Stigma Of Sexism In Women

Sexism is defined as prejudice or discrimination based on sex . When approached with the topic of sexism and which sex it affects the most, women are generally the first thought that comes to mind. This is because women have faced a certain degree of discrimination all throughout history. Sexism is an issue that covers a wide range of circumstances. For example, it can be something inconsequential, like the outdated idea that women cannot be strong, but it can also be something substantial, like the glass ceiling in the job market. Although modern women are afforded a lot more opportunities and privileges than women in the past, there still exists a certain stigma surrounding women and their capabilities. Sexism in respect to women is a largely

prevalent issue in modern society that not a lot of people are aware of, especially in education.
Sexist themes are unknowingly instilled into our lives through aspects such as culture, familial values, and primary schooling. Even if these themes aren’t always being overtly taught, they are present. For example, children are taught gender roles throughout their childhoods. Certain ways of thinking that most children and some adults possess, like that girls play with dolls and boys play with cars, showcase how gender roles presented by family can shape the beliefs and values children learn to have. Carla Washburn Resenbrink makes a strong point when she states that gender has been used traditionally as a means of social control or in other words, a way to keep the status quo. This is relevant to education because this type of thinking places limitations on how much girls are told they are able achieve. Boys are held to a higher standard than their female counterparts who are expected to reach said standard in order to be successful. As a way to motivate girls to be successful, they are told to try and be as great as the boys. More focus is being placed on boys’ success rather than girls’.
Educational and institutional disparities highlight how females are unfairly judged based on sex. Unfair judgment is found in both general education and school sports. For example, women in college during the late 20th century were often discouraged from taking math and science courses because they were considered “men’s subjects. ” Although this is not as prominent of an issue today, it still has standing. According to a poll taken by the American Society for Engineering Education in 2013, the difference between the number of men and women graduating with bachelor’s degrees is very large. 80.1% of the graduates in 2013 were men compared to a mere 19.9% of women graduates . Men heavily dominate math and science majors because women are told through sex role stereotyping that those are careers that only men can succeed in. Looking at the athletic side of things, in a 1974 article, referenced by Margaret Gillett, regarding collegiate sports, it is stated that women, “have some catching up to do [to men], ” implying that the sports played by the men’s teams are superior and that their team structure is the goal the women’s teams should strive for. This brings up another issue concerning the fact that a woman’s success seems to be relative to a man’s rather than a separate entity. Carol Gilligan explored the fact that the majority of psychological and developmental studies were performed with male subjects as their base line in her book, In a Different Voice . Gilligan noticed that many of the female subjects performing in the same studies did not do as well as the males or had data that was discarded completely. This was because the male data “normed” the tests. This test reiterates that the females’ measure of success was deemed inferior to the males’ because they were compared to each other.
Looking at women as educators, we see sexism on the job market and in the classroom