kind, compassionate, and sometimes even shy. Statistics show that there is a greater prevalence of shyness amongst women in the population, but I would argue that women feel more comfortable disclosing that they are shy while men are afraid to. And so the distinction between male and female shyness I believe should be non-existent. Men and women who have shyness share more similarities then differences and there should not be this cultural push to label one sex as ‘more shy’.

References:

McDaniel, P.A. (2001) Shrinking violets and casper milquetoasts: shyness and heterosexuality from the roles of the fifties to the rules of the nineties, Journal of
Social History, 2001, 34, 3, 547–68.