Benevolent Sexism

Sexism is apparent and existing, no matter the culture. Sexism isn't always direct, it can be something as simple as the tone in the way someone speaks about women. As much as we would like to believe men and women are equal, it is just simply unrealistic and false. The hard worked for 19th amendment, that states women have the right to vote, did that and only that. "All men are created equal" from our beloved Declaration of Independence in no way guarantees women's rights and their equality. Women are still fighting for their equality and to not experience prejudice that should have been long ago erased.

In order to articulate the different kinds of sexism, we must first define sexism itself. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary,

UnderstandingPrejudice.org defines benevolent sexism as a “knight-in-shining armor ideology that offers protection and affection to women who conform to traditional gender roles”. Many don’t see this as an issue because it seems romantic, even helpful. This is not the case because it suggests that women are weak creatures in need of saving. Benevolent sexism pushes toward gender inequality and offers these “traditional” things that women “should” want. Benevolent is a sugar-coated hostile sexism and often fools women that it is not discrimination against them. For example, someone might suggest that a woman should work as a childcare giver because women are “naturally made for taking care of children”. This is just a softer way of saying women lack the ability in other areas to work in other fields. In conclusion, benevolent sexism may seem like it is endearing from the outside but it is actually pushing women further into

After a series of questions, you are provided with a two scores on a 0-5 scale, the higher the score the higher the degree of sexism. You get one score for hostile sexism and one score for benevolent sexism. I scored a 2 for hostile sexism and 3.45 for benevolent sexism, and to say the least, I was surprised. My score was just below the average male for hostile sexism and around 1.5 points higher than the average male or female for benevolent sexism. I was shocked to see the unconscious biases I had never realized I had. I had taken this test before I did more extensive research on both hostile and benevolent sexism. My score for benevolent sexism was high because just as other women do, I had the traditional and romantic views towards gender roles. After discovering how problematic benevolent sexism actually is, my views have changed. If I were to take this test again, I would predict that my scores would drop