Sexism Against Women In The Workplace

Sexism is the ideology that maintains that one sex is inherently inferior to the other. Sexism or discrimination based on gender has been a social issue for many years; it is the ideology that one sex is superior or inferior to the other. Sexism does not only affect females, but also males. Men are very often victimized by social stereotypes and norms based on gender expectations. Sexism has appears in almost all social institutions including family, the media, religion, sports, the military, politics, and the government. However, although both genders are affected, men have benefited from sexism the most (Thompson 300-301.)

Over the last several decades, great strides have been made when it comes to eliminating sexism and progressing towards gender equality. However, sexism is still ingrained in our everyday culture. This is evident in the fact that in 2017 women earn about 80 cents to a man’s dollar and are less likely to be promoted within the workplace. It’s an unfortunate fact the most women will experience some form of sexism throughout their lives. In this paper, I will address my personal experiences with both hostile and benevolent sexism, how the two forms of sexism differ, and how these experiences have affected me.

Women first gained the right to vote on August 26, 1920 with the 19th amendment was approved, giving women full voting rights. Fortified by the constitutional victory in 1920, the handful of new women in Congress embarked on what would become a century-long journey to broaden women’s role in government. In the intervening years, the drive for more women’s rights encompassed the lives of the next generations of women. Even today, women are still fighting for their rights and stand up against prejudice. On the forefront of this movement are our women congresswomen who speak on behalf of all women. When Hillary Clinton announced her presidential candidacy, controversial questions immediately surfaced about the role of gender in politics. Through Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008 and 2016, media is the principal propagator in showing bias and sexism.

While studying art and popular culture in class, our class came across a very interesting topic and story. Throughout time everything has changed in humanity, in the way that humans look at one another. Now in the 1980’s when the whole AIDS and HIV epidemic started that’s when the whole world saw the disgrace in each other. Now in class learning about the disgrace that women had upon the world because of HIV and AIDS has really changed in a way that women are not allowed to be free within themselves anymore. The woman of today have to deal with sexism, classism and even racism just in order to survive in this world. But even through all of this women are still strong and fight for what they believe in and never give up, no matter what

Sexism against women in the workplace is still common, particularly in managerial positions, which creates glass ceilings for women who can do as good or better job as their male counterparts. It is a sad fact that sexism still exists in the twenty-first century. What is the glass ceiling you may ask? The glass ceiling is (Bell, Mclaughlin, & Sequeira, 2002) as “the invisible or artificial barriers that prevent women (and people of colour) from advancing past a certain level” (Federal Glass Ceiling Commission-FGCC, 1997; Morison and von Glinow, 1990). As a civilization where we want equality for all – we should strive to eliminate inequality caused by the glass ceiling. I believe that if we do not seek to eliminate sexism, it will have a negative impact on us and future generations.

This perception makes it difficult for men to leave work early to take their children to extracurricular activities or stay home from work when one of their kids is sick. This hurts men by detaching them from their families and often forces them to be overly committed to their jobs or lose opportunities if they choose to be more involved with their families. Working mothers are then forced to pick up the slack and sacrifice their careers twice as much.

Sexism, is a prejudice plain and simple. One of the earliest forms of violence directed toward women was the Witch Hunt Trials of the Middle Ages. Bishops debated whether a woman was really human at all. If her nose were too long, she had red hair, a humped back, or if she was exceptionally beautiful, she was thought to be a witch and was burned at the stake. There was an estimated nine million women burned during the Witch Trials. During the “Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1960’s, feminist theorists explained that oppression of women was widespread in nearly all human society, and spoke of sexism instead of male chauvinism. Male chauvinists were usually individual men who expressed the belief that they were superior to women” (Napikoski). By the mid 20th century sexism was established and began to appear in advertising. Between the 1970’s and 1990’s women began to feel more equal to men until the 1980’s where they were portrayed as sex symbols on national television (The Origin and History of SEXISM). There are two main types of sexism, benevolent and hostile, and their definitions are opposite from one another. Hostile sexism is what most people perceive as sexism today as it seems sexism is occurring more and more often and is, notably, more vulgar. It is the notion that women are inferior or not as worthy; a belief that males are intrinsically superior. For many years women have been degraded and looked down upon with the idea that their place is in the kitchen with

Created and perpetuated in part by patriarchal religions and capitalism, the American workplace exemplifies sexism in modern society, contributing to the continuation of women being viewed as subordinate to men (Albee and Perry 145). In 2013, American women earned 82 cents to every dollar that men earned, a discrepancy known as the gender wage gap, and that gap widens for working mothers in the United States. Though mothers comprise a larger percentage of the workforce than do fathers, they loose $141 each week compared to fathers’ average earnings, increasing the yearly wage gap from 12 percent on average to 25 percent for working mothers (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). A study conducted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research used data spanning the 15 years between 1983 and 1998 to conclude that women earned 38 cents to every dollar earned by a man, demonstrating the costs over time of the unequal distribution of family responsibilities (English and Hegewisch 1). On average, women earned $237,592 compared to the men’s average of $722,693 over the 15-year period (2). Despite evidence that approximately half of the gender wage gap can be attributed to normal economic wage fluctuations, an argument often used by those who claim the gap does not exist, sexism has been shown to contribute to the other half (TD Economics 1).

I have witnessed several prejudice or stereotype instances recently in my life, whether it be a personal accusation or done to a friend. The most prevalent being sexism in a workplace environment. One event in particular was when I worked as a waitress at a golf course restaurant in Connecticut. The owner of the establishment said lowkey offensive comments in regards to the female staff. When I was putting away dishes in the kitchen, the owner would say “a girl should have your job in the kitchen and you should be out on the course” to our cook. In addition to comments such as the previous one, the owner would never let any of the female employees work as the bartender (which was the best paying job at the restaurant). He would always hire

Some people say that sexism no longer exists in the workplace, yet only "19%" of women are in a presidential or chief position at work(Bomey ). Women are less likely to be hired for a job despite having all the qualifications, women earn less than men, and women are continuously harassed in the workplace. Despite the fact that women are capable to "perform with the same skill and success" as men, the issue of gender discrimination still continues to rise( ). In society, sometimes it can be difficult to recognize issues of sexism not only at work but in life. With the failure to realize gender discrimination and harassment in the world, educating people on the issue of sexism can make the workplace a success.

A second key issue is the hiring process. Many companies prefer to hire men over women for a positionregardless of their education or experience. Some reasons this may be is because most females have to balance work and family duties which may be a huge barrier in helping advancement in an organization, so an employer may prefer to hire a man who will not come with the baggage of children or the issue of balancing work and family duties. During an interview some women are not hired because they cannot be taken seriously because some may wear too much make-up or their pants suit or skirt may be too tight. Women that are pregnant are also sometimes not considered for a position because the manager may worry about the women wanting time off work on maternity leave. This may not be a direct financial concern about paying women while on maternity leave. It's more about the cost of replacing and training someone to cover their role while they are off.

Sexism in the Workplace The workplace is the area in which sexism is most commonly found. Sexism is in evidence in unfair recruitment practices, unequal pay, and intimidating behavior towards colleagues. Legislation is now in place in many countries that prohibits unfair treatment of staff on the grounds of their sex. The problem with this legislation is that they are often difficult to apply.

Sexism is still an issue in modern day America, but people are beginning to take a stand against issues such as this. My first experience with sexism in the workplace was at a young before I even had the chance to start a career. From the time I was a young girl I was determined to be a veterinarian and proudly told people that whenever I was asked. Then one day a male family member told me something that struck a nerve. I was told to change what I want to do because I was a female and my job would be to stay at home and raise a family and my husband would work or that I should find something more suitable for a woman. Little did I know that comments and actions such as this would not stop there and for many women it continues when they officially enter the workforce.

In todays American society there is a hedge problem with sexism between men and women, especial socially. Women are more social discriminated against then men, you can see this in the media, in a work environment, or even as something simple as just being in a public space. Throughout history there has been this idea of what a women should be or act like. One saying that goes "Sugar and spice and everything nice, that’s what little girls are made of." This giving the idea that women are supposed to act sweet and dainty, and have this loving caring quality about them, and women who do not act like this they get called things like butch, dyke, or one of those crazy feminists, tom boy, or “that’s unladylike.” Some men use terms like pussy, or, "you through like a girl" to describe another man in a degrading manner. Is this saying it’s bad to be a girl? Are we as a society telling women that they have to be a certain way or she will get called out for it? How are women supposed to act if there are so many social standards? Shouldn’t by now in 2016 there by equality between the sexes?

Throughout the years women have made great effort to become equal to men. This effort has led to great advances in the movement, but not all of the problems are solved yet. One of the main problems as of right now is the unequal treatment of men and women in the work place. Women are not equal to men in the workplace because of unequal pay, a lack of women in managerial positions, and sexual harassment in the work place.