Women Depicted as Less Capable or Responsible

40 Tropes 38 Movies 1 TV Show
Table Of Contents

Explanation of Conservative Trope

Conservatives love to falsely claim that men are naturally better than women at many different things when they're not. Hollywood perpetuates this stereotype when they show woman as less capable or responsible more often than men.

Conservative Trope Examples

  • Law Order Organized Crime [2023 - S3E15] | Men Asking Fathers for Permission to Marry Their Daughters
    In the opening scene, the daughter tells her fiancé how sweet it was that he asked her father for permission to marry her.
    Staff Aside
    What makes this instance worse is that her father runs a motorcycle street gang, and she finds it sweet that he asked her father of all people.
    Additional Tropes: Women Used to Perpetuate Sexism
  • Why Him (2016) | Fathers Overprotective of Daughters
    Ned Fleming (Bryan Cranston) questions Laird's (James Franco) motives with his daughter Stephanie (Zoey Deutch) from the start and encourages her to reconsider her relationship with him on multiple occasions.
    Staff Aside
    Laird is over-the-top eccentric and says everything that is on his mind regardless of whether it's kosher or not.
  • Kingsman The Secret Service (2014) | Group of Men With a "Token" Woman
    Roxy (Sophie Cookson) is the only woman Kingsman to graduate after the other women candidates were killed off within minutes during training.
  • We're the Millers (2013) | Women Bad at Using Guns
    Daughter Casey Mathis and mother Rose O'Reilly both panic when father David Clark disarms a drug dealer trying to kill them all. Scared Casey picks up the gun and treats it like a hot potato and passes it to Rose who is also over the top scared of the gun and also treats it like a hot potato until it accidentally goes off shooting the bad guy in the shoulder. It wounds him just enough for the son Kenny to save the day by knocking out the bad guy with a punch.
  • Skyfall (2012) | Women Depicted as Less Capable
    Eve (Naomie Harris) picks up James Bond in a range rover as they follow a bad guy in a car. When her side mirror gets knocked off during the chase, he sarcastically says "that's alright, you weren't using it." And then despite Eve being the driver, James Bond is the one who stops the bad guy's car by grabbing onto the steering wheel and turning it abruptly to force a crash. Bond follows the bad guy with a motorcycle and Eve tails them with the range rover as they end up on top of a train. She has a sniper shot on the bad guy but says it is not "clean." She's ordered to take the shot anyways and accidentally shoots James Bond letting the bad guy get away. When Bond later shows up alive at MI6, he tells Eve that field work is not for everyone which is a hint to the ending when it is revealed that Eve leaves fieldwork to become the new Moneypenny.
    Staff Aside
    You don't often see this the other way around on screen where a woman takes charge over a man depicted as less capable.
  • The Dictator (2012) | Women Wearing High Heels in Inappropriate Situations
    The Dictator (Sacha Baron Cohen) has sexy uniformed bodyguards who also wear high heels.
    Staff Aside
    This is satire, of course, making fun of real-life sexist dictators, but the jokes still perpetuate negative stereotypes;such as, the women bodyguards dress sexy and wear high heels. You rarely if ever see comparable satirical scenes about men.
    Additional Tropes: Sexy Women Bodyguards
  • Too Big to Fail (2011) | Group of Men With a "Token" Woman
    The federal government sets up a meeting with CEOs of the nine most prominent banks (nine men) plus Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen (William Hurt), Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (Paul Giamatti), president at the time of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Timothy Geithner (Billy Crudup) and Chairman of the FDIC Sheila Bair played by a far less known actor (Patricia Randell).
    Staff Aside
    This is based on real life. The male to female bias is historically accurate. William Hurt refers to the chairman of the FDIC's powers to threaten the CEOs but the actor portraying her never actually says a word during the key meeting in the scene.
  • The Hangover Part II (2011) | Fathers Overprotective of Daughters
    Stu's future father-in-law Fohn constantly points out how Stu is not good enough for his daughter and that he is not a "man" including comparing him to his younger brother Choi who has learning disabilities. After a crazy evening with the guys where Stu does a lot of stupid aggressive things, he stands up to Fohn who then respects him for being "manly".
  • The Hangover Part II (2011) | Group of Men Without any Women
    Phil, Stu and Alan search for Stu's future brother-in-law Teddy with some help from Mr. Chow.
  • Knight and Day (2010) | Women Bad at Using Guns
    Cameron Diaz is evading a kill squad with Tom Cruise who gives her a machine gun while he takes out some bad guys. When he returns, she mistakes him for a bad guy and shoots wildly and uncontrollably all over the place luckily managing to miss him.
    Staff Aside
    She does atone later shooting bad guys successfully from a motorcycle, but this scene was overly bad
  • The Hangover (2009) | Women Watch While Men Gamble
    Alan, Phil and Stu all sit down to play blackjack once Alan, who can count cards ala Rain Man, signals them that the deck is in their favor. Jade stands behind Stu and does not play. They make a lot of money quickly with big bets, but eventually the pit boss catches on and they are stopped. Turns out they made enough money to save their buddy Doug, but it would have helped to have a fourth player.
  • The Hangover (2009) | Group of Men Without any Women
    Phil, Stu and Alan search for their lost friend Doug.
  • Taken (2008) | Fathers Overprotective of Daughters
    Liam Neeson's character's overprotectiveness as a father is proven right when his daughter is kidnapped because of her irresponsible friend.
  • Fool's Gold (2008) | Women Acting Ditsy
    Tess gets Gemma to flirt with men on a rival treasure hunting boat in a bikini to distract them so that Finn can investigate their work undetected. She acts overly ditsy & dumb in the scene and yells out when she sees Finn in the water ruining the ruse.
    Additional Tropes: Women Portrayed as Dumb | Womens' Looks Used as a Distraction to Men
  • Fool's Gold (2008) | Women Portrayed as Dumb
    Gemma has a "revelation" that her father Nigel "unconsciously" named his yacht, Precious Gem, after her. He doesn't correct her and clarifies that he intentionally named it after her upon which she insists again he did it "unconsciously."
    Additional Tropes: Young People Depicted as Dumb
  • Fool's Gold (2008) | Women Losing Control
    Tess loses control when her ex-husband shows up by random accident on the yacht she is chief steward on. She freaks out and throws the fancy meals she is serving in front of Nigel and his daughter breaking the plates and food flying everywhere. And screams out lout and rushes out of the room right after.
  • Live Free or Die Hard (2007) | Fathers Overprotective of Daughters
    At the beginning of the movie, John McClane confronts his adult daughter's boyfriend while they are in a car on a date together. At the end, hacker Matt helps save John McClane's daughter Lucy's life and they ask him about each other in separate scenes. John's response to Matt is "After all we've been through, I'd *hate* to have to beat you to death" and with his daughter, "Jesus, Lucy" and "I'm in enough pain already".
  • Live Free or Die Hard (2007) | Group of Men With a "Token" Woman
    The terrorist crew are all men except one woman who is dating the head terrorist.
  • Ocean's Thirteen (2007) | Group of Men Without any Women
    The plot is Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and 12 men plan a heist to rob Willie Banks (Al Pacino) and torpedo his casino.
  • Beerfest (2006) | Group of Men Without any Women
    The bad guy five men Germany beer drinking team beat the five men Ireland beer drinking team at the beginning of the movie, but eventually at the climax lose to the good guy protagonist five men beer drinking team from the USA.
  • Thank You for Smoking (2005) | Group of Men With a "Token" Woman
    A Senate hearing chaired by Ortolan Finistirre on the dangers of smoking has 8 male and only 1 female Senator with the woman on the end and only three male Senators doing the talking. To hammer in that point, Nick Naylor addresses the nine of them as gentlemen before answering a question.
    Staff Aside
    I guess they forgot or didn't realize women Senators do exist.
  • Thank You for Smoking (2005) | Group of Men With a "Token" Woman
    The lobbyist group that refers to themselves as the MOD Squad has two men and one women with major actors cast which is reasonable. But when they later expand their "membership" after getting a lot of media attention, they add all men with cameo non-speaking roles when it would have been very easy to add women.
  • The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)
    A very drunk Leslie Mann has Andy (Steve Carell) blow into her car's breathalyzer and proceeds to drive recklessly through town while Andy grows increasingly concerned. She leans over to kiss him while still driving and becomes fixated on whether Andy thinks she's pretty or not, screaming "look at me!" at the top of her lungs and only stops when he yells "you're pretty!" Then she closes her eyes because she's "so tired" and crashes into multiple cars before finally coming to a stop at her house and puking on his face. To top it off she says "I'll still have sex with you" before he politely declines.
  • Ocean's Twelve (2004) | Group of Men With a "Token" Woman
    The plot is Danny Ocean's (George Clooney) 10 male partners plus Tess (Julia Roberts) plan a heist to pay back Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) by outwitting fellow thief "The Night Fox" and winning Rusty's ex-wife Isabel (Catherine Zeta-Jones) back in the process.
  • The Girl Next Door (2004) | Women Acting Ditsy
    Three different adult actresses are depicted as dumb and super over the top ditsy in multiple scenes in contrast to co-star Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert) who is quitting the business.
    Additional Tropes: Women Portrayed as Dumb
  • EuroTrip (2004)
    Cooper jumps into a hot tub uninvited with a lone female student named Candy at their high school graduation party. She yells out "Cooper Harris, you're a pig!" and starts to get out but he is able to convince her to stay by saying "before you go, you might want to clean that off." He gets her to rub her breast repeatedly trying to clean off whatever it is, but apparently it is not working. She's encouraged to take off her bikini top and then rub her breast some more. That still doesn't work so Cooper offers to do it himself at which point her friend shows up and she finally realized Cooper was tricking her. There was not something on her breasts after all. Ha, ha, he got her!
    Other Tropes: The "Dumb Blonde" False Stereotype | Women Acting Ditsy
  • Master and Commander The Far Side of the World (2003) | Women Underrepresented in Historical Scenes
    The entire movie consists of only white men aboard a British ship sailing around the Galapagos Islands in 1805.
  • Ocean's Eleven (2001) | Group of Men With a "Token" Woman
    Rusty (Brad Pitt) teaches four young male and one female television actor how to play cards, and they are all depicted as really bad and dumb including someone laying down a non-matching flush saying "all red". Daniel Ocean (George Clooney) comes in later and wins a really big pot taking advantage of their stupidity.
    Additional Tropes: Young People Depicted as Dumb
  • Ocean's Eleven (2001) | Group of Men With a "Token" Woman
    The plot is eleven men plan a heist to rob another man's casino and win back his wife Tess (Julia Roberts) in the process.
  • Jurassic Park III (2001) | Women Screaming in Fear
    Teo Leoni screams so many times when startled or scared throughout the movie that we're not going to even try to document them all here. The men, however, only scream when they're being eaten. She constantly yells out for her lost son too despite the paleontologist not recommending it lest they're heard and eaten.
  • Jurassic Park III (2001) | Group of Men With a "Token" Woman
    The main search party starts with 5 men and 1 woman on a search for the woman's son and boyfriend.
  • Tomcats (2001) | Women Portrayed as Dumb
    Michael (Jerry O'Connell) is $25,500 down at the craps table while trying to impress an attractive woman Amber who, in an overly gratuitous green cocktail dress, rubs the dice on her breasts, blows on them suggestively and flirts with him as he loses. His friend Steve tries to intervene before Michael does a double or nothing bet and convinces him he cannot afford it. Amber, despite obviously being able to hear what was said, throws the dice seemingly unaware Michael wants to stop, and he loses owing the casino $51,000 -- which he doesn't have.
    Additional Tropes: Women Objectified for Laughs | Women Blowing on Dice for Luck
  • Tomcats (2001)
    Kyle gives golf lessons to a woman he's dating who is depicted a ditsy and overly subservient. Michael joins him in the golf cart desperate for his help, and so she is forced to walk the course while they drive. She is not very good and acts and talks very ditsy-like. When her golf club goes flying on a failed swing attempt she says, "That's ok. Keep it. I've got more in the bag" not realizing every club is important and needed. Her next swing she falls over and Kyle, not paying attention, runs over her with his golf cart. She yells out, "I'm ok" and continues to let him treat her badly. She struggles to carry her bag to catch up to them while they ignore her and continue driving. They stop and she crashes into the cart and falls on her back. Undeterred, she continues to try to catch up as they ignore her and continue driving until the scene ends. But, that's not all, the end credits scene she's back for more laughs! And they show her on the same golf course losing her balance and falling down a hill into a pond while calling out to Kyle.
    Staff Aside
    Would they show a heterosexual man acting ditsy struggling with a sport while a woman mistreats him for laughs?
    Other Tropes: Women Acting Ditsy
  • Meet the Parents (2000) | Fathers Overprotective of Daughters
    Greg Focker's girlfriend's father is very distrusting of him and constantly criticizes his life choices and also gives him a lie detector test (he's former CIA). He doesn't think he is good enough for his daughter and even says, "So what if he took the MCATs? He's still not good enough for Pam." Additionally he makes Greg sleep in a separate room than his daughter even though they are both grown adults because they aren't married and even spies on him via hidden camera.
  • 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) | Fathers Overprotective of Daughters
    Walter (Larry Miller) doesn't let his youngest daughter Larisa date until his older daughter Kat (Julia Stiles) does. When she asks, "what if she never dates?" he responds, "then you'll never date. Oh, I like that." Later when Larisa says she's going to a small study group he responds, "Otherwise known as an orgy?" In another scene, he lies and says one of his teenage patients said, "I should have listened to my father." He also says, "And I'll get to sleep at night. The deep slumber of a father whose daughters aren't out being impregnated." And another one, "What are the two house rules? Number One: No dating till you graduate. Number Two: No dating till you graduate."
  • Armageddon (1998) | Group of Men With a "Token" Woman
    The entire mission crew consists of several male oil rig drillers and a NASA crew with one female co-pilot.
  • Armageddon (1998)
    Harry (Bruce Willis) is so super over-protective of his daughter Grace that when he finds out she slept with his employee AJ (Ben Affleck) on an oil rig, he chases after him around the oil rig with a shotgun actually shooting at and almost hitting him.
    Other Tropes: Fathers Overprotective of Daughters
  • Armageddon (1998) | Group of Men Without any Women
    The entire mission control center is manned by men. We did not see a single woman anywhere. All the voices who said they were go for launch were men.
  • The Lost World Jurassic Park (1997) | Group of Men Without any Women
    The opening yachting scene the entire crew are all men. The entire Ingen company dinosaur extraction team are men with no women. The Ingen board of directors appears to be all men. When the extraction team does a video call with the board, you can see 11 men sitting at a table watching the screen, 5 men standing and 1 woman who walked across the room and left who could be on the board but was more likely assisting with some administrative task.
  • Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) | Women Bad at Using Guns
    Debbie (Minnie Driver) is hiding in the bathtub with her father while her hitman love interest played by John Cusack defends them from assassins, and when he checks in on her she hands him the gun he gave her and tells him to "make this work" and he releases the safety and gives the gun back to her.
    Additional Tropes: Women Depicted as Dependent on Men