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How Does Sexism Affect Women In The Workplace

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“Prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially: discrimination against women.” This is the definition of sexism according to the Oxford dictionary. The simplest explanation of the term refers to some form of discrimination which is influenced by gender. Although sexism can have an impact on any gender, it is mostly identified as affecting females rather than males, which are most likely due to preconceptions and the firm belief in traditional, gender roles.
Sexism is a belief that a certain gender dominates over and is far superior to another. It is practiced through stereotyping, the language an individual uses and is mostly linked to media where it is portrayed as an everyday occurrence. It is a major issue for women as they are more …show more content…

As I will be exploring these attitudes on women in the workplace where the woman’s career is football, it is essential to fully understand where most of these misconceptions and stereotypes lie. Gender and sex are two very different concepts. Sex mostly relates to the biological view of the state of being male or female meanwhile gender in a sociological perspective refers to the behavioural, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex. Thus, many sociologists argue that gender is socially constructed. By this it is meant that we as the individual, as a part of society, determine what is male and what is female. Gender can be socially constructed through the family, media, workplace, peers, education and religion. The sociologist Statham believed that by the age of 5 children were already socialised into their gender roles. We can take a traditional view which is mainly adopted by Functionalists who believe society needs to function in a specific way for it to be stable and to continue prospering. This is mainly a traditional view that men and women have very specific roles in society. Parsons (1955) believes that females have an ‘expressive role’ in the family which is natural and based on their childbearing role as mothers. Meanwhile, males have an ‘instrumental role’ which is based upon physical strength. This is all supported through socialisation and is a conventional view that still upheld by

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