Here is a short story and a brief poll to answer after you read it, tick the intuitive picture of gender that came to your mind when you read it. There is no right or wrong answer, just the answer that came into your mind first:
The words of my doctor from earlier that morning were still ringing in my ears when I found myself slamming the brakes of my car to avoid a nasty collision. An incompetent driver was cutting across two lanes at a roundabout just in front of me. Still perspiring somewhat I carried on to drop off my screaming child with the nanny. It was a hectic morning.
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Feel free to comment about your choices and share what your intuition or imagination told you.
Although the results of this poll show otherwise, I felt this was clearly a female doctor and driver. The first statement from the character about their patient led me to believe this was a female because they were reflecting on someone's reaction or feelings. Being emotional beings, women frequently reflect on scenarios they participate in and how they or the other person reacted. The driver was clearly thinking about the patient's words and feelings which leads me to believe it's a female.
I also assumed that it was a woman driver dropping her child and nanny off at school or playdate. The driver described her morning as hectic which is clearly the type of day most women encounter. They multitask both physically and emotionally and this is what is happening here.
Men usually take on one task at a time. This scenario is too nuanced to be a man.
Hi Mar, Thank you for the comment. actually when I first read the scenario I immediately had a male doctor and female driver in mind. I personally don't believe that showing empathy and concern for patients is a female scenario only. Having shared a house with guys in the medical profession they would have had equal concerns. There is no right or wrong answer in this, just the first that comes to your mind. By the way the scenario was written by a guy.
Was this story changed later or why do you talk about a doctor thinking about his patient? I read only a sentence about a patient thinking about what their doctor said…
My imagination of the main character is switching back and forth along the story and is very stereotypical:
Thinking about what the doctor said: female
Distracted from driving: female
Judging other drivers as incompetent: male
Dropping off child: undecisive, female because caring for a child, or male because handling it just as a task of the day
Describing the morning as hectic: female
It was only a short sentence. I don’t recall changing it. I think your views show how complex our stereotypes can be when even presented with a small out of context sentence.