Sexism
Encyclopedia
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas. It is a form of discrimination or devaluation based on a person's sex, with such attitudes being based on beliefs in traditional stereotypes of gender roles. The term sexism is most often used in relation with discrimination against women, in the context of patriarchy.
Sexism involves hatred
of, or prejudice
towards a gender as a whole or the blind application of gender stereotype
s. Sexism is often associated with gender-supremacy arguments.
of the group to which an individual belongs—in this case, their sexual group, as men or women. This assumes that all individuals fit into the category of male or female and does not take into account people who identify as neither or both.
Empirical studies have found widely shared cultural beliefs that men are more socially valued and more competent than women at most things, as well as specific assumptions that men are better at some particular tasks (e.g., mechanical tasks) while women are better at others (e.g., nurturing tasks). For example, Fiske
and colleagues surveyed nine diverse samples, from different regions of the United States, and found that members of these samples, regardless of age, consistently rated the category "men" higher than the category "women" on a multidimensional scale of competence.
Gender stereotypes can facilitate and impede intellectual performance. For instance, stereotype threat
can lower women's performance on mathematics tests due to the stereotype that women have inferior quantitative skills compared with men. Stereotypes can also affect the assessments people make of their own competence. Studies found that specific stereotypes (e.g., women have lower mathematical ability) affect women’s and men’s perceptions of their abilities (e.g., in math and science) such that men assess their own task ability higher than women performing at the same level. These "biased self-assessments" have far-reaching effects because they can shape men and women’s educational and career decisions.
Gender stereotypes are sometimes applied at an early age. Various interventions were reviewed including the use of fiction in challenging gender stereotypes. For example, in a study by A. Wing, children were read Bill's New Frock
by Anne Fine
. The content of the book was discussed with them. Children were able to articulate, and reflect on, their stereotypical constructions of gender and those in the world at large. There was evidence of children considering 'the different treatment that boys and girls receive', and of classroom discussion enabling stereotypes to be challenged.
Nearing the end of the 20th century, there is a rise in the use of gender-neutral language in western worlds. This is often attributed to the rise of feminism
. Gender-neutral language
is the avoidance of gender-specific job title
s, non-parallel usage, and other usage that is felt by some to be sexist. Supporters feel that having gender-specific titles and gender-specific pronouns either implies a system bias to exclude individuals based on their gender, or else is as unnecessary in most cases as race-specific pronouns, religion-specific pronouns, or persons-height-specific pronouns. Some of those who support gender-specific pronouns assert that promoting gender-neutral language is a kind of "semantics
injection" itself.
in the west, for many other languages around the world, gender-specific pronouns are a recent phenomenon that occur around the early-20th century. As a result of colonialism
, cultural revolution occurred in many parts of the world with attempts to "modernise" and "westernise" by adding gender-specific pronouns and animate-inanimate pronouns to local languages. This resulted in the situation of what was gender-neutral pronouns a century ago suddenly becoming gender-specific. (See for example Gender-neutrality in languages without grammatical gender: Turkish.)
A mildly vulgar example is the uninformative attribution of the term 'hag' for a woman or 'fairy' for a man. Although hag and fairy both have non-sexist interpretations, when they are used in the context of a gender-specific pejorative term these words become representations of sexist attitudes, to wit, sexism.
Mary Odem and Jody Clay-Warner, along with Susan Brownwiller, consider sexist attitudes to be propagated by a series of myths about rape and rapists. They state that contrary to these myths, rapists often plan a rape before they choose a victim, and that acquaintance rape is the most common form of rape rather than assault by a stranger. Odem also states that these rape myths propagate sexist attitudes about men by perpetuating a myth that men cannot control their sexuality.
To counteract this dangerous imbalance, the "Men Can Stop Rape" movement has been implemented. The success of the MCSR campaign has inspired a similar movement in the military with the tagline "My strength is for defending."
that are present or occur in a place of employment
. One form of occupational sexism is wage discrimination.
In 2008, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) found that while female employment rates have expanded considerably and the gender employment and wage gaps have narrowed virtually everywhere, women still have 20% less chance to have a job than men, on average, and they are paid 17% less than their male counterparts. Moreover, the report stated:
The OECD report also found that despite the fact that almost all OECD countries, including the United States, have established anti-discrimination laws, these laws are difficult to enforce.
There is a long record of women being excluded from participation in many professions. Often, women have gained entry into a previously male profession only to be faced by many additional obstacles. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive an M.D. in the United States
and Myra Bradwell, the first female lawyer in the state of Illinois
, are examples.
Professional discrimination continues today, according to studies done by Cornell University
and others. It has been hypothesized that gender bias has been influencing which scientific research gets published. This hypothesis coincides with a test conducted at the University of Toronto
led by Amber Budden. Based on the results of this study, almost 10 percent of female authors get their papers published when their gender is hidden.
In addition, women frequently earn significantly lower wages than their male counterparts who perform the same job. In the United States, for example, women earn an average of 23.5% less than men.
In 1833, women working in factories earned only one-quarter of men's wages and in 2007, women's median annual paychecks reflected only 78 cents for every $1.00 earned by men. Women make up most of the "less meaningful, less skillful jobs" such as working in daycares. A study showed women comprised 87 percent of workers in the child care industry and 86 percent of the health aide industry.
Some experts believe that parents play an important role in the creation of values and perceptions of their children. The fact that many girls are asked to help their mothers do housework, while many boys do technical tasks with their fathers, seems to influence their behaviour and can sometimes discourage girls from performing such tasks. Girls will then think that each gender should have a specific role and behaviour.
A 2009 study found that being overweight harms women's career advancement but it presents no barrier for men. Overweight
or obese women were significantly under-represented among company bosses whereas a significant proportion of male executives were overweight or obese. The author of the study stated that the results suggest that "the 'glass ceiling effect' on women's advancement may reflect not only general negative stereotypes about the competencies of women, but also weight bias that results in the application of stricter appearance standards to women. Overweight women are evaluated more negatively than overweight men. There is a tendency to hold women to harsher weight standards."
At other times, there are accusations that some traditionally female professions have been or are being eliminated by its roles being subsumed by a male dominated profession. The assumption of baby delivery roles by doctors and subsequent decline of midwifery
is sometimes claimed to be an example.
found a persisting gender pay gap of 17.5 % on average in the 27 EU Member States
in 2008. Similarly, the OECD found that female full-time employees earned 17% less than their male counterparts across OECD countries in 2009.
In the United States, the female-to-male earnings ratio was 0.77 in 2009, meaning that, in 2009, female full-time, year round (FTYR) workers earned 77% as much as male FYTR workers. Women's earnings relative to men's fell from 1960 to 1980 (from 60.7% to 60.2%) and then rose rapidly from 1980 to 1990 (from 60.2% to 71.6%), and less rapidly from 1990 to 2000 (from 71.6% to 73.7%) and from 2000 to 2009 (from 73.7% to 77.0%). At the time when the first Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963, female full-time workers earned 58.9% as much as male full-time workers.
The gender pay gap has been attributed to differences in personal and workplace characteristics between women and men (education, hours worked, occupation etc.) as well as direct and indirect discrimination in the labor market (gender stereotypes, customer and employer bias etc.). Studies always find that some portion of the gender pay gap remains unexplained even after controlling for factors that are assumed to influence earnings. The unexplained portion of the wage gap is attributed to gender discrimination. The estimates for the discriminatory component of the gender pay gap vary widely. The OECD estimated that approximately 30% of the gender pay gaps across OECD countries is due to discrimination. Australian research shows that discrimination accounts for approximately 60% of the wage differentials between women and men. Studies examining the gender pay gap in the United States show that large parts of the wage differential remain unexplained even after controlling for factors that affect pay. One study examined college graduates and found that the portion of the pay gap that remains unexplained after all other factors are taken into account is 5% one year after graduating college and 12% 10 years after graduation.
One study found that women are less likely to negotiate raises, while another study found that women do not negotiate less than men.
Research done at Cornell University
and elsewhere indicates that mothers are less likely to get hired than equally qualified fathers and if hired would be paid a lower salary than male applicants with children. The OECD found that "a significant impact of children on women’s pay is generally found in the United Kingdom and the United States." Fathers, on the other hand, earn $7,500 more on average that than men without children.
The United Nations
asserts "progress in bringing women into leadership and decision-making positions around the world remains far too slow."
is a form of sexism. Some countries, such as Norway
and Denmark
, have laws against sexual objectification in advertising. Nudity itself is not banned, and nude people can be used to advertise a product, but only if they are relevant to what is being advertised. Sol Olving, head of Norway's Kreativt Forum, an association of the country's top advertising agencies explained: "You could have a naked person advertising shower gel or a cream, but not a woman in a bikini draped across a car."
, as a form of objectifying a gender, contributes to sexism. Some researchers suggest that pornography depicting women contributes to violence against women
by eroticizing scenes in which women are dominated, coerced, humiliated, or even sexually assaulted.
Anti-pornography feminists, notably Catherine MacKinnon, charge that the production of pornography entails physical, psychological, and/or economic coercion
of the women who perform and model in it.
Opponents of pornography charge that pornography presents a severely distorted image of sexual relations, and reinforces sex myths; that it always shows women as readily available and desiring to engage in sex at any time, with any men, on men's terms, always responding positive to any advance men make. Catherine MacKinnon states that:
subscribed until the 20th century to the system of coverture
, where "by marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law; that is the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage." Not until 1875 were women in the U.S. legally defined as persons (Minor v Happersett, 88 U.S. 162).
In many countries, women still lose significant legal rights during marriage
. For example, in Chile
"the marital partnership is to be headed by the husband, who shall administer the spouses' joint property as well as the property owned by his wife."
is the civil right to vote. Gender is sometimes used as a criterion for the right to vote.
Women's suffrage in the United States was achieved gradually, at state and local levels, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, culminating in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
, which provided: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."
Since women have gained the right to vote through the Nineteenth Amendment, females have emerged in the field of politics whether in local/state politics or as presidential candidates. Although women certainly have the capability to successfully gain political power, gender stereotypes are evident in politics/candidacy. Data from the 2006 American National Election Studies Pilot Study measured "perceptions of women's and men's issue competency. For example, a question that was asked was "who would do a better job in the U.S. Congress handling crime - a democrat who is a man, a democrat who is a woman or would they equally do a good or bad job?" The same question was rephrased to say "a republican..." The data shows that voters hold gender stereotypes for both democrats and republicans. Specifically, when asked the previous question, voters stated that the male would do a better job in handling crime. Meanwhile, when "handling crime" was changed to "handling education," voters said that women would do a better job. The reason why the voters responded in such a manner is because "women politicians are perceived to possess typically feminine traits such as being warm and sensitive and are believed to be expert on so called woman issues such as education... Meanwhile, men politicians are perceived to possess typically masculine traits, such as being assertive and tough." The data specifically shows that about 2% of the voters (average: 1.9% democrats in congress, 2.3% republicans in congress) believed that men would do a better job handling education while about 6.4% of voters (average 6.8% democrats in congress, 6.2% republicans in congress) said that women would do a better job handling education. While voters may believe that women do a better job in areas than men and vice versa, the survey then limits the analysis to respondents that associate with a specific political party. When republicans were asked the same questions regarding issue competency in education and crime, the results show that about 26% of democratic women state that female democratic politicians would do a better job handling education while just under 20% of republican women held the same belief. Meanwhile more republicans believed that republican men are better able to handle crime (36% of voters) while democrats believed that democratic men were not as able (14% of voters).
The scientists conclude that "although it is often argued that any gender effect will disappear in the presence of the party cue, [they] find that gender stereotypes transcend party. Both Democratic and Republican politicians are believed to differ by gender in perceived issue competency and issue positions... Democrats are more likely to hold gender stereotypes that benefit women in politics. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to see an advantage for women on the issue of education and are less likely than Republicans to see a men advantage on the issue of crime." Therefore, while Democrats are more likely to believe that women are better able to handle education, Republicans believe that men are better able to handle crime. "Overall, gender stereotypes appear to be more detrimental to the electoral chances of Republican women than Democratic women. In the end, this research offers support for the notion that women and men who run for office are viewed through multiple lenses by a public employing a range of stereotypes to the degree that people continue to see women and men as possessing different issue competencies." This is clearly sexist because in a politically and socially correct world, women would be considered just as capable of handling crime than men but, unfortunately, citizens view issue competencies based on gender. This is also split by political parties because, based on the data and conclusions, Democrats believe that women are better able to handle education while Republicans believe that men are better fit to handle crime.
Domestic violence is more likely to occur in a relationship where there is perceived to be a natural imbalance of power.
The types of violence (physical, psychological, sexual) also differ in proportion across the gender spectrum.
is a sexist custom.
in American and British colleges and universities was in fact instituted as a field of study considered suitable to women's "lesser intellects". Since 1991, however, the proportion of young women enrolled in college in the United States has exceeded the enrollment rate for young men, and the gap has widened over time. Women now make up the majority—54 percent—of the 10.8 million young adults enrolled in college in the United States..
Research studies have found that discrimination continues today: boys receive more attention and praise in the classroom in grade school along with more blame and punishment, and "this pattern of more active teacher attention directed at male students continues at the postsecondary level". Over time, female students speak less and less in classroom settings.
Girls earn higher grades than boys until the end of high school. Girls in some districts achieve higher marks despite scoring the same or lower than boys on standardised tests.
, have mandatory military service regardless of gender.
In the United States, women are prohibited from serving in active ground combat. However, in the current wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq, "the unpredictable nature of the attacks in this war blurs the distinction between front-line and rear areas ... (women) find themselves in the thick of the battle." Initially, women deployed in support roles were not trained in active service. This created an imbalanced dangerous situation for women and now all soldiers receive the same combat training.
Some experts purport that women's perceived role as a sub-class of soldier encourages sexual violence against women in the military. In the USA, the Department of Defense
's new Sexual Assault Prevention and Response office is addressing these concerns.
movement has campaigned against sexism against transsexuals. One form of sexism against transsexuals is how many "women-only" and "men-only" events and organizations have been criticized for rejecting trans women and trans men, respectively.
Sexism involves hatred
Hatred
Hatred is a deep and emotional extreme dislike, directed against a certain object or class of objects. The objects of such hatred can vary widely, from inanimate objects to animals, oneself or other people, entire groups of people, people in general, existence, or the whole world...
of, or prejudice
Prejudice
Prejudice is making a judgment or assumption about someone or something before having enough knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy, or "judging a book by its cover"...
towards a gender as a whole or the blind application of gender stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
s. Sexism is often associated with gender-supremacy arguments.
Generalisation and partition
In philosophy, a sexist attitude is one which suggests human beings can be understood or judged on the basis of the essential characteristicsEssentialism
In philosophy, essentialism is the view that, for any specific kind of entity, there is a set of characteristics or properties all of which any entity of that kind must possess. Therefore all things can be precisely defined or described...
of the group to which an individual belongs—in this case, their sexual group, as men or women. This assumes that all individuals fit into the category of male or female and does not take into account people who identify as neither or both.
| sex | hatred | fears | anti-discriminatory |
|---|---|---|---|
| female Female Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male... ♀ |
misogyny Misogyny Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny... |
gynophobia Gynophobia Gynophobia is an abnormal fear of women. In the past, the Latin term was used, horror feminae, meaning "fear of women".... |
feminism Feminism Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights... |
| male Male Male refers to the biological sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization... ♂ |
misandry Misandry Misandry is the hatred or dislike of men or boys.Misandry comes from Greek misos and anēr, andros . Misandry is the antonym of philandry, the fondness towards men, love, or admiration of them... |
androphobia Androphobia Androphobia is an abnormal fear of men. The word is derived from the Greek άνδρας and φόβος .:)Androphobia may be related to traumatic events in the sufferer's past... |
masculism Masculism Masculism may refer to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing and defending political, economic, and social rights and participation in society for men and boys. These rights include legal issues, such as those of conscription, child custody, alimony, and equal pay for... |
| intersex Intersex Intersex, in humans and other animals, is the presence of intermediate or atypical combinations of physical features that usually distinguish female from male... |
misandrogyny | androgynophobia | LGBTIQ |
| transsex | transphobia Transphobia Transphobia is a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards transsexualism and transsexual or transgender people, based on the expression of their internal gender... |
LGBT LGBT LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the... |
Gender stereotypes
Gender stereotypes are widely held and often inaccurate beliefs about the characteristics and behavior of women and men. Gender stereotypes are not only descriptive, but also prescriptive beliefs about "how men and women should be and behave". Members of either sex who deviate from prescriptive gender stereotypes are punished; assertive women, for example, are called "bitches" whereas men who lack physical strength are seen as "wimps".Empirical studies have found widely shared cultural beliefs that men are more socially valued and more competent than women at most things, as well as specific assumptions that men are better at some particular tasks (e.g., mechanical tasks) while women are better at others (e.g., nurturing tasks). For example, Fiske
Susan Fiske
Susan Tufts Fiske is Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology at Princeton University's Department of Psychology. She is a social psychologist known for her work on social cognition, stereotypes, and prejudice...
and colleagues surveyed nine diverse samples, from different regions of the United States, and found that members of these samples, regardless of age, consistently rated the category "men" higher than the category "women" on a multidimensional scale of competence.
Gender stereotypes can facilitate and impede intellectual performance. For instance, stereotype threat
Stereotype threat
Stereotype threat is the experience of anxiety or concern in a situation where a person has the potential to confirm a negative stereotype about their social group. First described by social psychologist Claude Steele and his colleagues, stereotype threat has been shown to reduce the performance of...
can lower women's performance on mathematics tests due to the stereotype that women have inferior quantitative skills compared with men. Stereotypes can also affect the assessments people make of their own competence. Studies found that specific stereotypes (e.g., women have lower mathematical ability) affect women’s and men’s perceptions of their abilities (e.g., in math and science) such that men assess their own task ability higher than women performing at the same level. These "biased self-assessments" have far-reaching effects because they can shape men and women’s educational and career decisions.
Gender stereotypes are sometimes applied at an early age. Various interventions were reviewed including the use of fiction in challenging gender stereotypes. For example, in a study by A. Wing, children were read Bill's New Frock
Bill's New Frock
Bill's New Frock is about a young transvestite who enjoys wearing pink frocks and likes eating chubbawubbas. book by Anne Fine and illustrated by Philippe Dupasquier for younger readers, first published in 1989, and reissued by Egmont in a new edition on 1 August 2002. The story concerns Bill...
by Anne Fine
Anne Fine
Anne Fine, OBE FRSL is a British author best known for her children's books, of which she has written more than 50. She also writes for adults...
. The content of the book was discussed with them. Children were able to articulate, and reflect on, their stereotypical constructions of gender and those in the world at large. There was evidence of children considering 'the different treatment that boys and girls receive', and of classroom discussion enabling stereotypes to be challenged.
Sexist and gender-neutral language
Research has found that the use of he as a generic masculine pronoun evokes a disproportionate number of male images and excludes thoughts of women in non-sex specific instances. Results also suggest that while the plural they functions as a generic pronoun for both males and females, males may comprehend he/she in a manner similar to he.Nearing the end of the 20th century, there is a rise in the use of gender-neutral language in western worlds. This is often attributed to the rise of feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
. Gender-neutral language
Gender-neutral language
Gender-neutral language, gender-inclusive language, inclusive language, or gender neutrality is linguistic prescriptivism that aims to eliminate reference to gender in terms that describe people...
is the avoidance of gender-specific job title
Gender-specific job title
A gender-specific job title is a name of a job that also specifies or implies the gender of the person performing that job, such as stewardess...
s, non-parallel usage, and other usage that is felt by some to be sexist. Supporters feel that having gender-specific titles and gender-specific pronouns either implies a system bias to exclude individuals based on their gender, or else is as unnecessary in most cases as race-specific pronouns, religion-specific pronouns, or persons-height-specific pronouns. Some of those who support gender-specific pronouns assert that promoting gender-neutral language is a kind of "semantics
Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
injection" itself.
Anthropological linguistics and gender-specific language
Unlike the Indo-European languagesIndo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
in the west, for many other languages around the world, gender-specific pronouns are a recent phenomenon that occur around the early-20th century. As a result of colonialism
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
, cultural revolution occurred in many parts of the world with attempts to "modernise" and "westernise" by adding gender-specific pronouns and animate-inanimate pronouns to local languages. This resulted in the situation of what was gender-neutral pronouns a century ago suddenly becoming gender-specific. (See for example Gender-neutrality in languages without grammatical gender: Turkish.)
Gender-specific pejorative terms
Gender-specific pejorative terms intimidate or harm another person because of their gender. Sexism can be expressed in a pseudo-subtle manner through the attachment of terms which have negative gender-oriented implications. Many examples are swear words and will not be enumerated here.A mildly vulgar example is the uninformative attribution of the term 'hag' for a woman or 'fairy' for a man. Although hag and fairy both have non-sexist interpretations, when they are used in the context of a gender-specific pejorative term these words become representations of sexist attitudes, to wit, sexism.
The relationship between rape and misogyny
Research into the factors which motivate perpetrators of rape against women frequently reveals patterns of hatred of women and pleasure in inflicting psychological and/or physical trauma, rather than sexual interest. Researchers have argued that rape is not the result of pathological individuals, but rather of systems of male dominance and from cultural practices and beliefs that objectify and degrade women.Mary Odem and Jody Clay-Warner, along with Susan Brownwiller, consider sexist attitudes to be propagated by a series of myths about rape and rapists. They state that contrary to these myths, rapists often plan a rape before they choose a victim, and that acquaintance rape is the most common form of rape rather than assault by a stranger. Odem also states that these rape myths propagate sexist attitudes about men by perpetuating a myth that men cannot control their sexuality.
To counteract this dangerous imbalance, the "Men Can Stop Rape" movement has been implemented. The success of the MCSR campaign has inspired a similar movement in the military with the tagline "My strength is for defending."
Occupational sexism
Occupational sexism refers to any discriminatory practices, statements, actions, etc. based on a person's sexSex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
that are present or occur in a place of employment
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
. One form of occupational sexism is wage discrimination.
In 2008, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international economic organisation of 34 countries founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade...
(OECD) found that while female employment rates have expanded considerably and the gender employment and wage gaps have narrowed virtually everywhere, women still have 20% less chance to have a job than men, on average, and they are paid 17% less than their male counterparts. Moreover, the report stated:
[In] many countries, labour market discriminationDiscriminationDiscrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
– i.e. the unequal treatment of equally productive individuals only because they belong to a specific group – is still a crucial factor inflating disparities in employment and the quality of job opportunities [...] Evidence presented in this edition of the Employment Outlook suggests that about 8% of the variation in gender employment gaps and 30% of the variation in gender wage gaps across OECD countries can be explained by discriminatory practices in the labour market."
The OECD report also found that despite the fact that almost all OECD countries, including the United States, have established anti-discrimination laws, these laws are difficult to enforce.
Gender-role stereotypes
According to the OECD women's labor market behavior "is influenced by learned cultural and social values that may be thought to discriminate against women (and sometimes against men) by stereotyping certain work and life styles as "male" or "female"." Further, the OECD argues that women's educational choices "may be dictated, at least in part, by their expectations that [certain] types of employment opportunities are not available to them, as well as by gender stereotypes that are prevalent in society."There is a long record of women being excluded from participation in many professions. Often, women have gained entry into a previously male profession only to be faced by many additional obstacles. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive an M.D. in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Myra Bradwell, the first female lawyer in the state of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, are examples.
Professional discrimination continues today, according to studies done by Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
and others. It has been hypothesized that gender bias has been influencing which scientific research gets published. This hypothesis coincides with a test conducted at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
led by Amber Budden. Based on the results of this study, almost 10 percent of female authors get their papers published when their gender is hidden.
In addition, women frequently earn significantly lower wages than their male counterparts who perform the same job. In the United States, for example, women earn an average of 23.5% less than men.
In 1833, women working in factories earned only one-quarter of men's wages and in 2007, women's median annual paychecks reflected only 78 cents for every $1.00 earned by men. Women make up most of the "less meaningful, less skillful jobs" such as working in daycares. A study showed women comprised 87 percent of workers in the child care industry and 86 percent of the health aide industry.
Some experts believe that parents play an important role in the creation of values and perceptions of their children. The fact that many girls are asked to help their mothers do housework, while many boys do technical tasks with their fathers, seems to influence their behaviour and can sometimes discourage girls from performing such tasks. Girls will then think that each gender should have a specific role and behaviour.
A 2009 study found that being overweight harms women's career advancement but it presents no barrier for men. Overweight
Overweight
Overweight is generally defined as having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is a common condition, especially where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary...
or obese women were significantly under-represented among company bosses whereas a significant proportion of male executives were overweight or obese. The author of the study stated that the results suggest that "the 'glass ceiling effect' on women's advancement may reflect not only general negative stereotypes about the competencies of women, but also weight bias that results in the application of stricter appearance standards to women. Overweight women are evaluated more negatively than overweight men. There is a tendency to hold women to harsher weight standards."
At other times, there are accusations that some traditionally female professions have been or are being eliminated by its roles being subsumed by a male dominated profession. The assumption of baby delivery roles by doctors and subsequent decline of midwifery
Midwifery
Midwifery is a health care profession in which providers offer care to childbearing women during pregnancy, labour and birth, and during the postpartum period. They also help care for the newborn and assist the mother with breastfeeding....
is sometimes claimed to be an example.
Wage gap
EurostatEurostat
Eurostat is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in Luxembourg. Its main responsibilities are to provide the European Union with statistical information at European level and to promote the integration of statistical methods across the Member States of the European Union,...
found a persisting gender pay gap of 17.5 % on average in the 27 EU Member States
Member State of the European Union
A member state of the European Union is a state that is party to treaties of the European Union and has thereby undertaken the privileges and obligations that EU membership entails. Unlike membership of an international organisation, being an EU member state places a country under binding laws in...
in 2008. Similarly, the OECD found that female full-time employees earned 17% less than their male counterparts across OECD countries in 2009.
In the United States, the female-to-male earnings ratio was 0.77 in 2009, meaning that, in 2009, female full-time, year round (FTYR) workers earned 77% as much as male FYTR workers. Women's earnings relative to men's fell from 1960 to 1980 (from 60.7% to 60.2%) and then rose rapidly from 1980 to 1990 (from 60.2% to 71.6%), and less rapidly from 1990 to 2000 (from 71.6% to 73.7%) and from 2000 to 2009 (from 73.7% to 77.0%). At the time when the first Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963, female full-time workers earned 58.9% as much as male full-time workers.
The gender pay gap has been attributed to differences in personal and workplace characteristics between women and men (education, hours worked, occupation etc.) as well as direct and indirect discrimination in the labor market (gender stereotypes, customer and employer bias etc.). Studies always find that some portion of the gender pay gap remains unexplained even after controlling for factors that are assumed to influence earnings. The unexplained portion of the wage gap is attributed to gender discrimination. The estimates for the discriminatory component of the gender pay gap vary widely. The OECD estimated that approximately 30% of the gender pay gaps across OECD countries is due to discrimination. Australian research shows that discrimination accounts for approximately 60% of the wage differentials between women and men. Studies examining the gender pay gap in the United States show that large parts of the wage differential remain unexplained even after controlling for factors that affect pay. One study examined college graduates and found that the portion of the pay gap that remains unexplained after all other factors are taken into account is 5% one year after graduating college and 12% 10 years after graduation.
One study found that women are less likely to negotiate raises, while another study found that women do not negotiate less than men.
Research done at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
and elsewhere indicates that mothers are less likely to get hired than equally qualified fathers and if hired would be paid a lower salary than male applicants with children. The OECD found that "a significant impact of children on women’s pay is generally found in the United Kingdom and the United States." Fathers, on the other hand, earn $7,500 more on average that than men without children.
Glass ceiling
The term "glass ceiling" is used to describe a perceived barrier to advancement based on discrimination, particularly gender discrimination. In academic achievement, great improvements have been made. However, as of 1995 in the United States, women received about half of all Master's degrees but 95 to 97 % of the senior managers of Fortune 1000 Industrial and Fortune 500 companies were male and in the Fortune 2000 industrial and service companies, only 5 percent of senior managers were women.The United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
asserts "progress in bringing women into leadership and decision-making positions around the world remains far too slow."
Objectification
It is argued that sexual objectificationSexual objectification
Sexual objectification refers to the practice of regarding or treating another person merely as an instrument towards one's sexual pleasure, and a sex object is a person who is regarded simply as an object of sexual gratification or who is sexually attractive...
is a form of sexism. Some countries, such as Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, have laws against sexual objectification in advertising. Nudity itself is not banned, and nude people can be used to advertise a product, but only if they are relevant to what is being advertised. Sol Olving, head of Norway's Kreativt Forum, an association of the country's top advertising agencies explained: "You could have a naked person advertising shower gel or a cream, but not a woman in a bikini draped across a car."
Pornography
It is sometimes asserted that pornographyPornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
, as a form of objectifying a gender, contributes to sexism. Some researchers suggest that pornography depicting women contributes to violence against women
Violence against women
Violence against women is a technical term used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women...
by eroticizing scenes in which women are dominated, coerced, humiliated, or even sexually assaulted.
Anti-pornography feminists, notably Catherine MacKinnon, charge that the production of pornography entails physical, psychological, and/or economic coercion
Coercion
Coercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner by use of threats or intimidation or some other form of pressure or force. In law, coercion is codified as the duress crime. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way...
of the women who perform and model in it.
Opponents of pornography charge that pornography presents a severely distorted image of sexual relations, and reinforces sex myths; that it always shows women as readily available and desiring to engage in sex at any time, with any men, on men's terms, always responding positive to any advance men make. Catherine MacKinnon states that:
Historical examples of gender discrimination
Certain forms of sex discrimination are illegal in some countries, while in other countries sex discrimination may be legally sanctioned under various circumstances.Coverture
U.S. and English lawEnglish law
English law is the legal system of England and Wales, and is the basis of common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countries and the United States except Louisiana...
subscribed until the 20th century to the system of coverture
Coverture
Coverture was a legal doctrine whereby, upon marriage, a woman's legal rights were subsumed by those of her husband. Coverture was enshrined in the common law of England and the United States throughout most of the 19th century...
, where "by marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law; that is the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage." Not until 1875 were women in the U.S. legally defined as persons (Minor v Happersett, 88 U.S. 162).
In many countries, women still lose significant legal rights during marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
. For example, in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
"the marital partnership is to be headed by the husband, who shall administer the spouses' joint property as well as the property owned by his wife."
Gender discrimination in voting and political candidacy
SuffrageSuffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...
is the civil right to vote. Gender is sometimes used as a criterion for the right to vote.
Women's suffrage in the United States was achieved gradually, at state and local levels, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, culminating in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920....
, which provided: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."
Since women have gained the right to vote through the Nineteenth Amendment, females have emerged in the field of politics whether in local/state politics or as presidential candidates. Although women certainly have the capability to successfully gain political power, gender stereotypes are evident in politics/candidacy. Data from the 2006 American National Election Studies Pilot Study measured "perceptions of women's and men's issue competency. For example, a question that was asked was "who would do a better job in the U.S. Congress handling crime - a democrat who is a man, a democrat who is a woman or would they equally do a good or bad job?" The same question was rephrased to say "a republican..." The data shows that voters hold gender stereotypes for both democrats and republicans. Specifically, when asked the previous question, voters stated that the male would do a better job in handling crime. Meanwhile, when "handling crime" was changed to "handling education," voters said that women would do a better job. The reason why the voters responded in such a manner is because "women politicians are perceived to possess typically feminine traits such as being warm and sensitive and are believed to be expert on so called woman issues such as education... Meanwhile, men politicians are perceived to possess typically masculine traits, such as being assertive and tough." The data specifically shows that about 2% of the voters (average: 1.9% democrats in congress, 2.3% republicans in congress) believed that men would do a better job handling education while about 6.4% of voters (average 6.8% democrats in congress, 6.2% republicans in congress) said that women would do a better job handling education. While voters may believe that women do a better job in areas than men and vice versa, the survey then limits the analysis to respondents that associate with a specific political party. When republicans were asked the same questions regarding issue competency in education and crime, the results show that about 26% of democratic women state that female democratic politicians would do a better job handling education while just under 20% of republican women held the same belief. Meanwhile more republicans believed that republican men are better able to handle crime (36% of voters) while democrats believed that democratic men were not as able (14% of voters).
The scientists conclude that "although it is often argued that any gender effect will disappear in the presence of the party cue, [they] find that gender stereotypes transcend party. Both Democratic and Republican politicians are believed to differ by gender in perceived issue competency and issue positions... Democrats are more likely to hold gender stereotypes that benefit women in politics. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to see an advantage for women on the issue of education and are less likely than Republicans to see a men advantage on the issue of crime." Therefore, while Democrats are more likely to believe that women are better able to handle education, Republicans believe that men are better able to handle crime. "Overall, gender stereotypes appear to be more detrimental to the electoral chances of Republican women than Democratic women. In the end, this research offers support for the notion that women and men who run for office are viewed through multiple lenses by a public employing a range of stereotypes to the degree that people continue to see women and men as possessing different issue competencies." This is clearly sexist because in a politically and socially correct world, women would be considered just as capable of handling crime than men but, unfortunately, citizens view issue competencies based on gender. This is also split by political parties because, based on the data and conclusions, Democrats believe that women are better able to handle education while Republicans believe that men are better fit to handle crime.
Domestic violence
Domestic violence takes on many different forms which include verbal, physical and psychological abuse. Domestic violence occurs in unequal proportion in men and women and is often considered related to sexism.Domestic violence is more likely to occur in a relationship where there is perceived to be a natural imbalance of power.
The types of violence (physical, psychological, sexual) also differ in proportion across the gender spectrum.
Hate-motivated sexual assault
Rape and sexual assault are considered to be acts of hate. Their relationship to sexism is that there is often a desire for the perpetrator to feel power over the other due to the sex.Marital relationships
There is a high rate of pop culture references to restricted gender roles in marriage. In divorce, wife sellingWife selling
Wife selling in England was a way of ending an unsatisfactory marriage by mutual agreement that probably began in the late 17th century, when divorce was a practical impossibility for all but the very wealthiest. After parading his wife with a halter around her neck, arm, or waist, a husband would...
is a sexist custom.
Education
Women in the past have generally been disadvantaged from higher education. When women were admitted to higher education, they were encouraged to major in subjects that were considered less intellectual; the study of English literatureEnglish literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
in American and British colleges and universities was in fact instituted as a field of study considered suitable to women's "lesser intellects". Since 1991, however, the proportion of young women enrolled in college in the United States has exceeded the enrollment rate for young men, and the gap has widened over time. Women now make up the majority—54 percent—of the 10.8 million young adults enrolled in college in the United States..
Research studies have found that discrimination continues today: boys receive more attention and praise in the classroom in grade school along with more blame and punishment, and "this pattern of more active teacher attention directed at male students continues at the postsecondary level". Over time, female students speak less and less in classroom settings.
Girls earn higher grades than boys until the end of high school. Girls in some districts achieve higher marks despite scoring the same or lower than boys on standardised tests.
Military service
Military service is an area where gender roles have often been considered paramount. However, some countries, like IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, have mandatory military service regardless of gender.
In the United States, women are prohibited from serving in active ground combat. However, in the current wars in Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
and Iraq, "the unpredictable nature of the attacks in this war blurs the distinction between front-line and rear areas ... (women) find themselves in the thick of the battle." Initially, women deployed in support roles were not trained in active service. This created an imbalanced dangerous situation for women and now all soldiers receive the same combat training.
Some experts purport that women's perceived role as a sub-class of soldier encourages sexual violence against women in the military. In the USA, the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
's new Sexual Assault Prevention and Response office is addressing these concerns.
Transphobia
Transphobia refers to prejudice against transsexuality and transsexual or transgender people, based on their personal gender identification (see Phobia - terms indicating prejudice or class discrimination). Whether intentional or not, transphobia can have severe consequences for the person the object of the negative attitude. The LGBTLGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
movement has campaigned against sexism against transsexuals. One form of sexism against transsexuals is how many "women-only" and "men-only" events and organizations have been criticized for rejecting trans women and trans men, respectively.
See also
- ChauvinismChauvinismChauvinism, in its original and primary meaning, is an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a belief in national superiority and glory. It is an eponym of a possibly fictional French soldier Nicolas Chauvin who was credited with many superhuman feats in the Napoleonic wars.By extension it has come...
- Equal Pay Act
- Gender discrimination in PakistanGender discrimination in PakistanWomen's rights in Pakistan is a prominent issue, but many activists such as the National Plan of Action for Women and the All-Pakistan Women’s Association are working hard towards equality...
- Airline sex discrimination policy controversy
- Gender egalitarianism
- Genderism
- Gender-neutral languageGender-neutral languageGender-neutral language, gender-inclusive language, inclusive language, or gender neutrality is linguistic prescriptivism that aims to eliminate reference to gender in terms that describe people...
- Gender roleGender roleGender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time...
- IntersectionalityIntersectionalityIntersectionality is a feminist sociological theory first highlighted by Kimberlé Crenshaw . Intersectionality is a methodology of studying "the relationships among multiple dimensions and modalities of social relationships and subject formations"...
- LGBT stereotypesLGBT stereotypesStereotypes about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are conventional, formulaic generalizations, opinions, or images about persons based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Stereotypes and homophobia are a learned outlook, i.e...
- MasculinityMasculinityMasculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...
- Men and feminismMen and feminismThe relationship between men and feminism has been complex and intricate. Men have taken part in significant cultural and political responses to feminism in each 'wave' of the movement. Such responses have been varied, with some more sympathetic or critical than others, depending on the individual...
- National Organization for WomenNational Organization for WomenThe National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...
- Occupational sexismOccupational sexismOccupational sexism refers to any discriminatory practices, statements, actions, etc. based on a person's sex that are present or occur in a place of employment...
- MisandryMisandryMisandry is the hatred or dislike of men or boys.Misandry comes from Greek misos and anēr, andros . Misandry is the antonym of philandry, the fondness towards men, love, or admiration of them...
- MisogynyMisogynyMisogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...
- Sexual harassmentSexual harassmentSexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
- Sexual objectificationSexual objectificationSexual objectification refers to the practice of regarding or treating another person merely as an instrument towards one's sexual pleasure, and a sex object is a person who is regarded simply as an object of sexual gratification or who is sexually attractive...
- Sex in advertisingSex in advertisingSex in advertising or sex sells is the use of sexual or erotic imagery in advertising to draw interest to a particular product, for purpose of sale. A feature of sex in advertising is that the imagery used, such as that of a pretty woman, typically has no connection to the product being advertised...
- Sex Roles (journal)Sex Roles (journal)Sex Roles is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer. The Editor-in-Chief is Irene H. Frieze. Articles appearing in Sex Roles are written from a feminist perspective, and topics span gender role socialization, gendered perceptions and behaviors, gender stereotypes, body image,...
- Sex segregationSex segregationSex segregation is the separation of people according to their sex.The term gender apartheid also has been applied to segregation of people by gender, implying that it is sexual discrimination...
- Sexism in IndiaSexism in IndiaSexism in India refers to beliefs or attitudes in India that one gender or sex is inferior to, less competent, or less valuable than the other. Discrimination and violence against women is prevalent, and sexual harassment at the workplace and lack of education continue to be identified as major...
- StereotypeStereotypeA stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
- Triple oppressionTriple oppressionTriple oppression is a theory developed by black socialists in the United States, such as Claudia Jones. The theory states that a connection exists between various types of oppression, specifically classism, racism, and sexism...
- Face-ismFace-ismFace-ism or facial prominence is the relative prominence of the face in the portrayal of men and women. Research shows that media tend to feature more on men’s face and women’s body.-Origin and subsequent studies:...
- FeminismFeminismFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
- MasculismMasculismMasculism may refer to political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at establishing and defending political, economic, and social rights and participation in society for men and boys. These rights include legal issues, such as those of conscription, child custody, alimony, and equal pay for...
- Glass cliffGlass cliffA glass cliff is a term coined by Prof Michelle Ryan and Prof Alex Haslam of University of Exeter, United Kingdom, in 2004.Their research demonstrates that once women break through the glass ceiling and take on positions of leadership they often have experiences that are different from those of...