 Sexism refers to the selectively unjustified

negative behavior against women or

men as members of a social category.
Although it is particularly used to denote
discrimination against girls and women.
 Individual Sexism involves stereotypic attitudes
and behaviors. Part of the definition of gender
roles in Western culture involves assumptions
about the types of occupations, lifestyles and
abilities that are held to be appropriate for men
and women.

 What kind of assumptions are made about the

types of occupations, lifestyles and abilities
that are held to be “appropriate” for women?
For Men?

 Why do you think we make these assumptions?

 Men typically have  These traits attribute
been described by to the jobs that are
characteristics that typically thought to
relate to rationality, be “Manly jobs”.
assertiveness, and  Attorney, Police
competency Officer, Physician,
(confidence, and Corporate
independence). Office.
 Traits such as being  These traits attribute
submissive, to the jobs that are
subjective, typically thought to
emotional, and be “Womanly Jobs”
gentle have been  Elementary school
used to describe teacher, typist,
women. librarian and a nurse
 I am going to hand out pieces of paper
with a job on them. Men you will receive
a “womanly job” and women you will
receive a “manly job”. I want you to
think of reasons why a woman or man
(depending on what job you receive)
could do this job as well as the other sex.
 Institutional sexism refers to the
manipulation or toleration of institutional
policies that restrict the opportunities for
one sex as compared with the other sex.
 For example: the impact of sex ratios
within occupations and academic
institutions and the effects of
occupational status on women and
men.
 When women and men in the same
occupation are compared, women make a
lower wage than men, are less likely to be
accepted to post graduate programs and are
less likely to receive financial aid for their
education.
 In addition, there may be higher admission
requirements for women than men applicants,
sex quotas for admission, discrimination in the
award of financial aid and age restrictions on
enrollment that constitute an interface between
age and sex discrimination against women.
 Cultural sexism focuses on women’s
lower social status and power.
 Example: while girls and women make
up to 53% of the human race, they are
systematically omitted in our daily
speech. Since girls and women are the
majority, it would be logical to use
“womankind” to refer to humans.
 In addition, cultural sexism is practiced by
mental health practitioners. The professionals
have described a mature, healthy and socially
competent man or adult(unsex specific)
similarly and significantly different from a
woman.
 A healthy woman is considered less
independent, less adventurous, less aggressive,
less objective, while more easily influenced,
more excitable in a minor crisis and more
conceited about her appearance than either a
healthy man or a healthy adult.
 Women are thus in a double bind with
respect to their mental health: they
cannot be a healthy woman and a
healthy adult at the same time. Their
double bind status causes more women
to incur some social penalty regardless
of their behavior.
 Sexist attitudes could lead to sexist behavior or
sex discrimination against girl or women and
sometimes men. Both men and women have
been found to value the professional work of
men more highly than the identical
performance of a woman.
 An Example would be: Women are likely to be
evaluated as being as competent as men
when their performances are (1)
acknowledged by an authoritative individual,
(2) judges an explicit criteria, (3) successful in
male-dominated occupations or activities.
 http://gem.greenwood.com/wse/wsePrint.jsp?id=id597
“Sexism” in Women’s Studies Encyclopedia, ed. Helen Tierney.
Greenwood Press, 2002 02/13/13
 www.chumpysclipart.com
 Koppelman, Kent
Understanding Human Differences Third Edition
 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sexism
 http://theconversation.edu.au/pervasive-workplace-sexism-
is-biggest-threat-to-success-8425