Women Depicted as Less Responsible

14 Tropes 14 Movies
Table Of Contents

Explanation of Conservative Trope

Women are more often depicted as irresponsible than men with the most common scenarios occurring in the workplace reinforcing sexist stereotypes. This is often also with secondary characters where it is more easily accepted by an audience.

Conservative Trope Examples

  • 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.
  • 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
  • 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".
  • 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 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".
  • 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.
  • 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)
    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
  • Clueless (1995) | Fathers Overprotective of Daughters
    Cher's dad refuses to shake her dates hand and then sternly interrogates him about his intentions with Cher while he's waiting for her to arrive downstairs. Once she does he criticizes her choice of outfit that "looks like underwear" and makes her find something to cover herself up more. As they are about to leave her dad threatens her date by telling him that if "anything happens to my daughter, I got a .45 and a shovel. I doubt anybody would miss you."
  • Father of the Bride (1991) | Fathers Overprotective of Daughters
    George (Steve Martin) doesn't like his daughter Annie's (Kimberly Williams) fiancé from the moment he meets him and spends nearly the whole movie doing whatever he can to sabotage their wedding.
  • Home Alone (1990) | Women Panicking
    Kate McCallister yells out "Kevin!" on the airplane when she realizes they left their 8 year old son home alone in Chicago. She says, "I'm a bad parent. I'm a bad parent" and is really freaking out while her husband is depicted as calm and says, "If it makes you feel any better, I forgot my reading glasses." On her way to get back to Kevin she also says, "What kind of a mother am I?" And the film depicted losing Kevin as mostly her fault as she banished him to the attic the night before the flight not noticing his brother was the culprit.
    Additional Tropes: Women Depicted as Less Responsible | Mothers Depicted Worse Than Fathers
  • Caddyshack (1980) | Women Wearing High Heels in Inappropriate Situations
    Lacey (Cindy Morgan) wears high heels with her swimsuit as she walks on the pool deck, kicking them off before climbing the diving board ladder and diving into the pool while all the guys in and around the pool freeze and nearly fall into a trance as they become transfixed by her every move.