Sexism against women
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See also: Women's suffrage
See also: Coverture
The view that men are superior to women is a form of sexism. The term 'sexism' is sometimes used by itself to mean sexism against women.[5] When expressed by men, sexism against women may be called male chauvinism. Related terms are misogyny, which implies a hatred of women, and gynophobia, which refers to a fear of women or femininity.
The idea that men benefit from certain rights and privileges not available to women is referred to as male privilege.
Historically, sexism against women has taken a number of forms.
[edit] Stereotypes
[edit] Legal status
U.S. and English law subscribed until the 20th century to the system of coverture, whereby "[b]y 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."[6]
Not until 1875 were women in the U.S. legally defined as persons (Minor v Happersett, 88 U.S. 162),[7] and women did not receive the vote in the U.S. until 1920[7] and in the U.K. until 1918.
[edit] Domestic violence
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice, women are more likely than men to experience "nonfatal intimate partner violence." [8] Women are more likely to be killed by intimate partners; 30% of female homicide victims are estimated to have been killed by intimate partners, as opposed to 5% of male homicide victims.[8]
[edit] Rape
Analysis of perpetrators of rape against women has been argued to reveal a pattern of hatred of women and pleasure in inflicting psychological and/or physical trauma, rather than sexual interest. According to Mary Odem and Jody Clay-Warner, feminists and social scientists 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.[9] Odem and Clay-Warner, along with Susan Brownwiller, consider sexist attitudes to be propagated by a series of myths about rape and rapists.[10][11] They state that contrary to these myths, rapists often plan a rape before they choose a victim,[9] and that acquaintance rape is the most common form of rape rather than assault by a stranger.[12][13] Odem also states that these rape myths propagate sexist attitudes about men by perpetuating a myth that men cannot control their sexuality.[9]
[edit] Sexual objectification
It is argued that sexual objectification is a form of sexism.
[edit] Sexism in language
See Gender-neutral language.
Sexism is revealed in the English language, as well as most world languages, in many ways. Language studies have concluded that language "discrimination is usually covert and difficult to be noticed without conscious awareness." [2]. Gender analysts warn that the danger of continuing sexist language is that sexist language tends to perpetuate gender stereotypes and reinforce biases against women [14]. We note that sexist language may also perpetuate male stereotypes as well.
Specific examples of sexist language are numerous, and include the use of the word "man" to represent the entire human race. ie. "Man moved out of Africa and migrated to Europe." While use of "man" may have been conventional and familiar, newer texts would instead read, "Humans moved out of . . ." or "Human beings moved . . " "Humanity began its trek out of Africa . . ." etc.[3]
The most common use of sexist language is revealed in this sentence: "Anyone can earn a college degree if he really works at it."[4] Clearly, the use of "he" excludes the fact that women too can earn college degrees. Defenders of convention claim it is simply easier to use the pronoun "he", as it is short and simple. More progressive writers understand that even simple convention places images and ideas in people's heads, if only subconsciously. Therefore, the sentence written today would most likely read, "Anyone can earn a college degree if he or she really works at it." [[5]] The sentence could also be written as: "With hard work, anyone could earn a college degree." [6]
There have been sexist terms for many occupations, such as Policeman, Fireman, Businessman, Repairman etc. The use of these terms places specific images and ideas in people's heads that these occupations were only for men. Hence, sexist language discouraged many young girls from believing they could become a police officer or a firefighter, for instance. To combat this, these terms and many similar types have been replaced by: Police Officer, Firefighter, Businessperson, and Repairer respectively. [7] Consider as well that a sexist term like "gunman", places the idea in our minds that violent shooters are and can only be men.[15] A term like "gunman" is now frequently replaced by "shooter".
Another form of sexist language is the use of "Mrs." and "Miss" for married and unmarried women respectively. These terms are viewed as sexist because equivalent terms are not used for men. A man will be Mr. Smith before he is married, and Mr. Smith after he is married. No clue is ever given in language as to a man's marital status. The same had not been true for women, as women's marital status used to be advertised by their title, Miss Smith for unmarried and Mrs. Smith for married. The past few decades have seen the use of "Ms." as the acceptable title for women, ie. Ms. Smith. "Ms." does not denote whether the bearer is married or unmarried, thereby putting the title on par with the male equivalent "Mr.". In fact, the use of Miss and Mrs was banned by the European Union in early 2009, which claimed the terms were too sexist for use in Parliament and public discourse.[8], [9], [10], [11]. Modern etiquette in the United States dictates that a woman should be called "Ms. Smith" upon first meeting, and referred to as "Ms." unless she requests to be called "Miss" or "Mrs."
Sexist language is also revealed in the categorization of women according to their age. Use of "Miss" and "Ma'am" are the examples of this. "Miss" is commonly used to address a 'younger' woman ie. What can I get for you today, Miss? Convention had previously taught that 'older' women be referred to as "Ma'am". However, there is no commonly used younger/older term for men. The address for men is always "Sir". ie. What can I get for you today, Sir? Women in the millennium have become increasingly aware of this discrepancy, and increasingly vocal regarding thier distaste of it. [12][13][14][15]. As a consequence, the use of both Miss and Ma'am is becoming more and more obsolete in common use. To avoid awkwardness or offense, many in the service industry are simply dropping the "Miss" or "Ma'am" from the end of their sentences. ie. Hi. Did you find everything you were looking for today? [16]
There is the role of sexist language in reinforcing social stereotypes and roles. An example would be the use of "mother" in the following newscast: "A newborn baby was found alive behind St. Catherine's Church today. Authorities are still trying to locate the mother." The use of "mother" here implies that the only parent responsible for the child is the mother. This linguistically puts the entire responsibility for babies and children on mothers only. In recent stories, you can hear that newscasters are more likely to report that "authorities are looking for the parents of the newborn."
Further Reading: - Language and Gender (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics) by Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet - Language and Gender: A Reader by Jennifer Coates - Language and Gender (Intertext) by Angela Goddard and Lindsey Mean (Paperback - Jan 20, 2009) - Language and Gender: An Advanced Resource Book (Routledge Applied Linguistics) by J. Sunderland - Women, Men and Language: A Sociolinguistic Account of Gender Differences in Language (3rd Edition) by Jennifer Coates - Reinventing Identities: The Gendered Self in Discourse (Language and Gender Studies) by Mary Bucholtz (Editor), et al. - Rethinking Linguistic Relativity (Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language) by John J. Gumperz (Editor), Stephen C. Levinson (Editor) - Language and Power (Language in Social Life) by Norman Fairclough
[edit] Education
Women in the past have been excluded from higher education.[16] When women were admitted to higher education, they were encouraged to major in subjects that were considered less intellectual; the study of English literature in English and U.S. colleges and universities was in fact instituted as a field of study considered suitable to women's "lesser intellects."[17]
Research studies have found that discrimination continues today: boys receive more attention and praise in the classroom in grade school,[18] and "this pattern of more active teacher attention directed at male students continues at the postsecondary level."[19] Over time, female students speak less and less in classroom settings.[20]
[edit] Professions
Women have been excluded from participation in many professions. When women have gained entry into a previously male profession, they have faced many additional obstacles; Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive an M.D., and Myra Bradwell, the first female lawyer, are examples.
Discrimination continues today, according to studies done by Cornell University and others.[21][22]
A 2009 study of CEOs found that more men occupying the position were overweight or obese than men in the general population, while the reverse held true for female CEOs.[citation needed] The leader of the study stated that the results "suggest that while being obese limits the career opportunities of both women and men, being merely overweight harms only female executives -- and may actually benefit male executives."[23]
[edit] Gender wage gap
Main article: Income disparity
See also: Male–female income disparity in the United States
Women have historically earned less than men; the reasons for the current wage gaps are also the subject of controversy.
In the 19th century and for much of the 20th, women were paid less than men for the same work. In the United States, this eventually led to the passing of the U.S. Equal Pay Act in 1963. At that time, women earned approximately 58 cents to a man's dollar.[24]
Today, women in the United States are estimated to earn roughly 75 percent of the income of men.[24][25] However, unmarried women without children may earn 15 to 20 percent more than males in the same situation, depending upon geographical location in the US.[26][27]
Women are less likely to negotiate raises, and when they do negotiate, they are less likely to receive them.[28]. David R. Hekman and colleagues found that women are less likely to negotiate because they are less valuable in the marketplace than equally well performing white men [29] Hekman et al. (2009) found that customers who viewed videos featuring a black male, a white female, or a white male actor playing the role of an employee helping a customer were 19% more satisfied with the white male employee's performance and also were more satisfied with the store's cleanliness and appearance. This despite that all three actors performed identically, read the same script, and were in the exact same location with identical camera angles and lighting. Moreover, 45 percent of the customers were women and 41 percent were non-white, indicating that even women and minority customers prefer white men. In a second study, they found that white male doctors were rated as more approachable and competent than equally-well performing women or minority doctors. They interpret their findings to suggest that employers are willing to pay more for white male employees because employers are customer driven and customers are happier with white male employees. They also suggest that what is required to solve the problem of wage inequality isn't necessarily paying women more but changing customer biases. This paper has been featured in many media outlets including The New York Times,[30] The Washington Post,[31]The Boston Globe,[32] and National Public Radio.[33] Perhaps because women are less valuable to customers than men, women are more likely to work part-time, to take more time off for their children, and join lower status professions.[34][35]
A report published by the White House in 1998 argued that a gender pay gap remains even after taking into account such factors as relative experience, part-time vs. full-time work, differences between professions, and taking time off to have children.[24] Other research has found that even after accounting for parenthood status, education, job title, and other factors, there is still a significant income disparity in men's favor (Blau and Kahn 1997, Wood et al. 1993). Research done at Cornell University and elsewhere indicates that mothers are 44 percent less likely to be hired than women with otherwise identical resumes, experience, and qualifications, and, if hired, are offered on average $USD 11,000 a year less than women without children.[36] Exactly the opposite form of discrimination is indicated for men; those without children earn, on average, $7,500 less than men with children.[34]
Studies done show that transsexual men earn an average of 1.5% more after their transition, whereas transsexual women earn an average of 32% less.[37]