Sexism And Its Effects On Women

Sexism is the unequal treatment between sexes, more so the attitudes and beliefs about people based on their sex and is more prominent amongst women. It is the failure to give equal weight to women’s interests and is important because it undermines the welfare of one-half of the human population.

Sexism is prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, commonly towards women, on the basis of their sex. Sexism is still present in today’s society, especially against women. There are many ways as to how people are sexist towards women. The three places that sexism against women is a big issue: the media, pop culture and the sports industry. Some people do not allow women the same opportunities that men have just because they are women. By creating sexism in these places, people are treating women unfairly and with disrespect. The stereotypes that are created by women paints a certain image of women that people believe to be true. The media is especially known for creating unrealistic images of women.

Sexism is defined as prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex, and is a topic that has been on and off the media throughout the years, becoming more prevalent in the 21st century. Many iconic figures throughout the ages have spoken out for women, people like Mahatma Gandhi, who said “Of all the evils for which man has made himself responsible, none is so degrading, so shocking, or so brutal as his abuse of the better half of humanity; to me, the female sex is not the weaker sex.” Sexism has been around for about as long as the human race, dating back to biblical times and beyond. A woman’s traditional role in the family has been that of the cook, the cleaner, the child raiser, and the gardener.

Society’s understanding of gender roles debate about gender equity and have always been connected to the social roles that men and women we assigned to shape Americans views of education for girls and boys. What has also been affected is race and social class between females and males who attend schools. Ideas of what women and men are suppose to be and do have cut across different classifications. Ending unfairness in schools has rested on change to gender roles mainly women.

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.)

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.

When you send your children off in the morning to go to school, no matter what grade they are in whither it be elementary, junior high, or senior high, you expect that they will receive the best education that they can get. They should be asked challenging questions, encouraged and called upon to participate in class, they should also be given as much help as they need to secede by the teacher. However, this is most commonly not the case. Parents and the children themselves are unaware of what is going on because gender bias is not a noisy problem. Most people are unaware of the secret sexist lessons that occur every day in classrooms across the country. In this essay I will use two essay's from the reader:

The “Moms, and Dads, Need to Say Something”, by Kate Lombardi focuses on how parents need to educate their children about sexism early on. In her article Lombardi states that

Sexism is defined as the discrimination and bias towards one gender, that one gender is powerful and righteous compared to the other. Sexism has been the largest barrier between sexes to the point in which cultures as well as religions rely on misogyny to set limitation on women to make men feel more empowered. Sexism rooted about twenty five hundred years ago in which women were considered property to a man. Parents would trade their young women for more wealth. Till this day there has been a very misogynistic view towards how to properly maintain a household. A man is to hold the job in the house and provide for the family while a women stayed home to clean, cook, take care of her

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, as defined by Oxford Dictionaries is the prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination based on one’s sex, has been an age-old issue in society. Historically, this belief was once much more mainstream and tolerated than it is today. Part of the reason is that women were not as vocal about unfair treatment as they are now, and did not expect to be dealt with as equals. Many did, and some still do, believe that women were only meant to cook, clean, and care for children. A woman having a job was rare during the Great Depression because most of society believed a woman’s place was in the home.

Ever since the beginning of history, women have been discriminated because of their gender. They were not allowed to attend school much of the time, couldn 't vote, couldn 't possess anything and couldn’t even work for themselves. Such denial of freedom has made females seem weak and unequipped for making their own decisions. Kids start to take in their sex roles at an extremely young age. Boys must identify what men do, what they like, and even how they think and feel. The girls do the same as they take in the parts for the women.

The gender equality issue within our society stems from what children are being taught from the day they are born. Whether it is conscious or sub-conscious children are being taught at an early age the stereotypes of what it is to be a girl or a boy. “Choices about what they will play with or wear are made for younger children and, by the time they come to make their own, they have already learnt what is expected of them and will often behave accordingly.” (National Union of Teachers, 2013, p.3). Educators calling on girls to do chores around the classroom or not allowing boys to play in the family corner they are only help in print these stereotypes into the minds of the children. It has been said that children soak up their social environment like sponges, so by sending out new social messages educators are able to create a

In Virginia Woolf’s speech Professions for Women, the author tackles the issue of sexism and women’s liberation. Woolf is delivering a speech at the Women’s Service League in 1931 and describes the limitations that sexism presents to women.

Women had constantly strived for more freedom and in doing so have gained it. In the past thirty years, women have made incredible advancements. Within our society women continue living with the effects of sexual objectification leading to a greater division between male and female equality. This feeling of inferiority shows its effect on woman’s accomplishments in academics and setting low societal standards. Sexism is more than just the inequality between males and females, it is about the stereotypes that are embedded in our society, hypermasculinity, and the double standards between the two sexes. While it may be impossible to get rid of sexism as a whole, it is still important to be able to enlighten a small group of people.