History Main / GenderIncompetence

* Generally averted on [[{{Archer}}]]. Most, if not all, of the characters are at about the same level of (in)competence.

In all cases, one gender is made effectively useless throughout the course of the fiction, while the other is not. Could be considered a Sub Trope of DoubleStandard. Compare to GenderRestrictedAbility, FauxActionGirl and CloserToEarth. Contrast with PositiveDiscrimination.

** Its stated that the limit of the Bene Gessarit Reverand Mothers was that their training to particularly feminine/maternal instincts meant that they couldn't access their male ancestry in their Other Memory. The Kwisatz Haderach was intended to overcome this weakness (as well as having other capabilities), which would require a male trained in Bene Gesserit ways. Note the fact that the Gesserit ''wanted'' to have a Kwisatz Haderach, but he ended up coming a generation too early for their plans.

*** Other, non-stupid male Spimpsons were also introduced like Homer's half brother Herbert

* ''TheWheelOfTime'' series has an inversion of the norm. Men are widely regarded as weak, mainly because they can't really work together in channeling, and most of those that can channel get sealed up pretty quick.

* TsubasaReservoirChronicle: Anime only, Customary variety. Sakura never really manages to become an ActionGirl, instead having the party do all the fighting while she is reserved for situations needing a MacGuffin solution. The other women in the anime are also basically told to StayInTheKitchen.

* TsubasaReservoirChronicles: Anime only, Customary variety. Sakura never really manages to become an ActionGirl, instead having the party do all the fighting while she is reserved for situations needing a MacGuffin solution. The other women in the anime are also basically told to StayInTheKitchen.

*** Notably, the [[YouFailBiologyForever Simpson gene]] [[LamarckWasRight responsible for the male Simpson's stupidity]] [[DisContinuity is never mentioned again]], and future episodes [[RetCon give better explanations for Homer and Bart's stupidity, like a crayon lodged in Homer's brain and a combination of ADHD, a pathological need for attention, and a generally bad experience during his first day at school for Bart]], while a woman heavily implied to be Homer's older half-sister was about Homer's intellect.

* '''Gender Baggage.:''' This is for when all members of a gender are treated as being overly emotional, or adversely, [[StrawVulcan too logical,]] causing them to fail when greater strength/compassion is needed.

* ''BakaToTestToShoukanjuu'' is made of this. Almost every male character (Except teachers) is dumb or suffers from TheWorfEffect. Some TakeALevelInBadass to compensate, but even then they're still mostly {{Butt Monkey}}s. Women tend to be super-smart and have AbuseIsOkayIfItsFemaleOnMale at full strength, and the only one without good scores has a good excuse (She studied abroad and doesn't know kanji).

** Soul Eater being a possible exception in this respect. Even ignoring the Action Girl Heroine, it's harder to name a female character in the cast - main or otherwise - who ''isn't'' either an Action Girl or in some other way competent.

* On the other hand, Junior isn't the most masculine of characters.

** Soul Eater being a possible exception. Even ignoring the Action Girl Heroine, it's harder to name a female character in the cast - main or otherwise - who ''isn't'' either an Action Girl or in some other way competent.

[[AC: {{Live Action TV}}]]

* This troper lost interest in Xena: Warrior Princess after watching Xena and her blond evil counterpart dueling while hanging from vines over whether or not the aforementioned blond would be able to eat the magic fruit and become an evil demigod. During this climactic battle, Autolycus the king of thieves is watching with one arm in a sling, and the other arm... doing nothing, basically. Given that Autolycus had been previously established as being a skillful, capable fellow (if not quite the warlord that Xena was), it was quite disappointing. It was then that this troper realized that by this point Xena now had powerful males, and good males, but no powerful, good males. It seems they just don't [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheUnfairSex exist]].

** In ''SouthPark'', the women are usually much more intelligent and rational than the men, both among the adult characters and the students at school.

* '''[[green:Fortune Favors One Sex.:]]''' In this instance, one gender loses all the time, just by really bad luck.
* '''[[orange:Dumb Blond Gender.:]]''' Here, an entire gender is treated as being as dumb as a collection of granite chunks, causing them to screw up all the time through sheer lack of intelligence.
* '''[[red:Gender Baggage.:]]''' This is for when all members of a gender are treated as being overly emotional, or adversely, [[StrawVulcan too logical,]] causing them to fail when greater strength/compassion is needed.
* '''[[blue:Customary Incompetence.:]]''' For instances where the failure of one gender is due to the way they're treated by members of the other gender. For instance, [[StayInTheKitchen male characters encouraging equally-capable female ones to stand back and let them handle it]], so that the males don't have to protect them. The females may go along with the plan because it's expected, reducing their effectiveness regardless of any spells/techniques/special training they may otherwise have. Depending on how far towards its extreme this is taken, this one has been TruthInTelevision in many periods of history.

* '''[[color:green:Fortune Favors One Sex.:]]''' In this instance, one gender loses all the time, just by really bad luck.
* '''[[color:orange:Dumb Blond Gender.:]]''' Here, an entire gender is treated as being as dumb as a collection of granite chunks, causing them to screw up all the time through sheer lack of intelligence.
* '''[[color:red:Gender Baggage.:]]''' This is for when all members of a gender are treated as being overly emotional, or adversely, [[StrawVulcan too logical,]] causing them to fail when greater strength/compassion is needed.
* '''[[color:blue:Customary Incompetence.:]]''' For instances where the failure of one gender is due to the way they're treated by members of the other gender. For instance, [[StayInTheKitchen male characters encouraging equally-capable female ones to stand back and let them handle it]], so that the males don't have to protect them. The females may go along with the plan because it's expected, reducing their effectiveness regardless of any spells/techniques/special training they may otherwise have. Depending on how far towards its extreme this is taken, this one has been TruthInTelevision in many periods of history.

* On the other hand, Junior isn't the most masculine of characters. SoYeah...