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{{short description|Prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s sex or gender}}{{redirect|Sex discrimination|discrimination based on sexuality|Sexual orientation discrimination}}{{redirect|Anti-sexism|other uses|Anti-sexism (disambiguation)}}{{pp|small=yes}}{{use American English|date=June 2020}}{{use mdy dates|date=June 2020}}File: Suffragette arrest, London, 1914.jpg|thumb|alt=A woman under arrrest walking between two policemen |SuffragetteSuffragette{{Discrimination sidebar|expand-attributes=yes}}Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one’s sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes,BOOK, Matsumoto, David, The Handbook of Culture and Psychology, Oxford University Press, 2001, 978-0-19-513181-9, 197, JOURNAL, Nakdimen, K. A., The Physiognomic Basis of Sexual Stereotyping, American Journal of Psychiatry, 1984, 141, 4, 499–503, 10.1176/ajp.141.4.499, 6703126, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is intrinsically superior to another. Extreme sexism may foster sexual harassment, rape, and other forms of sexual violence.Forcible Rape Institutionalized Sexism in the Criminal Justice System| Gerald D. Robin Division of Criminal Justice, University of New HavenENCYCLOPEDIA, Masequesmay, Gina, 5 Jan 2024, Sexism,www.britannica.com/topic/sexism, 19 Feb 2024, Encyclopædia Britannica, Discrimination in this context is defined as discrimination toward people based on their gender identity or their gender or sex differences. An example of this is workplace inequality. Sexism refers to violation of equal opportunities (formal equality) based on gender or refers to violation of equality of outcomes based on gender, also called substantive equality.De Vos, M. (2020). The European Court of Justice and the march towards substantive equality in European Union anti-discrimination law. International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, 20(1), 62-87. Sexism may arise from social or cultural customs and norms.NEWS, Macfarlane, Christina, Coppack, Sean, Masters, James, September 12, 2019, FIFA must act after death of Iran’s ‘Blue Girl,’ says activist,edition.cnn.com/2019/09/12/football/iran-blue-girl-sahar-khodayari-spt-intl/index.html, June 20, 2020, CNN,

Etymology and definitions

According to legal scholar Fred R. Shapiro, the term “sexism” was most likely coined on November 18, 1965, by Pauline M. Leet during a “Student-Faculty Forum” at Franklin and Marshall College. Specifically, the word sexism appears in Leet’s forum contribution “Women and the Undergraduate”, and she defines it by comparing it to racism, stating in part, “When you argue ... that since fewer women write good poetry this justifies their total exclusion, you are taking a position analogous to that of the racist—I might call you, in this case, a ‘sexist’ ... Both the racist and the sexist are acting as if all that has happened had never happened, and both of them are making decisions and coming to conclusions about someone’s value by referring to factors which are in both cases irrelevant.“JOURNAL, Shapiro, Fred R., 1985, Historical Notes on the Vocabulary of the Women’s Movement,www.jstor.org/stable/454643, American Speech, 60, 1, 3–16, 10.2307/454643, 454643, 0003-1283, According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first time the term sexism appeared in print was in Caroline Bird’s speech “On Being Born Female”, which was delivered before the Episcopal Church Executive Council in Greenwich, Connecticut, and subsequently published on November 15, 1968, in Vital Speeches of the Day (p. 6).BOOK, Oxford English Dictionary Vol. 15, 1989, Clarendon Press, Oxford, UK, 112, 2nd, Sexism, Sexism may be defined as an ideology based on the belief that one sex is superior to another.BOOK, Sociology in Modules, Schaefer, Richard T., 2011, McGraw-Hill, 978-0-07-802677-5, New York, 315,archive.org/details/sociologyinmodul0000scha_m7y8/page/315/mode/1up?view=theater, registration, Women: The Oppressed Majority, BOOK, Sociology, Macionis, John J., 2010, Pearson Education, 978-0-205-74989-8, 13th, Upper Saddle River, N.J., 330, 468109511, BOOK, Sociology: A Brief Introduction, Schaefer, Richard T., 2009, McGraw-Hill, 978-0-07-340426-4, 8th, New York, 274–275, 243941681, It is discrimination, prejudice, or stereotyping based on gender, and is most often expressed toward women and girls.Sources:

• BOOK, Stevenson, Angus, Lindberg, Christine A., New Oxford American Dictionary, 2011, Oxford University Press, 978-0-19-989153-5, Defines sexism as “prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex”.{{page needed|date=February 2024}}
• BOOK, Cudd, Ann E., Ann E. Cudd, Jones, Leslie E., Sexism, Frey, R. G., Wellman, Christopher Heath, A Companion to Applied Ethics, Blackwell Companions to Philosophy, 2008, John Wiley & Sons, 978-1-4051-7190-8, 104, {{nowrap, [I]n, the more accurate and more specific sense{{nbsp}}[...] ‘sexism’ refers to a historically and globally pervasive form of oppression against women.}}
• ENCYCLOPEDIA, Masequesmay, Gina, O’Brien, Jodi, Sexism, Encyclopedia of Gender and Society, Volume 2, 2008, SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, Calif., 978-1-4522-6602-2, 748–751, Sexism usually refers to prejudice or discrimination based on sex or gender, especially against women and girls.{{nbsp, [...] Sexism is an ideology or practices that maintain patriarchy or male domination.}} Also see: {{block indent|em=2|text=ENCYCLOPEDIA, Masequesmay, Gina, 5 Jan 2024, Sexism,www.britannica.com/topic/sexism, 19 Feb 2024, Encyclopædia Britannica, }}
• BOOK, Hornsby, Jennifer, Jennifer Hornsby, Honderich, Ted, Sexism, The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, 2005, 2nd, Oxford University Press, 978-0-19-103747-4, Defines sexism as “thought or practice which may permeate language and which assumes women’s inferiority to men”.{{page needed|date=February 2024}}
• BOOK, Jary, David, Jary, Julia, Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 2005, HarperCollins Publishers, Glasgow, 978-0-00-718399-9, 551, 4th,archive.org/details/collinsdictionar0000unse_t6p4/page/551/mode/1up?view=theater, registration, Defines sexism as discrimination against either men or women on the grounds of sex, and also “any devaluation or denigration of women or men, but particularly women, which is embodied in institutions and social relationships”.
• BOOK, Scruton, Roger, Roger Scruton, The Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Political Thought, 2007, Palgrave Macmillan, 3rd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hants., 978-0-230-62509-9, 631, Either sex may be the object of sexist attitudes{{nbsp, [...] however, it is commonly held that, in developed societies, women have been the usual victims.}}
• ENCYCLOPEDIA, Sears, James T., James T. Sears, Sexism, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Love, Courtship, and Sexuality through History, Volume 6: The Modern World, 2007, 978-0-3133-3646-1, Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., Sexism is any act, attitude, or institutional configuration that systematically subordinates or devalues women. Built upon the belief that men and women are constitutionally different, sexism takes these differences as indications that men are inherently superior to women, which then is used to justify the nearly universal dominance of men in social and familial relationships, as well as politics, religion, language, law, and economics., {{page needed|date=February 2024}}
• ENCYCLOPEDIA, Foster, Carly Hayden, Kurian, George Thomas, The Encyclopedia of Political Science, Sexism, 2011, CQ Press, Washington, D.C., 978-1-9331-1644-0, {{nowrap, [B]oth, men and women can experience sexism, but sexism against women is more pervasive{{nbsp}}[...]}}{{page needed|date=February 2024}}
• BOOK, Johnson, Allan G., Allan G. Johnson, The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology: A User’s Guide to Sociological Language, 2000, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, UK, 978-0-631-21681-0, 2nd, {{nowrap, [T]he, key test of whether something is sexist{{nbsp}}[...] lies in its consequences: if it supports male privilege, then it is by definition sexist. I specify ‘male privilege’ because in every known society where gender inequality exists, males are privileged over females.}}{{page needed|date=February 2024}}
• BOOK, Lorber, Judith, Judith Lorber, Gender Inequality: Feminist Theories and Politics, 2010, Oxford University Press, New York, 978-0-1953-7522-0, 4, 4th, Although we speak of {{em, gender, inequality, it is usually women who are disadvantaged relative to similarly situated men.}} [Emphasis in original.]
• BOOK, Wortman, Camille B., Loftus, Elizabeth F., Weaver, Charles A., Camille B. Wortman, Elizabeth F. Loftus, Psychology, 1999, McGraw-Hill, Boston, 978-0-0707-1931-6, 601, 5th,archive.org/details/psychology5edwort/page/601/mode/1up?view=theater, limited, Sexism, or prejudice toward one sex (almost always women), has existed throughout recorded history.,

Sociology has examined sexism as manifesting at both the individual and the institutional level. According to Richard Schaefer, sexism is perpetuated by all major social institutions. Sociologists describe parallels among other ideological systems of oppression such as racism, which also operates at both the individual and institutional level.BOOK, Sociology: The Core, Hughes, Michael, 2009, McGraw Hill/Higher Education, Kroehler, Carolyn J., 978-0-07-340425-7, 9th, Boston, 247,archive.org/details/sociologycore0009edhugh/page/247/mode/1up?ref=ol&view=theater, registration, Early female sociologists Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ida B. Wells, and Harriet Martineau described systems of gender inequality, but did not use the term sexism, which was coined later. Sociologists who adopted the functionalist paradigm, e.g. Talcott Parsons, understood gender inequality as the natural outcome of a dimorphic model of gender.BOOK, SOC 2018, Witt, Jon, McGraw-Hill, 2017, 978-1-259-70272-3, 5th, New York, 301, 968304061, Psychologists Mary Crawford and Rhoda Unger define sexism as prejudice held by individuals that encompasses “negative attitudes and values about women as a group.“BOOK, Women and Gender: A Feminist Psychology, Crawford, Mary, 2004, McGraw-Hill, Unger, Rhoda K., 978-0-07-282107-9, 4th, Boston, 9,archive.org/details/womengenderfemin0000craw/page/n4/mode/1up?view=theater, registration, Peter Glick and Susan Fiske coined the term ambivalent sexism to describe how stereotypes about women can be both positive and negative, and that individuals compartmentalize the stereotypes they hold into hostile sexism or benevolent sexism.{{sfnp|Crawford|Unger|2004|pp=59–60}}Feminist author bell hooks defines sexism as a system of oppression that results in disadvantages for women.BOOK, Hooks, Bell, Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, 2000, South End Press, Cambridge, Mass., 978-0-89608-614-2, 48, 2nd,archive.org/details/feministtheoryfr0002hook/page/48/mode/1up?ref=ol&view=theater, registration, Feminist philosopher Marilyn Frye defines sexism as an “attitudinal-conceptual-cognitive-orientational complex” of male supremacy, male chauvinism, and misogyny.BOOK, The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory, Frye, Marilyn, Crossing Press, 1983, 978-0-89594-099-5, First, Trumansburg, New York, 41, 9323470,archive.org/details/politicsofrealit00frye/page/41/mode/1up?view=theater, registration, Philosopher Kate Manne defines sexism as one branch of a patriarchal order. In her definition, sexism rationalizes and justifies patriarchal norms, in contrast with misogyny, the branch which polices and enforces patriarchal norms. Manne says that sexism often attempts to make patriarchal social arrangements seem natural, good, or inevitable so that there appears to be no reason to resist them.BOOK, Manne, Kate, Kate Manne, 2019, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny, New York, Oxford University Press, 78–79, 978-0-19-060498-1,

History

Pre-agricultural world

Evidence is lacking to support the idea that many pre-agricultural societies afforded women a higher status than women today,BOOK, Eller, Cynthia, 2000, The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory, Boston, Beacon Press, 978-0-8070-6793-2, however, historians are reasonably sure that women had roughly equal social power to men in many such societies.BOOK, Craig Lockard, Societies, Networks, and Transitions: A Global History, Cengage Learning, 978-1-305-17707-9, 2014, 88–89, March 2, 2015,books.google.com/books?id=FLg8AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA88,

Ancient civilizations

File:A Hindoo Widow Burning Herself with the Corpse of her Husband.jpg|thumb|alt=Engraving of a woman preparing to self-immolate with her husband’s corpse |Sati, or self-immolation by widows, was prevalent in HinduHinduAfter the adoption of agriculture and sedentary cultures, the concept that one gender was inferior to the other was established; most often this was imposed upon women and girls.BOOK, A Brief History of the World Course No. 8080 [Audio CD], Peter N. Stearns (Narrator), The Teaching Company, B000W595CC, The status of women in ancient Egypt depended on their fathers or husbands, but they had property rights and could attend court, including as plaintiffs.BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=x7p_QMIjESwC&pg=PA80, Ancient Egypt, David P. Silverman, Oxford University Press, 2003, 978-0-19-521952-4, 80–84, March 2, 2015, Examples of unequal treatment of women in the ancient world include written laws preventing women from participating in the political process; for instance, women in ancient Rome could not vote or hold political office.BOOK, Bruce W., Frier, Thomas A. J., McGinn, A Casebook on Roman Family Law, Oxford University Press, American Philological Association, 2004, 31–32, 457, et passim, 978-0-19-516185-4, Another example is scholarly texts that indoctrinate children in female inferiority; women in ancient China were taught the Confucian principles that a woman should obey her father in childhood, husband in marriage, and son in widowhood.JOURNAL, 周代男女角色定位及其对现代社会的影响, Role orientation of men and women in the Zhou Dynasty and their effects on modern society, Wu 吴, Xiaohua 晓华, zh, Chang’An Daxue Xuebao (Shehui Kexue Ban), 2009, 11, 3, 87, On the other hand, women of the Anglo-Saxon era were commonly afforded equal status.BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=FXlTAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA35, A History of the Peoples of the British Isles: From Prehistoric Times to 1688, Stanford Lehmberg, Routledge, 2013, 978-1-134-41528-1, 35, March 2, 2015,

Witch hunts and trials

File:Malleus maleficarum, Köln 1520, Titelseite.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=Titlepage from the book Malleus Maleficarum |“The Hammer of Witches which destroyeth Witches and their heresy as with a two-edged sword”. Title page of the seventh Cologne edition of the Malleus Maleficarum, 1520, from the (University of Sydney Library]].The English translation is from this note {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006103829www.malleusmaleficarum.org/notes/n192863.html |date=October 6, 2013}} to Summers’ 1928 introduction {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927225301www.malleusmaleficarum.org/mm00c7.html |date=September 27, 2007}}.)Sexism may have been the impetus that fueled the witch trials between the 15th and 18th centuries.Thurston 2001. p. 01. In early modern Europe, and in the European colonies in North America, claims were made that witches were a threat to Christendom. The misogyny of that period played a role in the persecution of these women.Barstow, Anne Llewellyn (1994) Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts San Francisco: Pandora.Thurston 2001. pp. 42–45.In Malleus Maleficarum by Heinrich Kramer, the book which played a major role in the witch hunts and trials, the author argues that women are more likely to practice witchcraft than men, and writes that: Witchcraft remains illegal in several countries, including Saudi Arabia, where it is punishable by death. In 2011, a woman was beheaded in that country for “witchcraft and sorcery”.NEWS,edition.cnn.com/2011/12/13/world/meast/saudi-arabia-beheading/, CNN.com, Saudi woman beheaded for ‘witchcraft and sorcery’, December 14, 2011, Murders of women after being accused of witchcraft remain common in some parts of the world; for example, in Tanzania, about 500 elderly women are murdered each year following such accusations.WEB, World Health Organization, World Report on Violence Chapter 5 – Abuse of the elderly,www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/global_campaign/en/chap5.pdf, June 20, 2020, who.int, When women are targeted with accusations of witchcraft and subsequent violence, it is often the case that several forms of discrimination interact – for example, discrimination based on gender with discrimination based on caste, as is the case in India and Nepal, where such crimes are relatively common.NEWS, Shrestha, Deepesh, February 15, 2010, Witch-hunts of low-caste women in Nepal, The Daily Telegraph, The Telegraph,www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/7241937/Witch-hunts-of-low-caste-women-in-Nepal.html,ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/7241937/Witch-hunts-of-low-caste-women-in-Nepal.html, January 11, 2022, subscription, live, June 20, 2020, {{cbignore}}NEWS, Iaccino, Ludovica, July 22, 2014, Witch Hunting in India: Poor, Low Caste and Widows Main Targets, International Business Times,www.ibtimes.co.uk/witch-hunting-india-poor-low-caste-widows-main-targets-1457809, June 20, 2020,

Coverture and other marriage regulations

File:Say no to dowry.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=An Indian Anti-dowry poster headed Say No To Dowry |Anti-dowry poster in Bangalore, IndiaBangalore, IndiaUntil the 20th century, U.S. and English law observed the system of coverture, where “by marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law; that is the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage”.WEB, Blackstone, William, William Blackstone, Extracts from William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England 1765–1769,www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/xblack.htm,www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/xblack.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20081005032946www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/xblack.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20081005032946www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/xblack.htm, 5 October 2008, 15 March 2015, U.S. women were not legally defined as “persons” until 1875 (Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162).WEB,www.legacy98.org/timeline.html, Legacy ‘98: Detailed Timeline, Legacy98.org, 2001-09-19, November 20, 2010,web.archive.org/web/20100702081142/https://www.legacy98.org/timeline.html, July 2, 2010, A similar legal doctrine, called marital power, existed under Roman Dutch law (and is still partially in force in present-day Eswatini).Restrictions on married women’s rights were common in Western countries until a few decades ago: for instance, French married women obtained the right to work without their husband’s permission in 1965,JOURNAL, Allwood, Gill, 1999, Women in France,www.tandf.co.uk/journals/explore/cmcf-vsi-women-in-france.pdf, live, Modern and Contemporary France, 7,www.tandf.co.uk/journals/explore/cmcf-vsi-women-in-france.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20160304092212www.tandf.co.uk/journals/explore/cmcf-vsi-women-in-france.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20160304092212www.tandf.co.uk/journals/explore/cmcf-vsi-women-in-france.pdf, March 4, 2016, WEB,www.parisvoice.com/-archives-97-86/282-frances-leading-women-show-the-way, France’s leading women show the way, Parisvoice.com, July 20, 2013,www.parisvoice.com/-archives-97-86/282-frances-leading-women-show-the-way," title="web.archive.org/web/20130728175142www.parisvoice.com/-archives-97-86/282-frances-leading-women-show-the-way,">web.archive.org/web/20130728175142www.parisvoice.com/-archives-97-86/282-frances-leading-women-show-the-way, July 28, 2013, WEB,www.womeninworldhistory.com/TWR-07.html, Lesson – The French Civil Code (Napoleonic Code) – Teaching Women’s Rights From Past to Present, Womeninworldhistory.com, July 20, 2013, and in West Germany women obtained this right in 1977.NEWS, Benhold, K., 2010, 20 years after fall of wall, women of former East Germany thrive, The New York Times, April 17, 2015,www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/world/europe/06iht-letter.html, JOURNAL, Trzcinski, E., Holst, E., 2012, Gender Differences in Subjective Well-Being In and Out of Management Positions, Social Indicators Research, 107, 3, 449–463, 10.1007/s11205-011-9857-y, 10.1.1.621.3965, 189873867, During the Franco era, in Spain, a married woman required her husband’s consent (called permiso marital) for employment, ownership of property and traveling away from home; the permiso marital was abolished in 1975.WEB,countrystudies.us/spain/43.htm, Spain – Social Values And Attitudes, Countrystudies.us, July 20, 2013, In Australia, until 1983, a married woman’s passport application had to be authorized by her husband.WEB,www.passports.gov.au/Web/passport_history.aspx,www.passports.gov.au/Web/passport_history.aspx," title="web.archive.org/web/20060614171552www.passports.gov.au/Web/passport_history.aspx,">web.archive.org/web/20060614171552www.passports.gov.au/Web/passport_history.aspx, June 14, 2006, The History of Passports in Australia, June 14, 2006, Women in parts of the world continue to lose their legal rights in marriage. For example, Yemeni marriage regulations state that a wife must obey her husband and must not leave home without his permission.WEB, Amnesty International, 2009, Yemen’s dark side: Discrimination and violence against women and girls, April 17, 2015,www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngos/Yemen%27s%20darkside-discrimination_Yemen_HRC101.pdf, In Iraq, the law allows husbands to legally “punish” their wives.WEB, The law states: “The punishment of a wife by her husband, the disciplining by parents and teachers of children under their authority [is permitted] within certain limits prescribed by law or by custom”,law.case.edu/saddamtrial/documents/Iraqi_Penal_Code_1969.pdf, Law.case.edu, March 31, 2015,law.case.edu/saddamtrial/documents/Iraqi_Penal_Code_1969.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20121021100954law.case.edu/saddamtrial/documents/Iraqi_Penal_Code_1969.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20121021100954law.case.edu/saddamtrial/documents/Iraqi_Penal_Code_1969.pdf, October 21, 2012, In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Family Code states that the husband is the head of the household; the wife owes her obedience to her husband; a wife has to live with her husband wherever he chooses to live; and wives must have their husbands’ authorization to bring a case in court or initiate other legal proceedings.WEB,www.hrw.org/reports/2002/drc/Congo0602-09.htm, The War Within the War, Hrw.org, March 31, 2015, Abuses and discriminatory practices against women in marriage are often rooted in financial payments such as dowry, bride price, and dower.WEB,www.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2012/12/unw-legislation-supplement-en%20pdf.pdf, Handbook for Legislation on Violence Against Women: Supplement to the “Harmful Practices” against Women, UN Women, 2012, New York, April 25, 2015, June 10, 2015,www.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2012/12/unw-legislation-supplement-en%20pdf.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20150610131259www.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2012/12/unw-legislation-supplement-en%20pdf.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20150610131259www.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2012/12/unw-legislation-supplement-en%20pdf.pdf, These transactions often serve as legitimizing coercive control of the wife by her husband and in giving him authority over her; for instance Article 13 of the Code of Personal Status (Tunisia) states that, “The husband shall not, in default of payment of the dower, force the woman to consummate the marriage”,JOURNAL, 4322925, The Tunisian Code of Personal Status (Majallat Al-Ahw Al Al-Shakhsiy Ah), George N., Sfeir, 1 January 1957, Middle East Journal, 11, 3, 309–318, WEB, Code du Statut Personnel – Tunisie,www.jurisitetunisie.com/tunisie/codes/csp/Csp1015.htm, August 26, 2019, www.jurisitetunisie.com, fr, implying that, if the dower is paid, marital rape is permitted. In this regard, critics have questioned the alleged gains of women in Tunisia, and its image as a progressive country in the region, arguing that discrimination against women remains very strong there.WEB, August 13, 2013, 7 raisons pour les hommes et les femmes de remettre en cause le CSP ... ou pas,www.huffpostmaghreb.com/2013/08/13/raisons-hommes-femmes-csp_n_3747952.html,www.huffpostmaghreb.com/2013/08/13/raisons-hommes-femmes-csp_n_3747952.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20150702190813www.huffpostmaghreb.com/2013/08/13/raisons-hommes-femmes-csp_n_3747952.html,">web.archive.org/web/20150702190813www.huffpostmaghreb.com/2013/08/13/raisons-hommes-femmes-csp_n_3747952.html, July 2, 2015, June 14, 2015, Al Huffington Post, fr, WEB, Nouveaux progrès, mais il ne faut pas pour autant pavoiser,www.letemps.com.tn/article/83765/nouveaux-progr%C3%A8s-mais-il-ne-faut-pas-pour-autant-pavoiser, June 14, 2015, Le Temps, fr, May 5, 2019,www.letemps.com.tn/article/83765/nouveaux-progr%C3%A8s-mais-il-ne-faut-pas-pour-autant-pavoiser," title="web.archive.org/web/20190505093933www.letemps.com.tn/article/83765/nouveaux-progr%C3%A8s-mais-il-ne-faut-pas-pour-autant-pavoiser,">web.archive.org/web/20190505093933www.letemps.com.tn/article/83765/nouveaux-progr%C3%A8s-mais-il-ne-faut-pas-pour-autant-pavoiser, WEB, FIDH, Les violences sexuelles en Tunisie: après le déni, un début de (...),www.fidh.org/La-Federation-internationale-des-ligues-des-droits-de-l-homme/maghreb-moyen-orient/tunisie/15424-les-violences-sexuelles-en-tunisie-apres-le-deni-un-debut-de, June 14, 2015, FIDH – Worldwide Human Rights Movement, fr, The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) has recognized the “independence and ability to leave an abusive husband” as crucial in stopping mistreatment of women.WEB,www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/dv/droi_090121_9omct/DROI_090121_9OMCTen.pdf, Combating extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in the Philippines by addressing their economic, social and cultural root causes, November 18, 2019, However, in some parts of the world, once married, women have very little chance of leaving a violent husband: obtaining a divorce is very difficult in many jurisdictions because of the need to prove fault in court. While attempting a de facto separation (moving away from the marital home) is also impossible because of laws preventing this. For instance, in Afghanistan, a wife who leaves her marital home risks being imprisoned for “running away”.WEB, Human Rights Watch, 2012, ‘I had to run away’: The imprisonment of women and girls for ‘moral crimes’ in Afghanistan, April 17, 2015,www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/afghanistan0312webwcover_0.pdf, Human Rights Watch, NEWS,www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-22614536, More Afghan women jailed for ‘moral crimes’, says HRW—BBC News, BBC.com, May 21, 2013, March 31, 2015, BBC News, In addition, many former British colonies, including India, maintain the concept of restitution of conjugal rights,WEB,indiankanoon.org/doc/1382895/, Smt. Saroj Rani vs Sudarshan Kumar Chadha on 8 August, 1984, Indiankanoon.org, March 31, 2015, under which a wife may be ordered by court to return to her husband; if she fails to do so, she may be held in contempt of court.BOOK, Sen, Samta,books.google.com/books?id=gN1dEJuiZ0cC&q=india+if+a+woman+fails+to+return+to+her+husband+she+may+be+held+in+contempt+of+court&pg=PA205, Women and Labour in Late Colonial India: The Bengal Jute Industry, 1999, Cambridge University Press, 205, 978-0-521-45363-9, WEB,www.manupatrafast.com/articles/PopOpenArticle.aspx?ID=797c51f7-0615-4fa8-b92e-7d7d24d03689&txtsearch=Subject:%20Family%20Law, Manupatra Articles, Manupatrafast.com, March 31, 2015,www.manupatrafast.com/articles/PopOpenArticle.aspx?ID=797c51f7-0615-4fa8-b92e-7d7d24d03689&txtsearch=Subject:%20Family%20Law," title="web.archive.org/web/20150402092830www.manupatrafast.com/articles/PopOpenArticle.aspx?ID=797c51f7-0615-4fa8-b92e-7d7d24d03689&txtsearch=Subject:%20Family%20Law,">web.archive.org/web/20150402092830www.manupatrafast.com/articles/PopOpenArticle.aspx?ID=797c51f7-0615-4fa8-b92e-7d7d24d03689&txtsearch=Subject:%20Family%20Law, 2015-04-02, Other problems have to do with the payment of the bride price: if the wife wants to leave, her husband may demand the return of the bride price that he had paid to the woman’s family; and the woman’s family often cannot or does not want to pay it back.WEB, Equality Now, 2007, Protecting the girl child: Using the law to end child, early and forced marriage and related human rights violations, April 17, 2015,www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/files/Protecting_the_Girl_Child.pdf, March 29, 2014,web.archive.org/web/20140329215211/https://www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/files/Protecting_the_Girl_Child.pdf, dead, Lelieveld, M. (2011) Child protection in the Somali region of Ethiopia. A report for the Bridges project Piloting the delivery of quality education services in the developing regional states of Ethiopia. Retrieved April 17, 2015 from WEB,www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/docs/FINALChild_Protection_in_the_Somali_Region_30511.pdf, Archived copy, March 11, 2015,www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/docs/FINALChild_Protection_in_the_Somali_Region_30511.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20150924095119www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/docs/FINALChild_Protection_in_the_Somali_Region_30511.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20150924095119www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/docs/FINALChild_Protection_in_the_Somali_Region_30511.pdf, September 24, 2015, ENCYCLOPEDIA, Stange, Mary Zeiss, Carol K. Oyster, Jane E. Sloan, Encyclopedia of Women in Today’s World, 1, 2011, Sage, 978-1-4129-7685-5, 496, Laws, regulations, and traditions related to marriage continue to discriminate against women in many parts of the world, and to contribute to the mistreatment of women, in particular in areas related to sexual violence and to self-determination regarding sexuality, the violation of the latter now being acknowledged as a violation of women’s rights. In 2012, Navi Pillay, then High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that:Women are frequently treated as property, they are sold into marriage, into trafficking, into sexual slavery. Violence against women frequently takes the form of sexual violence. Victims of such violence are often accused of promiscuity and held responsible for their fate, while infertile women are rejected by husbands, families and communities. In many countries, married women may not refuse to have sexual relations with their husbands, and often have no say in whether they use contraception{{nbsp}}... Ensuring that women have full autonomy over their bodies is the first crucial step towards achieving substantive equality between women and men. Personal issues—such as when, how and with whom they choose to have sex, and when, how and with whom they choose to have children—are at the heart of living a life in dignity.WEB, Pillay, Navi, Navi Pillay, 2012, Valuing women as autonomous beings: Women’s sexual reproductive health rights, United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, April 18, 2015,www.chr.up.ac.za/images/files/news/news_2012/Navi%20Pillay%20Lecture%2015%20May%202012.pdf,www.chr.up.ac.za/images/files/news/news_2012/Navi%20Pillay%20Lecture%2015%20May%202012.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20170313210726www.chr.up.ac.za/images/files/news/news_2012/Navi%20Pillay%20Lecture%2015%20May%202012.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20170313210726www.chr.up.ac.za/images/files/news/news_2012/Navi%20Pillay%20Lecture%2015%20May%202012.pdf, March 13, 2017,

Suffrage and politics

File:Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Two woman carry a sign reading “Votes for Women”. |Annie Kenney and Christabel PankhurstChristabel PankhurstGender has been used as a tool for discrimination against women in the political sphere. Women’s suffrage was not achieved until 1893, when New Zealand was the first country to grant women the right to vote. Saudi Arabia is the most recent country, as of August 2015, to extend the right to vote to women in 2011.WEB, Timeline of Women’s Suffrage Granted, by Country,www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0931343.html, Infoplease, December 1, 2013, Some Western countries allowed women the right to vote only relatively recently. Swiss women gained the right to vote in federal elections in 1971,WEB,history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/chronology-womens-right-vote-switzerland.html, The Long Way to Women’s Right to Vote in Switzerland: a Chronology, History-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch, August 1, 2011, and Appenzell Innerrhoden became the last canton to grant women the right to vote on local issues in 1991, when it was forced to do so by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland.WEB,www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/WOM1373.doc.htm, Experts in women’s anti-discrimination committee raise questions concerning reports of Switzerland on compliance with convention, January 14, 2003, United Nations Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women, September 2, 2011, French women were granted the right to vote in 1944.WEB, Jean-Pierre Maury, Ordonnance du 21 avril 1944 relative à l’organisation des pouvoirs publics en France après la Libération,mjp.univ-perp.fr/france/co1944-2.htm, January 8, 2011, Mjp.univ-perp.fr, fr, WEB,www.assemblee-nationale.fr/histoire/femmes/citoyennete_politique_de-Gaulle.asp, La citoyenneté politique des femmes—La décision du Général de Gaulle, Assemblée nationale, December 19, 2007, fr, In Greece, women obtained the right to vote in 1952.WEB,www.db-decision.de/CoRe/Greece.htm, European Database: Women in Decision-making – y Country Report Greece, Kerstin Teske: teske@fczb.de, db-decision.de, June 11, 2014,www.db-decision.de/CoRe/Greece.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20131109110102www.db-decision.de/CoRe/Greece.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20131109110102www.db-decision.de/CoRe/Greece.htm, November 9, 2013, In Liechtenstein, women obtained the right to vote in 1984, through the women’s suffrage referendum of 1984.NEWS,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1066106.stm, BBC News—Timeline: Liechtenstein, 14 June 2015, March 31, 2011, WEB,www.nytimes.com/1984/07/02/world/around-the-world-liechtenstein-women-win-right-to-vote.html, Liechtenstein Women Win Right to Vote, July 2, 1984, The New York Times, While almost every woman today has the right to vote, there is still progress to be made for women in politics. Studies have shown that in several democracies including Australia, Canada, and the United States, women are still represented using gender stereotypes in the press.JOURNAL, Kittilson, Miki Caul, Fridkin, Kim, Gender, Candidate Portrayals and Election Campaigns: A Comparative Perspective, Politics & Gender, 4, 3, 2008, 1743-923X, 10.1017/S1743923X08000330, 145574989, Multiple authors have shown that gender differences in the media are less evident today than they used to be in the 1980s, but are still present. Certain issues (e.g., education) are likely to be linked with female candidates, while other issues (e.g., taxes) are likely to be linked with male candidates. In addition, there is more emphasis on female candidates’ personal qualities, such as their appearance and their personality, as females are portrayed as emotional and dependent.There is a widespread imbalance of lawmaking power between men and women. The ratio of women to men in legislatures is used as a measure of gender equality in the United Nations’ Gender Empowerment Measure and its newer incarnation the Gender Inequality Index. Speaking about China, Lanyan Chen stated that, since men more than women serve as the gatekeepers of policy making, this may lead to women’s needs not being properly represented. In this sense, the inequality in lawmaking power also causes gender discrimination.BOOK, Chen, Lanyan, The Gendered Reality of Migrant Workers in Globalizing China, 2009, The University of Ottawa, Ottawa, 978-0-7766-0709-2, 186–207,

Menus

Until the early 1980s, some high-end restaurants had two menus: a regular menu with the prices listed for men and a second menu for women, which did not have the prices listed (it was called the “ladies’ menu“), so that the female diner would not know the prices of the items.WEB,www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ladies-menus-no-prices-lawsuit, The Court Case That Killed the ‘Ladies Menu’, Frost, Natasha, February 2, 2018, www.atlasobscura.com, Atlas Obscura, February 23, 2019, In 1980, Kathleen Bick took a male business partner out to dinner at L’Orangerie in West Hollywood. After she was given a women’s menu without prices and her guest got one with prices, Bick hired lawyer Gloria Allred to file a discrimination lawsuit, on the grounds that the women’s menu went against the California Civil Rights Act. Bick stated that getting a women’s menu without prices left her feeling “humiliated and incensed”. The owners of the restaurant defended the practice, saying it was done as a courtesy, like the way men would stand up when a woman enters the room. Even though the lawsuit was dropped, the restaurant ended its gender-based menu policy.

Trends over time

{{Globalize|date=March 2021|section}}A 2021 study found little evidence that levels of sexism had changed from 2004 to 2018 in the United States.JOURNAL, Archer, Allison M N, Kam, Cindy D, 2021, Modern Sexism in Modern Times Public Opinion in the #Metoo Era, Public Opinion Quarterly, 84, 4, 813–837, 10.1093/poq/nfaa058, 0033-362X,

Gender stereotypes

{{see also|Gender role#Gender stereotypes|Implicit stereotype#Gender stereotypes}}File: Bettie Page driving.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|alt=Series of photographs lampooning women drivers|Bettie Page portrays stereotypes about women drivers in 1952.]]Gender stereotypes are widely held beliefs about the characteristics and behavior of women and men.Manstead, A. S. R.; Hewstone, Miles; et al. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Psychology. Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Mass., US: Blackwell, 1999, 1995, pp. 256–57, {{ISBN|978-0-631-22774-8}}. Empirical studies have found widely shared cultural beliefs that men are more socially valued and more competent than women in a number of activities.JOURNAL, Wagner, David G., Berger, Joseph, 1997, Gender and Interpersonal Task Behaviors: Status Expectation Accounts, Sociological Perspectives, 40, 1, 1–32, 10.2307/1389491, 1389491, 147319093, Williams, John E. and Deborah L. Best. Measuring Sex Stereotypes: A Multinational Study. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1990, {{ISBN|978-0-8039-3815-1}}. Dustin B. Thoman and others (2008) hypothesize that “[t]he socio-cultural salience of ability versus other components of the gender-math stereotype may impact women pursuing math”. Through the experiment comparing the math outcomes of women under two various gender-math stereotype components, which are the ability of math and the effort on math respectively, Thoman and others found that women’s math performance is more likely to be affected by the negative ability stereotype, which is influenced by sociocultural beliefs in the United States, rather than the effort component. As a result of this experiment and the sociocultural beliefs in the United States, Thoman and others concluded that individuals’ academic outcomes can be affected by the gender-math stereotype component that is influenced by the sociocultural beliefs.JOURNAL, Thoman, Dustin B., White, Paul H., Yamawaki, Niwako, Koishi, Hirofumi, 2008, Variations of Gender–math Stereotype Content Affect Women’s Vulnerability to Stereotype Threat, Sex Roles (journal), Sex Roles, 58, 9–10, 702–12, 10.1007/s11199-008-9390-x, 144788626,

In language

{{Discrimination sidebar}}{{Feminism sidebar}}Sexism in language exists when language devalues members of a certain gender.WEB,online.santarosa.edu/presentation/page/?37061, Sexism in Language, Online.santarosa.edu, December 23, 2014, March 31, 2015,online.santarosa.edu/presentation/page/?37061," title="web.archive.org/web/20150904020005online.santarosa.edu/presentation/page/?37061,">web.archive.org/web/20150904020005online.santarosa.edu/presentation/page/?37061, September 4, 2015, Sexist language, in many instances, promotes male superiority.WEB,www.linguarama.com/ps/legal-themed-english/sexism-in-language.htm, Sexism In Language—Reading—Postscript, Linguarama.com, March 31, 2015, November 21, 2019,www.linguarama.com/ps/legal-themed-english/sexism-in-language.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20191121082351www.linguarama.com/ps/legal-themed-english/sexism-in-language.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20191121082351www.linguarama.com/ps/legal-themed-english/sexism-in-language.htm, Sexism in language affects consciousness, perceptions of reality, encoding and transmitting cultural meanings and socialization. Researchers have pointed to the semantic rule in operation in language of the male-as-norm. This results in sexism as the male becomes the standard and those who are not male are relegated to the inferior.BOOK, Spender, Dale, Man Made Language, 1983, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 978-0-7100-0675-2, 2–3,archive.org/details/manmadelanguage0000spen/page/2/mode/1up?view=theater, registration, Sexism in language is considered a form of indirect sexism because it is not always overt.Mills, S. (2008) Language and sexism. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved April 18, 2015 from WEB,www.langtoninfo.com/web_content/9780521001748_frontmatter.pdf, Archived copy, December 3, 2013,web.archive.org/web/20131207005145/https://www.langtoninfo.com/web_content/9780521001748_frontmatter.pdf, December 7, 2013, Examples include:

• Using generic masculine terms to reference a group of mixed gender, such as “mankind”, “man” (referring to humanity), “guys”, or “officers and men”
• Using the singular masculine pronoun (he, his, him) as the default to refer to a person of unknown gender
• Terms ending in “-man” that may be performed by those of non-male genders, such as businessman, chairman, or policeman
• Using unnecessary gender markers, such as “male nurse” implying that simply a “nurse” is by default assumed to be female.JOURNAL, Kennison, S., Trofe, J., Comprehending Pronouns: A Role for Word-Specific Gender Stereotype Information, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 32, 3, 2003, 355–378, 10.1023/A:1023599719948, 12845944, 26245038,

Sexist and gender-neutral language

{{See also|Gender-neutral language}}Various 20th century feminist movements, from liberal feminism and radical feminism to standpoint feminism, postmodern feminism and queer theory, have considered language in their theorizing.Mille, Katherine Wyly and Paul McIlvenny. “Gender and Spoken Interaction: A Survey of Feminist Theories and Sociolinguistic Research in the United States and Britain.” WEB,paul-server.hum.aau.dk/research/cv/Pubs/mille-mcilvenny.pdf, Archived copy, December 3, 2013,web.archive.org/web/20050309145105/https://paul-server.hum.aau.dk/research/cv/Pubs/mille-mcilvenny.pdf, March 9, 2005, Most of these theories have maintained a critical stance on language that calls for a change in the way speakers use their language.One of the most common calls is for gender-neutral language. Many have called attention, however, to the fact that the English language is not inherently sexist in its linguistic system, but the way it is used becomes sexist and gender-neutral language could thus be employed.WEB,catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam034/90034404.pdf, Feminist literary studies: an introduction, catdir.loc.gov, November 18, 2019,

Sexism in languages other than English

Romanic languages such as FrenchNEWS,www.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/world/europe/france-drops-mademoiselle-from-official-use.html, France Drops ‘Mademoiselle’ From Official Use, Sayare, Scott, February 22, 2012, The New York Times, August 26, 2019, en-US, 0362-4331, and SpanishNEWS,www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-12843948, Mexico advises workers on sexist language, 18 Feb 2024, BBC News, March 23, 2011, may be seen as reinforcing sexism, in that the masculine form is the default. The word “(wikt:mademoiselle|mademoiselle)”, meaning “miss”, was declared banished from French administrative forms in 2012 by Prime Minister François Fillon. Current pressure calls for the use of the masculine plural pronoun as the default in a mixed-sex group to change.JOURNAL, 40545648, Attacking a Legacy of Sexist Grammar in the French Class: A Modest Beginning, Culley Jane, Carson, 1 January 1993, Feminist Teacher, 7, 2, 34–36, As for Spanish, Mexico’s Ministry of the Interior published a guide on how to reduce the use of sexist language.German speakers have also raised questions about how sexism intersects with grammar.WEB, Nandi, Jacinta,blogs.reuters.com/great-debate-uk/2011/03/05/grappling-with-language-sexism/,blogs.reuters.com/great-debate-uk/2011/03/05/grappling-with-language-sexism/," title="web.archive.org/web/20110307092229blogs.reuters.com/great-debate-uk/2011/03/05/grappling-with-language-sexism/,">web.archive.org/web/20110307092229blogs.reuters.com/great-debate-uk/2011/03/05/grappling-with-language-sexism/, March 7, 2011, Grappling with language sexism, blogs.reuters.com, March 5, 2011, March 31, 2015, The German language is heavily inflected for gender, number, and case; nearly all nouns denoting the occupations or statuses of human beings are gender-differentiated. For more gender-neutral constructions, gerund nouns are sometimes used instead, as this eliminates the grammatical gender distinction in the plural, and significantly reduces it in the singular. For example, instead of die Studenten (“the men students“) or die Studentinnen (“the women students“), one writes die Studierenden (“the [people who are] studying“).NEWS, Osel, Johann, February 18, 2015, Gleichberechtigung im Studium: Studenten, äh, Studierende, de, Sueddeutsche.de,www.sueddeutsche.de/bildung/gleichberechtigung-im-studium-studenten-aeh-aeh-studierende-1.2355340, However, this approach introduces an element of ambiguity, because gerund nouns more precisely denote one currently engaged in the activity, rather than one who routinely engages in it as their primary occupation.Osel, ibid.In Chinese, some writers have pointed to sexism inherent in the structure of written characters. For example, the character for man is linked to those for positive qualities like courage and effect while the character for wife is composed of a female part and a broom, considered of low worth.JOURNAL, 4316075, Sexism in the Chinese Language, Dali, Tan, 1 January 1990, NWSA Journal, 2, 4, 635–639,

Gender-specific pejorative terms

{{See also category|Sex- and gender-related slurs}}Gender-specific pejorative terms intimidate or harm another person because of their gender. Sexism can be expressed in language with negative gender-oriented implications,BOOK,www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/media/7480/sst-guidance-quick-guide.pdf, Guidance for schools on preventing and responding to sexist, sexual and transphobic bullying: quick guide, January 1, 2009, Great Britain Department for Children, Schools and Families, 663427461,www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/media/7480/sst-guidance-quick-guide.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20140716122907www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/media/7480/sst-guidance-quick-guide.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20140716122907www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/media/7480/sst-guidance-quick-guide.pdf, July 16, 2014, such as condescension. For example, one may refer to a female as a “girl” rather than a “woman”, implying that she is subordinate or not fully mature. Other examples include obscene language. Some words are offensive to transgender people, including “tranny”, “she-male”, or “he-she”. Intentional misgendering (assigning the wrong gender to someone) and the pronoun “it” are also considered pejorative.Mills College Transgender Best Practices Taskforce & Gender Identity and Expression Sub-Committee of the Diversity and Social Justice Committee. Report on Inclusion of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Students Best Practices, Assessment and Recommendations. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304200448www.mills.edu/diversity/Transgender-Best-Practices-02-18-2013.pdf |date=March 4, 2016 }} Oakland, Calif.: Mills College, February 2013, p. 9.Anti-transgender Language Commentary: Trans Progressive by Autumn Sandeen {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703144748lgbtweekly.com/2011/02/03/anti-transgender-language/ |date=July 3, 2013 }} San Diego, Calif.: San Diego LGBT Weekly, February 3, 2011.

Occupational sexism

}}Occupational sexism refers to discriminatory practices, statements or actions, based on a person’s sex, occurring in the workplace. One form of occupational sexism is wage discrimination. In 2008, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that while female employment rates have expanded and gender employment and wage gaps have narrowed nearly everywhere, on average women still have 20% less chance to have a job and are paid 17% less than men. The report stated: [In] many countries, labour market discrimination—i.e. the unequal treatment of equally productive individuals only because they belong to a specific group—is still a crucial factor inflating disparities in employment and the quality of job opportunities [...] Evidence presented in this edition of the Employment Outlook suggests that about 8{{nbsp}}percent of the variation in gender employment gaps and 30 percent of the variation in gender wage gaps across OECD countries can be explained by discriminatory practices in the labor market.OECD. OECD Employment Outlook—2008 Edition Summary in English. OECD, Paris, 2008, p. 3-4.OECD. OECD Employment Outlook. Chapter 3: The Price of Prejudice: Labour Market Discrimination on the Grounds of Gender and Ethnicity. OECD, Paris, 2008.It also found that although almost all OECD countries, including the U.S.,WEB, Facts About Compensation Discrimination, The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-epa.html, April 23, 2008, have established anti-discrimination laws, these laws are difficult to enforce.Women who enter predominantly male work groups can experience the negative consequences of tokenism: performance pressures, social isolation, and role encapsulation.JOURNAL, Janice D., Yoder, Rethinking Tokenism: Looking beyond Numbers, Gender and Society, 5, 2, 1991, 178–192, 10.1177/089124391005002003, 144717322, Tokenism could be used to camouflage sexism, to preserve male workers’ advantage in the workplace. No link exists between the proportion of women working in an organization/company and the improvement of their working conditions. Ignoring sexist issues may exacerbate women’s occupational problems.JOURNAL, Lynn, Zimmer, Tokenism and Women in the Workplace: The Limits of Gender-Neutral Theory, Social Problems, 35, 1, 1988, 64–77, 10.2307/800667, 800667, 55946209, In the World Values Survey of 2005, responders were asked if they thought wage work should be restricted to men only. In Iceland, the percentage that agreed was 3.6%, whereas in Egypt it was 94.9%.Fortin, Nicole, “Gender Role Attitudes and the Labour Market Outcomes of Women Across OECD Countries”, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 2005, 21, 416–438.

Gap in hiring

Research has repeatedly shown that mothers in the United States are less likely to be hired than equally qualified fathers and if hired, receive a lower salary than male applicants with children.One study found that female applicants were favored; however, its results have been met with skepticism from other researchers, since it contradicts most other studies on the issue. Joan C. Williams, a distinguished professor at the University of California’s Hastings College of Law, raised issues with its methodology, pointing out that the fictional female candidates it used were unusually well-qualified. Studies using more moderately qualified graduate students have found that male students are much more likely to be hired, offered better salaries, and offered mentorship.JOURNAL, National hiring experiments reveal 2:1 faculty preference for women on STEM tenure track, Wendy M. Williams, 10.1073/pnas.1418878112, 25870272, 112, 17, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 5360–5365, 2015, 2015PNAS..112.5360W, 4418903, free, NEWS,www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/14/study-finds-surprisingly-that-women-are-favored-for-jobs-in-stem/, Study finds, surprisingly, that women are favored for jobs in STEM, Sarah Kaplan, April 14, 2015, The Washington Post, June 14, 2015, In Europe, studies based on field experiments in the labor market, provide evidence for no severe levels of discrimination based on female gender. However, unequal treatment is still measured in particular situations, for instance, when candidates apply for positions at a higher functional level in Belgium,JOURNAL, Baert, S., De Pauw, A.-S., Deschacht, N., 2016, Do Employer Preferences Contribute to Sticky Floors?, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 69, 3, 714736, 10.1177/0019793915625213, 53589814,biblio.ugent.be/publication/5960457, 1854/LU-5960457, free, when they apply at their fertile ages in France,JOURNAL, Petit, P., 2007, The effects of age and family constraints on gender hiring discrimination: A field experiment in the French financial sector, Labour Economics (journal), Labour Economics, 14, 3, 371–391, 10.1016/j.labeco.2006.01.006, and when they apply for male-dominated occupations in Austria.JOURNAL, Weichselbaumer, D., 2004, Is it sex or personality? The impact of sex stereotypes on discrimination in applicant selection, Eastern Economic Journal, 30, 2, 159–186, 40326127,

Earnings gap

File: EU 27 Gender Pay Gap 2014.png|thumb|upright=1.35|alt=Bar graph showing the gender pay gap in European countries|Gender pay gap in average gross hourly earnings according to EurostatEurostatStudies have concluded that on average women earn lower wages than men worldwide. Some people argue that this results from widespread gender discrimination in the workplace. Others argue that the wage gap results from different choices by men and women, such as women placing more value than men on having children, and men being more likely than women to choose careers in high paying fields such as business, engineering, and technology.Eurostat found a persistent, average gender pay gap of 27.5% in the 27 EU member states in 2008.European Commission. The situation in the EU. Retrieved on August 19, 2011. Similarly, the OECD found that female full-time employees earned 27% less than their male counterparts in OECD countries in 2009.In the United States, the female-to-male earnings ratio was 0.77 in 2009; female full-time, year-round (FTYR) workers earned 77% as much as male FTYR workers. Women’s earnings relative to men’s fell from 1960 to 1980 (56.7–54.2%), rose rapidly from 1980 to 1990 (54.2–67.6%), leveled off from 1990 to 2000 (67.6–71.2%) and rose from 2000 to 2009 (71.2–77.0%).U.S. Census Bureau. Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009. Current Population Reports, P60-238, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 2010, pp. 7 and 50.Institute for Women’s Policy Research. The Gender Wage Gap: 2009. Retrieved March 31, 2011. As of the late 2010s, it has decreased back to around 1990 to 2000 levels (68.6-71.1%).WEB,dqydj.com/2018-income-by-sex/, Male Income Percentile and Female Income Percentile Calculator in 2018, December 4, 2018, WEB,dqydj.com/income-by-sex/, Income by Sex: Average, Median, 1%, and Calculator – DQYDJ, October 2020, When the first Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963, female full-time workers earned 48.9% as much as male full-time workers.Research conducted in Czechia and Slovakia shows that, even after the governments passed anti-discrimination legislation, two thirds of the gender gap in wages remained unexplained and segregation continued to “represent a major source of the gap”.JOURNAL, Å tÄ›pán, Jurajda, 2005, Gender Segregation and Wage Gap: An East-West Comparison, Journal of the European Economic Association, 3, 2–3, 598–607, 10.1162/jeea.2005.3.2-3.598, 54763679, The gender gap can also vary across-occupation and within occupation. In Taiwan, for example, studies show how the bulk of gender wage discrepancies occur within-occupation.JOURNAL, Joseph E. Jr., Zveglich, Yana van der Meulen, Rodgers, Occupational Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap in a Dynamic East Asian Economy, Southern Economic Journal, 70, 4, 2004, 850–875, 10.2307/4135276, 4135276, In Russia, research shows that the gender wage gap is distributed unevenly across income levels, and that it mainly occurs at the lower end of income distribution.JOURNAL, Christopher J., Gerry, Byung-Yeon, Kim, Carmen A., Li, The Gender Wage Gap and Wage Arrears in Russia: Evidence from the RLMS, Journal of Population Economics, 17, 2, 2004, 267–288, 10.1007/s00148-003-0160-3, 7435706,discovery.ucl.ac.uk/17553/1/17553.pdf, The research also found that “wage arrears and payment in-kind attenuated wage discrimination, particularly amongst the lowest paid workers, suggesting that Russian enterprise managers assigned lowest importance to equity considerations when allocating these forms of payment”.The gender pay gap has been attributed to differences in personal and workplace characteristics between men and women (such as education, hours worked and occupation), innate behavioral and biological differences between men and women and discrimination in the labor market (such as gender stereotypes and customer and employer bias). Women take significantly more time off to raise children than men.The Open University: Learning Space.“Economics Explains Discrimination in the Labour Market.” Accessed June 29, 2012 In certain countries such as South Korea, it has also been a long-established practice to lay-off female employees upon marriage.JOURNAL, Gyeongjoon, Yoo, 2003, Quality of Life Across Population Groups: Women in the Workplace: Gender and Wage Differentials, Social Indicators Research, 62, 1–3, 367–385, 10.1023/A:1022661604653, 153671276, A study by Professor Linda C. Babcock in her book Women Don’t Ask shows that men are eight times more likely to ask for a pay raise, suggesting that pay inequality may be partly a result of behavioral differences between the sexes.BOOK, Women Don’t Ask, Women Don’t Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide, Linda, Babcock, Sara, Laschever, 2003, Princeton University Press,assets.press.princeton.edu/chapters/i7575.pdf, However, studies generally find that a portion of the gender pay gap remains unexplained after accounting for factors assumed to influence earnings; the unexplained portion of the wage gap is attributed to gender discrimination.United States Congress Joint Economic Committee. Invest in Women, Invest in America: A Comprehensive Review of Women in the U.S. Economy. Washington, DC, December 2010, p. 80.Estimates of the discriminatory component of the gender pay gap vary. The OECD estimated that approximately 30% of the gender pay gap across OECD countries is because of discrimination. Australian research shows that discrimination accounts for approximately 60% of the wage differential between men and women.National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling. The impact of a sustained gender wage gap on the economy. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101201110158www.actu.org.au/Images/Dynamic/attachments/6895/NATSEM_report.pdf |date=December 1, 2010 }} Report to the Office for Women, Department of Families, Community Services, Housing and Indigenous Affairs, 2009, p. v-vi.JOURNAL, Ian, Watson, 2010, Decomposing the Gender Pay Gap in the Australian Managerial Labour Market, Australian Journal of Labour Economics, 13, 1, 49–79,search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=150518123437760;res=IELBus, Studies examining the gender pay gap in the United States show that a much of the wage differential remains unexplained, after controlling for factors affecting pay. One study of college graduates found that the portion of the pay gap unexplained after all other factors are taken into account is five percent one year after graduating and 12% a decade after graduation.Carman, Diane. Why do men earn more? Just because. Denver Post, April 24, 2007.Arnst, Cathy. www.businessweek.com/careers/workingparents/blog/archives/2007/04/working_women_a.html" title="web.archive.org/web/20070510085831www.businessweek.com/careers/workingparents/blog/archives/2007/04/working_women_a.html">Women and the pay gap. Bloomberg Businessweek, April 27, 2007.American Management Association. Bridging the Gender Pay Gap. October 17, 2007.Dey, Judy Goldberg and Catherine Hill. Behind the Pay Gap. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706012805aauw.org/learn/research/upload/behindPayGap.pdf |date=July 6, 2011 }} American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, April 2007. A study by the American Association of University Women found that women graduates in the United States are paid less than men doing the same work and majoring in the same field.WEB, Morrison, Megan, Persistent Pay Gap Affects Women Just One Year Out of College,www.aauw.org/files/2013/02/graduating-to-a-pay-gap-the-earnings-of-women-and-men-one-year-after-college-graduation.pdf, February 21, 2013,www.aauw.org/files/2013/02/graduating-to-a-pay-gap-the-earnings-of-women-and-men-one-year-after-college-graduation.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20130603004740www.aauw.org/files/2013/02/graduating-to-a-pay-gap-the-earnings-of-women-and-men-one-year-after-college-graduation.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20130603004740www.aauw.org/files/2013/02/graduating-to-a-pay-gap-the-earnings-of-women-and-men-one-year-after-college-graduation.pdf, June 3, 2013, (File:US gender pay gap, by sex, race-ethnicity-2009.png|thumb|upright=1.35|alt=Graph showing weekly earnings by various categories |Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers, by sex, race, and ethnicity, U.S., 2009U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2009. Report 1025, June 2010.)Wage discrimination is theorized as contradicting the economic concept of supply and demand, which states that if a good or service (in this case, labor) is in demand and has value it will find its price in the market. If a worker offered equal value for less pay, supply and demand would indicate a greater demand for lower-paid workers. If a business hired lower-wage workers for the same work, it would lower its costs and enjoy a competitive advantage. According to supply and demand, if women offered equal value demand (and wages) should rise since they offer a better price (lower wages) for their service than men do.WEB,www.swifteconomics.com/2009/09/21/lies-damned-lies-and-statistics-the-wage-gap/, Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics: The Wage Gap, Swift Economics, September 21, 2009, July 20, 2013,www.swifteconomics.com/2009/09/21/lies-damned-lies-and-statistics-the-wage-gap," title="web.archive.org/web/20130705013033www.swifteconomics.com/2009/09/21/lies-damned-lies-and-statistics-the-wage-gap,">web.archive.org/web/20130705013033www.swifteconomics.com/2009/09/21/lies-damned-lies-and-statistics-the-wage-gap, July 5, 2013, Research at Cornell University and elsewhere indicates that mothers in the United States are less likely to be hired than equally qualified fathers and, if hired, receive a lower salary than male applicants with children.Folbre, Nancy. The Anti-Mommy Bias. New York Times, March 26, 2009.Goodman, Ellen. A third gender in the workplace. The Boston Globe, May 11, 2007.Cahn, Naomi and June Carbone. Five myths about working mothers. The Washington Post, May 30, 2010.Young, Lauren. www.businessweek.com/careers/workingparents/blog/archives/2009/06/the_motherhood.html" title="web.archive.org/web/20090611183447www.businessweek.com/careers/workingparents/blog/archives/2009/06/the_motherhood.html">The Motherhood Penalty: Working Moms Face Pay Gap Vs. Childless Peers. Bloomsberg Businessweek, June 05, 2009.JOURNAL, Correll, Shelley, Stephen, Benard, In, Paik, 2007, Getting a job: Is there a motherhood penalty?, American Journal of Sociology, 112, 5, 1297–1338, 10.1086/511799, 10.1.1.709.8363, 7816230, WEB, Aloi, Dan, Mothers face disadvantages in getting hired, Cornell study says,news.cornell.edu/stories/2005/08/mothers-face-disadvantages-getting-hired-study-shows, 18 Feb 2024, Cornell Chronicle, Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University, 4 Aug 2005, The OECD found that “a significant impact of children on women’s pay is generally found in the United Kingdom and the United States”.OECD (2002). Employment Outlook, Chapter 2: Women at work: who are they and how are they faring? Paris: OECD 2002. Fathers earn $7,500 more, on average, than men without children do.WEB, Hilary M. Lips, September 7, 2009, Blaming Women’s Choices for the Gender Pay Gap,www.womensmedia.com/new/Lips-Hilary-blaming-gender-pay-gap.shtml,www.womensmedia.com/money/178-blaming-womens-choices-for-the-gender-pay-gap.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20130523193124www.womensmedia.com/money/178-blaming-womens-choices-for-the-gender-pay-gap.html,">web.archive.org/web/20130523193124www.womensmedia.com/money/178-blaming-womens-choices-for-the-gender-pay-gap.html, May 23, 2013, WomensMedia, There is research to suggest that the gender wage gap leads to big losses for the economy.JOURNAL, The Output Cost of Gender Discrimination: A Model-based Macroeconomics Estimate, The Economic Journal, February 1, 2016, 1468-0297, 109–134, 126, 590, 10.1111/ecoj.12303, en, Tiago, Cavalcanti, José, Tavares, 15210316,www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/267278,

Causes for wage discrimination

The non-adjusted gender pay gap (the difference without taking into account differences in working hours, occupations, education, and work experience) is not itself a measure of discrimination. Rather, it combines differences in the average pay of women and men to serve as a barometer of comparison. Differences in pay are caused by:

• occupational segregation (with more men in higher paid industries and women in lower paid industries),
• vertical segregation (fewer women in senior, and hence better paying positions),
• ineffective equal pay legislation,
• women’s overall paid working hours, and
• barriers to entry into the labor market (such as education level and single parenting rate).BOOK, European Commission, Eurostat, Leythienne, Denis, Ronkowski, Piotr, A decomposition of the unadjusted gender pay gap using structure of earnings survey data – 2018 edition, Statistical Working Papers, 2018, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 978-92-79-86877-1, 2315-0807, 10.2785/796328, KS-TC18-003-EN-N,ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3888793/8979317/KS-TC-18-003-EN-N.pdf,

Some variables that help explain the non-adjusted gender pay gap include economic activity, working time, and job tenure. Gender-specific factors, including gender differences in qualifications and discrimination, overall wage structure, and the differences in remuneration across industry sectors all influence the gender pay gap.JOURNAL, Blau, Francine D., Kahn, Lawrence M., November 2000, Gender Differences in Pay, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14, 4, 75–100, 10.1257/jep.14.4.75, 55685704, free, Eurostat estimated in 2016 that after allowing for average characteristics of men and women, women still earn 11.5% less than men. Since this estimate accounts for average differences between men and women, it is an estimation of the unexplained gender pay gap (i.e., that which cannot be accounted for by factors such as differences in profession).WEB, 2016-03-05, What are the causes? - European Commission,ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-pay-gap/causes/index_en.htm,ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-pay-gap/causes/index_en.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20160305121349ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-pay-gap/causes/index_en.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20160305121349ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-pay-gap/causes/index_en.htm, 2016-03-05, 2019-01-16, European Commission,

Glass ceiling effect

“The popular notion of glass ceiling effects implies that gender (or other) disadvantages are stronger at the top of the hierarchy than at lower levels and that these disadvantages become worse later in a person’s career.“JOURNAL, David A., Cotter, Joan M., Hermsen, Seth, Ovadia, Reeve, Vanneman, 2001, The Glass Ceiling Effect, Social Forces, 80, 2, 655–681, 10.1353/sof.2001.0091, 145245044, In the United States, women account for 52% of the overall labor force, but make up only three percent of corporate CEOs and top executives.JOURNAL, David A., Matsa, Amalia R., Miller, 2011, Chipping away at the Glass Ceiling: Gender Spillovers in Corporate Leadership, American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, 101, 3, 635–639, 10.1257/aer.101.3.635, 154536609,www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/working_papers/2011/RAND_WR842.pdf, Some researchers see the root cause of this situation in the tacit discrimination based on gender, conducted by current top executives and corporate directors (primarily male), and “the historic absence of women in top positions”, which “may lead to hysteresis, preventing women from accessing powerful, male-dominated professional networks, or same-sex mentors”. The glass ceiling effect is noted as being especially persistent for women of color. According to a report, “women of colour perceive a ‘concrete ceiling’ and not simply a glass ceiling”.In the economics profession, it has been observed that women are more inclined than men to dedicate their time to teaching and service. Since continuous research work is crucial for promotion, “the cumulative effect of small, contemporaneous differences in research orientation could generate the observed significant gender difference in promotion”.JOURNAL, John M., McDowell, Larry D. Jr., Singell, James P., Ziliak, 1999, Cracks in the Glass Ceiling: Gender and Promotion in the Economics Profession, American Economic Review, 89, 2, Papers and Proceedings, 392–396, 117142, 10.1257/aer.89.2.392, In the high-tech industry, research shows that, regardless of the intra-firm changes, “extra-organizational pressures will likely contribute to continued gender stratification as firms upgrade, leading to the potential masculinization of skilled high-tech work”.JOURNAL, Steven C., McKay, 2006, Hard Drives and Glass Ceilings: Gender Stratification in High-Tech Production, Gender and Society, 20, 2, 207–235, 10.1177/0891243205285371, 154793796, The United Nations asserts that “progress in bringing women into leadership and decision making positions around the world remains far too slow”.WEB, Women still struggle to break through glass ceiling in government, business, academia, United Nations, March 8, 2006,www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw50/PressReleaseIWD8March.pdf, 18 Feb 2024,

Potential remedies

Research by David Matsa and Amalia Miller suggests that a remedy to the glass ceiling could be increasing the number of women on corporate boards, which could lead to increases in the number of women working in top management positions. The same research suggests that this could also result in a “feedback cycle in which the presence of more female managers increases the qualified pool of potential female board members (for the companies they manage, as well as other companies), leading to greater female board membership and then further increases in female executives”.

Weight-based sexism

A 2009 study found that being overweight harms women’s career advancement, but presents no barrier for men. Overweight women were significantly underrepresented among company bosses, making up between five and 22% of female CEOs. However, the proportion of overweight male CEOs was between 45% and 61%, over-representing overweight men. On the other hand, approximately five percent of CEOs were obese among both genders. The author of the study stated that the results suggest that “the ‘glass ceiling effect’ on women’s advancement may reflect not only general negative stereotypes about the competencies of women but also weight bias that results in the application of stricter appearance standards to women.“JOURNAL, 10.1108/02610150910937916, 28, Weight discrimination and the glass ceiling effect among top US CEOs, 2009, Equal Opportunities International, 179–196, Roehling, Patricia V., 2, .Moult, Julie. Women’s careers more tied to weight than men—study. Herald Sun, April 11, 2009.

Transgender discrimination

{{see also|Transgender inequality}}Transgender people also experience significant workplace discrimination and harassment.WEB,williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/discrimination/bias-in-the-workplace-consistent-evidence-of-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity-discrimination/, Bias in the Workplace: Consistent Evidence of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination, June 22, 2007, Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy, Williams Institute, en-US, August 26, 2019,web.archive.org/web/20190826112250/https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/discrimination/bias-in-the-workplace-consistent-evidence-of-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity-discrimination/, August 26, 2019, Unlike sex-based discrimination, refusing to hire (or firing) a worker for their gender identity or expression is not explicitly illegal in most U.S. states.MAGAZINE,fortune.com/2015/01/12/saks-transgender-fire/, Does Saks have the legal right to fire a transgender employee?, Fortune, Time (magazine), Time, January 12, 2015, April 30, 2015, Steinmetz, Katy, In June 2020, the United States Supreme Court ruled that federal civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender workers. Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote: “An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex. Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.“WEB, Supreme Court says federal law protects LGBTQ workers from discrimination,www.cnn.com/2020/06/15/politics/supreme-court-lgbtq-employment-case/index.html, June 21, 2020, CNN, June 15, 2020, The ruling however did not protect LGBT employees from being fired based on their sexual orientation or gender identity in businesses of 15 workers or less.WEB,www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/even-ruling-workplace-still-unequal-lgbtq-workers-n1231419, Even with ruling, workplace still unequal for LGBTQ workers, NBC News, June 18, 2020, In August 1995, Kimberly Nixon filed a complaint with the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal against Vancouver Rape Relief & Women’s Shelter. Nixon, a trans woman, had been interested in volunteering as a counsellor with the shelter. When the shelter learned that she was transsexual, they told Nixon that she would not be allowed to volunteer with the organization. Nixon argued that this constituted illegal discrimination under Section 41 of the British Columbia Human Rights Code. Vancouver Rape Relief countered that individuals are shaped by the socialization and experiences of their formative years, and that Nixon had been socialized as a male growing up, and that, therefore, Nixon would not be able to provide sufficiently effective counselling to the female born women that the shelter served. Nixon took her case to the Supreme Court of Canada, which refused to hear the case.WEB,thetyee.ca/News/2007/02/03/Nixon/, Transsexual Loses Fight with Women’s Shelter, Rupp, Shannon, 2007-02-03, The Tyee, en, June 17, 2016,

Objectification

File:Menu.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Illustration of a woman splayed across a wine menu |Example of sexual objectificationsexual objectificationIn social philosophy, objectification is the act of treating a person as an object or thing. Objectification plays a central role in feminist theory, especially sexual objectification.ENCYCLOPEDIA,plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2018/entries/feminism-objectification/, 18 Feb 2024, Papadaki, Evangelia, 1 Dec 2015, Feminist Perspectives on Objectification, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, Summer 2018, Feminist writer and gender equality activist Joy Goh-Mah argues that by being objectified, a person is denied agency.WEB, Goh-Mah, Joy, The Objectification of Women—It Goes Much Further Than Sexy Pictures,www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/joy-goh-mah/objectification-women-sexy-pictures_b_3403251.html, Huffpost Lifestyle, December 1, 2013, June 9, 2013, According to the philosopher Martha Nussbaum, a person might be objectified if one or more of the following properties are applied to them:JOURNAL, Nussbaum, Martha, Martha Nusbaum, Objectification, Philosophy & Public Affairs, 1995, 24, 4, 249–291, 10.1111/j.1088-4963.1995.tb00032.x,

1. Instrumentality: treating the object as a tool for another’s purposes: “The objectifier treats the object as a tool of his or her purposes.”
2. Denial of autonomy: treating the object as lacking in autonomy or self-determination: “The objectifier treats the object as lacking in autonomy and self-determination.”
3. Inertness: treating the object as lacking in agency or activity: “The objectifier treats the object as lacking in agency, and perhaps also in activity.”
4. Fungibility: treating the object as interchangeable with other objects: “The objectifier treats the object as interchangeable (a) with other objects of the same type, and/or (b) with objects of other types.”
5. Violability: treating the object as lacking in boundary integrity and violable: “The objectifier treats the object as lacking in boundary integrity, as something that it is permissible to break up, smash, break into.”
6. Ownership: treating the object as if it can be owned, bought, or sold: “The objectifier treats the object as something that is owned by another, can be bought or sold, etc.”
7. Denial of subjectivity: treating the object as if there is no need for concern for its experiences or feelings: “The objectifier treats the object as something whose experience and feelings (if any) need not be taken into account.”

Rae Helen Langton, in Sexual Solipsism: Philosophical Essays on Pornography and Objectification, proposed three more properties to be added to Nussbaum’s list:BOOK, Rae Langton, Rae Helen Langton, Sexual Solipsism: Philosophical Essays on Pornography and Objectification, 1st Edition, February 15, 2009, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 978-0-19-955145-3, 228–229,

1. Reduction to Body: the treatment of a person as identified with their body, or body parts;
2. Reduction to Appearance: the treatment of a person primarily in terms of how they look, or how they appear to the senses;
3. Silencing: the treatment of a person as if they are silent, lacking the capacity to speak.

According to objectification theory, objectification can have important repercussions on women, particularly young women, as it can negatively impact their psychological health and lead to the development of mental disorders, such as unipolar depression, sexual dysfunction, and eating disorders.JOURNAL, Fredrickson, Barbara L., Roberts, Tomi-Ann, Objectification Theory, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 2, 1997, 173–206, 0361-6843, 10.1111/j.1471-6402.1997.tb00108.x, 145272074,

In advertising

(File:Two girls examining a bulletin board posted on a fence. An advertisement painted above them asks “Are You a Woman?”.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Two girls examining a bulletin board posted on a fence. An advertisement painted above them asks “Are You a Woman?”.|Women examining a bulletin board posted on a fence. An advertisement painted above them asks “Are You a Woman?”)While advertising used to portray women and men in obviously stereotypical roles (e.g., as a housewife, breadwinner), in modern advertisements, they are no longer solely confined to their traditional roles. However, advertising today still stereotypes men and women, albeit in more subtle ways, including by sexually objectifying them.JOURNAL, Zimmerman, Amanda, Dahlberg, John, 2008, The sexual objectification of women in advertising: A contemporary cultural perspective,semanticscholar.org/paper/4682b9942712c00d48f819e9039023c9bae4ede6, Journal of Advertising Research, 48, 1, 71–79, 10.2501/s0021849908080094, 30977582, Women are most often targets of sexism in advertising.{{Citation needed|reason=Source needed|date=April 2018}} When in advertisements with men they are often shorter and put in the background of images, shown in more “feminine” poses, and generally present a higher degree of “body display”.JOURNAL, Zotos, Yorgos, Tsichla, Eirini, October 2014, Snapshots of Men and Women in Interaction: An Investigation of Stereotypes in Print Advertisement Relationship Portrayals,www.researchgate.net/publication/267842958, Journal of Euromarketing, 23, 3, 35–58, ResearchGate, 10.9768/0023.03.035, January 31, 2024, Today, some countries (for example Norway and Denmark) have laws against sexual objectification in advertising.NEWS,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7365722.stm, BBC News, Scandinavian split on sexist ads, April 25, 2008, April 6, 2010, Stephanie, Holmes, Nudity is not banned, and nude people can be used to advertise a product if they are relevant to the product advertised. Sol Olving, head of Norway’s Kreativt Forum (an association of the country’s top advertising agencies) explained, “You could have a naked person advertising shower gel or a cream, but not a woman in a bikini draped across a car”.Other countries continue to ban nudity (on traditional obscenity grounds), but also make explicit reference to sexual objectification, such as Israel’s ban of billboards that “depicts sexual humiliation or abasement, or presents a human being as an object available for sexual use”.BOOK, Israeli Penal Law 5737–1977: Obscene publication and display, OECD, 70–71, 6th, Article 214,www.oecd.org/investment/anti-bribery/anti-briberyconvention/43289694.pdf, February 26, 2015, (English translation)

Pornography

{{See also|Feminist views on pornography}}Anti-pornography feminist Catharine MacKinnon argues that pornography contributes to sexism by objectifying women and portraying them in submissive roles.MacKinnon, Catharine (1987). Feminism Unmodified: Discourses on Life and Law. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 147. MacKinnon, along with Andrea Dworkin, argues that pornography reduces women to mere tools, and is a form of sex discrimination.ENCYCLOPEDIA, Papadaki, Evangelia, Feminist Perspectives on Objectification,plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/feminism-objectification/, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, December 1, 2013, June 28, 2011, Winter 2012, The two scholars highlight the link between objectification and pornography by stating:We define pornography as the graphic sexually explicit subordination of women through pictures and words that also includes (i) women are presented dehumanized as sexual objects, things, or commodities; or (ii) women are presented as sexual objects who enjoy humiliation or pain; or (iii) women are presented as sexual objects experiencing sexual pleasure in rape, incest or other sexual assault; or (iv) women are presented as sexual objects tied up, cut up or mutilated or bruised or physically hurt; or (v) women are presented in postures or positions of sexual submission, servility, or display; or (vi) women’s body parts—including but not limited to vaginas, breasts, or buttocks—are exhibited such that women are reduced to those parts; or (vii) women are presented being penetrated by objects or animals; or (viii) women are presented in scenarios of degradation, humiliation, injury, torture, shown as filthy or inferior, bleeding, bruised, or hurt in a context that makes these conditions sexual.“BOOK, Andrea Dworkin, Andrea Dworkin, Catharine A. MacKinnon, Catharine MacKinnon, Pornography and civil rights: a new day for women’s equality,books.google.com/books?id=J69HAQAAIAAJ, August 1988, Organizing Against Pornography, 978-0-9621849-0-1, Robin Morgan and Catharine MacKinnon suggest that certain types of pornography also contribute to violence against women by eroticizing scenes in which women are dominated, coerced, humiliated or sexually assaulted.Morgan, Robin. (1974). “Theory and Practice: Pornography and Rape”. In: Going Too Far: The Personal Chronicle of a Feminist. (1977). Random House. 333 p. {{ISBN|0-394-48227-1}}. (1978 ed, {{ISBN|0-394-72612-X}}.)NEWS, Jeffries, Stuart, Are women human? (interview with Catharine MacKinnon), The Guardian, September 1, 2009, April 12, 2006,www.theguardian.com/world/2006/apr/12/gender.politicsphilosophyandsociety, London, Some people opposed to pornography, including MacKinnon, charge that the production of pornography entails physical, psychological, and economic coercion of the women who perform and model in it.Shrage, Laurie. (July 13, 2007). “Feminist Perspectives on Sex Markets: Pornography”. In: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Mackinnon, Catherine A. (1984) “Not a moral issue.” Yale Law and Policy Review 2:321-345. Reprinted in: Mackinnon (1989). Toward a Feminist Theory of the State Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|0-674-89645-9}} (1st ed), {{ISBN|0-674-89646-7}} (2nd ed). “Sex forced on real women so that it can be sold at a profit to be forced on other real women; women’s bodies trussed and maimed and raped and made into things to be hurt and obtained and accessed, and this presented as the nature of women; the coercion that is visible and the coercion that has become invisible—this and more grounds the feminist concern with pornography“EPISODE, Wattenberg, Ben, A Conversation With Catherine MacKinnon (transcript), Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg, Think Tank, PBS, 18 Feb 2024, 1995,www.pbs.org/thinktank/transcript215.html, Opponents of pornography charge that it presents a distorted image of sexual relations and reinforces sexual myths; it shows women as continually available and willing to engage in sex at any time, with any person, on their terms, responding positively to any requests.MacKinnon writes:Pornography affects people’s belief in rape myths. So for example if a woman says “I didn’t consent” and people have been viewing pornography, they believe rape myths and believe the woman did consent no matter what she said. That when she said no, she meant yes. When she said she didn’t want to, that meant more beer. When she said she would prefer to go home, that means she’s a lesbian who needs to be given a good corrective experience. Pornography promotes these rape myths and desensitizes people to violence against women so that you need more violence to become sexually aroused if you’re a pornography consumer. This is very well documented.NEWS,www.theguardian.com/world/2006/apr/12/gender.politicsphilosophyandsociety, London, The Guardian, Stuart, Jeffries, Stuart Jeffries talks to leading feminist Catharine MacKinnon, April 12, 2006, Defenders of pornography and anti-censorship activists (including sex-positive feminists) argue that pornography does not seriously impact a mentally healthy individual, since the viewer can distinguish between fantasy and reality.JOURNAL, Strossen, Nadine, 1993, A Feminist Critique of “the” Feminist Critique of Pornography,www.jstor.org/stable/1073402, Virginia Law Review, en, 79, 5, 1129, 10.2307/1073402, 1073402, 0042-6601, By insisting that “pornography” instills misogynistic attitudes, or even behavior, in viewers-or at least male viewers-the feminist pro-censorship faction ignores the subjective, complex nature of the interactions between an individual and a text or an image. This reductionist approach denies the existence of ambiguity, subtlety, and irony. It overlooks the boundary between fantasy, imagination, and ideas, on the one hand, and behavior on the other.126 Ultimately, it denies individual autonomy, assuming that at least some viewers of “pornography” will automatically react to it in a simplistic, “monkey-see, monkey-do” fashion. In the words of Professor McCormack, pro-censorship feminists “reject the distinction between thought and deed which is both the cornerstone of liberal democracy and the foundation of a humanistic model of human nature.”, Some also contend that both men and women are objectified in pornography, particularly sadistic or masochistic pornography in which men are objectified and sexually used by women.weblink {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123115712www.seejane.org/downloads/Hatton_Trautner_Sexuality_and_Culture.pdf|date=January 23, 2013}}

Prostitution

Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual relations for payment.DICTIONARY, Prostitution—Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary,www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prostitution, Merriam-Webster, September 19, 2013, WEB, Prostitution Law & Legal Definition,definitions.uslegal.com/p/prostitution, US Legal, 19 March 2013, Sex workers are often objectified and are seen as existing only to serve clients, thus calling their sense of agency into question. There is a prevailing notion that because they sell sex professionally, prostitutes automatically consent to all sexual contact.JOURNAL, Rape, Prostitution and Consent, Sullivan, Barbara, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 2007, 40, 2, 127–142, In common law jurisdictions like the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, some of the evidentiary jurisprudence clearly linked chastity with veracity. So women who were or had been sex workers, those who were ‘rumoured’ to be prostitutes or who were simply promiscuous and behaving ‘like a prostitute’ lacked credibility as complainants, which made it difficult for the prosecution to prove the sexual assault beyond a reasonable doubt. Women in any of these categories were seen at law as ‘commonly available’ to men, as always consenting to sexual activity and thus, as not able to be raped. Men accused of sexual assault were therefore able to use evidence of prostitution to defend themselves, to undermine the credibility of rape complainants and to successfully avoid conviction., 10.1375/acri.40.2.127, 145263451, As a result, sex workers face higher rates of violence and sexual assault. This is often dismissed, ignored and not taken seriously by authorities.In many countries, prostitution is dominated by brothels or pimps, who often claim ownership over sex workers. This sense of ownership furthers the concept that sex workers are void of agency.WEB,walnet.org/csis/papers/redefining.html, Redefining Prostitution as Sex Work on the International Agenda, walnet.org, This is literally the case in instances of sexual slavery.Various authors have argued that female prostitution is based on male sexism that condones the idea that unwanted sex with a woman is acceptable, that men’s desires must be satisfied, and that women are coerced into and exist to serve men sexually.WEB,www.soc.iastate.edu/sapp/Prostitution.pdf,www.soc.iastate.edu/sapp/Prostitution.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20060903143328www.soc.iastate.edu/sapp/Prostitution.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20060903143328www.soc.iastate.edu/sapp/Prostitution.pdf, September 3, 2006, Readings on Prostitution, NEWS,www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/jan/18/ukcrime.prisonsandprobation, Julie Bindel: Eradicate the oldest oppression—UK news—The Guardian, Julie Bindel, the Guardian, January 18, 2006, NEWS,www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/sep/10/endingatradeinmisery, Ending a trade in misery, Julie Bindel, the Guardian, September 10, 2007, BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=9mlFgjEBYWYC, The Industrial Vagina, Google Books, 2015-03-31, 978-0-203-69830-3, Jeffreys, Sheila, November 11, 2008, Taylor & Francis, The European Women’s Lobby condemned prostitution as “an intolerable form of male violence”.WEB, European Women’s Lobby: Prostitution in Europe: 60 Years of Reluctance,www.womenslobby.eu/spip.php?article472, womenslobby.eu, Carole Pateman writes that:Prostitution is the use of a woman’s body by a man for his own satisfaction. There is no desire or satisfaction on the part of the prostitute. Prostitution is not mutual, pleasurable exchange of the use of bodies, but the unilateral use of a woman’s body by a man in exchange for money.BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=jH2KPvZF1L0C, The Sexual Contract, Google Books, March 31, 2015, 978-0-8047-1477-8, Pateman, Carole, Carole Pateman, 1988, Stanford University Press,

Media portrayals

{{see also|Misogyny in rap music|Sexism in heavy metal music}}Some scholars believe that media portrayals of demographic groups can both maintain and disrupt attitudes and behaviors toward those groups.Cole, E., & Henderson Daniel, J. (Eds.). (2005). Featuring females: Feminist analyses of media. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. {{doi|10.1037/11213-000}}{{page needed|date=February 2013}}JOURNAL, Halliwell, E., Malson, H., Tischner, I., 2011, Are contemporary media images which seem to display women as sexually empowering actually harmful to women?, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35, 34–45, 10.1177/0361684310385217, 143146656, BOOK, Entman, R., Rojecki, A., 2000, The Black image in the White mind: Media and race in America, Chicago, Illinois, University of Chicago Press, 978-0-226-21075-9,archive.org/details/blackimageinwh00entm, {{page needed|date=February 2013}} According to Susan Douglas: “Since the early 1990s, much of the media have come to overrepresent women as having made it-completely-in the professions, as having gained sexual equality with men, and having achieved a level of financial success and comfort enjoyed primarily by Tiffany’s-encrusted doyennes of Laguna Beach.“BOOK, Douglas, Susan J., 2010, The Rise of Enlightened Sexism, New York, NY, St. Martin’s Press, 978-0-312-67392-5, These images may be harmful, particularly to women and racial and ethnic minority groups. For example, a study of African American women found they feel that media portrayals of themselves often reinforce stereotypes of this group as overly sexual and idealize images of lighter-skinned, thinner African American women (images African American women describe as objectifying).JOURNAL, Watson, L. B., Robinson, D., Dispenza, F., Nazari, N., 2012, African American women’s sexual objectification experiences: A qualitative study, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 36, 4, 227–239, 10.1177/0361684312454724, 144040468, In a recent analysis of images of Haitian women in the Associated Press photo archive from 1994 to 2009, several themes emerged emphasizing the “otherness” of Haitian women and characterizing them as victims in need of rescue.JOURNAL, Rendon, M. J., Nicolas, G., 2012, Deconstructing the portrayals of Haitian women in the media: A thematic analysis of images in the Associated Press Photo Archive, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 36, 2, 227–239, 10.1177/0361684311429110, 144253671, In an attempt to study the effect of media consumption on males, Samantha and Bridges found an effect on body shame, though not through self-objectification as it was found in comparable studies of women. The authors conclude that the current measures of objectification were designed for women and do not measure men accurately.JOURNAL, Daniel, Samantha, Bridges, Sara K., 2010, The drive for muscularity in men: Media influences and objectification theory, Body Image (journal), Body Image, 7, 1, 32–38, 10.1016/j.bodyim.2009.08.003, 19815476, Another study found a negative effect on eating attitudes and body satisfaction of consumption of beauty and fitness magazines for women and men respectively but again with different mechanisms, namely self-objectification for women and internalization for men.JOURNAL, Magazine exposure: Internalization, self-objectification, eating attitudes, and body satisfaction in male and female university students, Morry, Marian M., Staska, Sandra L., Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 33, 4, 2001, 269–279, 10.1037/h0087148,

Sexist jokes

Frederick Attenborough argues that sexist jokes can be a form of sexual objectification, which reduce the butt of the joke to an object. They not only objectify women, but can also condone violence or prejudice against women.JOURNAL, Attenborough, Frederick T., Frederick T. Attenborough, Jokes, pranks, blondes and banter: recontextualising sexism in the British print press, Journal of Gender Studies, 23, 2, 137–154, 10.1080/09589236.2013.774269, 2014, 144338846, “Sexist humor—the denigration of women through humor—for instance, trivializes sex discrimination under the veil of benign amusement, thus precluding challenges or opposition that nonhumorous sexist communication would likely incur.“JOURNAL, Ford, Thomas E., Boxer, Christie F., Armstrong, Jacob, Edel, Jessica R., 2007, More Than “Just a Joke”: The Prejudice Releasing Function of Sexist Humor, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 2, 159–170, 10.1177/0146167207310022, 18056796, 26438425, A study of 73 male undergraduate students by Ford found that “sexist humor can promote the behavioral expression of prejudice against women amongst sexist men”. According to the study, when sexism is presented in a humorous manner it is viewed as tolerable and socially acceptable: “Disparagement of women through humor ‘freed’ sexist participants from having to conform to the more general and more restrictive norms regarding discrimination against women.”

Gender identity discrimination

Gender discrimination is discrimination based on actual or perceived gender identity.{{Page needed|date=December 2021}} Gender identity is “the gender-related identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth”.WEB, Feder, Jody, Cynthia Brougher, amp, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination in Employment: A Legal Analysis of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), July 15, 2013,fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40934.pdf, Congressional Research Service, March 31, 2015, {{Page needed|date=December 2021}} Gender discrimination is theoretically different from sexism.BOOK, Kimmel, Michael S., 2004, The Gendered Society, 2nd, New York, Oxford University Press, 978-0-19-514975-3,archive.org/details/genderedsociety00kimm_0, {{Page needed|date=December 2021}} Whereas sexism is prejudice based on biological sex, gender discrimination specifically addresses discrimination towards gender identities, including third gender, genderqueer, and other non-binary identified people.BOOK, Macklem, Tony, 2003, Beyond Comparison: Sex and Discrimination, New York, Cambridge University Press, 978-0-521-82682-2, {{Page needed|date=December 2021}} It is especially attributed to how people are treated in the workplace,BOOK, Clinical Aspects of Sexual Harassment and Gender Discrimination: Psychological Consequences and Treatment Interventions, Sharyn Ann Lenhart, Routledge, 2004, 978-1-135-94131-4, 6, April 20, 2018,books.google.com/books?id=Rt2SAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA6, Gender or Sex Discrimination: This term refers to the types of gender bias that have a negative impact. The term has legal, as well as theoretical and psychological, definitions. Psychological consequences can be more readily inferred from the latter, but both definitions are of significance. Theoretically, gender discrimination has been described as (1) the unequal rewards that men and women receive in the workplace or academic environment because of their gender or sex difference (DiThomaso, 1989); (2) a process occurring in work or educational settings in which an individual is overtly or covertly limited access to an opportunity or a resource because of a sex or is given the opportunity or the resource reluctantly and may face harassment for picking it (Roeske & Pleck, 1983); or (3) both., {{Page needed|date=December 2021}} and banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression has emerged as a subject of contention in the American legal system.WEB,www.hrc.org/laws-and-legislation/federal-legislation/employment-non-discrimination-act, Employment Non-Discrimination Act, Human Rights Campaign, March 9, 2015, March 31, 2015,www.hrc.org/laws-and-legislation/federal-legislation/employment-non-discrimination-act," title="web.archive.org/web/20140520071809www.hrc.org/laws-and-legislation/federal-legislation/employment-non-discrimination-act,">web.archive.org/web/20140520071809www.hrc.org/laws-and-legislation/federal-legislation/employment-non-discrimination-act, May 20, 2014, According to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service, “although the majority of federal courts to consider the issue have concluded that discrimination on the basis of gender identity is not sex discrimination, there have been several courts that have reached the opposite conclusion”. Hurst states that “[c]ourts often confuse sex, gender and sexual orientation, and confuse them in a way that results in denying the rights not only of gays and lesbians, but also of those who do not present themselves or act in a manner traditionally expected of their sex”.BOOK, Hurst, C., Social Inequality: Forms, Causes, and Consequences, Sixth, Boston, Allyn and Bacon, Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2007, 131, 139–142, 978-0-205-48436-2,

Oppositional sexism

Oppositional sexism is a term coined by transfeminist author Julia Serano, who defined oppositional sexism as “the belief that male and female are rigid, mutually exclusive categories”.BOOK, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity, Serano, Julia, Julia Serano, Seal Press, 2007, 978-0-786-74791-7, Emeryville, CA, Oppositional sexism plays a vital role in a number of social norms, such as cissexism, heteronormativity, and traditional sexism.Oppositional sexism normalizes masculine expression in males and feminine expression in females while simultaneously demonizing femininity in males and masculinity in females. This concept plays a crucial role in supporting cissexism, the social norm that views cisgender people as both natural and privileged as opposed to transgender people.BOOK, Counseling Across Cultures, SAGE Publications, 2015, 978-1-4522-1752-9, United States of America, 7th, Walter, Pedersen, Paul, Lonner, Draguns, Juris, Trimble, Joseph, Scharrón-del Río, María, The idea of having two, opposite genders is tied to sexuality through what gender theorist Judith Butler calls a “compulsory practice of heterosexuality”. Because oppositional sexism is tied to heteronormativity in this way, non-heterosexuals are seen as breaking gender norms.The concept of opposite genders sets a “dangerous precedent”, according to Serano, where “if men are big then women must be small; and if men are strong then women must be weak”. The gender binary and oppositional norms work together to support “traditional sexism”, the belief that femininity is inferior to and serves masculinity.Serano states that oppositional sexism works in tandem with “traditional sexism”. This ensures that “those who are masculine have power over those who are feminine, and that only those that are born male will be seen as authentically masculine.”

Transgender discrimination

{{See also|Transphobia|Healthcare and the LGBT community}}Transgender discrimination is discrimination towards peoples whose gender identity differs from the social expectations of the biological sex they were born with.WEB,campusclimate.berkeley.edu/students/ejce/geneq, Gender Equity Resource Center, University of California Berkeley, August 26, 2019, Forms of discrimination include but are not limited to identity documents not reflecting one’s gender, sex-segregated public restrooms and other facilities, dress codes according to binary gender codes, and lack of access to and existence of appropriate health care services.WEB,verdict.justia.com/2012/05/01/the-eeoc-rules-that-transgender-discrimination-is-sex-discrimination, The EEOC Rules That Transgender Discrimination Is Sex Discrimination: The Reasoning Behind That Decision, Grossman, Joanna L., verdict.justia.com, May 2012, en, August 26, 2019, In a recent adjudication, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) concluded that discrimination against a transgender person is sex discrimination.The 2008–09 National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS)—a U.S. study by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in collaboration with the National Black Justice Coalition that was, at its time, the most extensive survey of transgender discrimination—showed that Black transgender people in the United States suffer “the combination of anti-transgender bias and persistent, structural and individual racism” and that “black transgender people live in extreme poverty that is more than twice the rate for transgender people of all races (15%), four times the general Black population rate (9%) and over eight times the general US population rate (4%)”.WEB, Injustice at every turn: A look at Black respondents in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey,nbjc.org/sites/default/files/trans-adjustment-web.pdf, National Black Justice Coalition, 20 January 2018, February 20, 2019,nbjc.org/sites/default/files/trans-adjustment-web.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20190220101059nbjc.org/sites/default/files/trans-adjustment-web.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20190220101059nbjc.org/sites/default/files/trans-adjustment-web.pdf, Further discrimination is faced by gender nonconforming individuals, whether transitioning or not, because of displacement from societally acceptable gender binaries and visible stigmatization. According to the NTDS, transgender gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals face between eight percent and 15% higher rates of self and social discrimination and violence than binary transgender individuals. Lisa R. Miller and Eric Anthony Grollman found in their 2015 study that “gender nonconformity may heighten trans people’s exposure to discrimination and health-harming behaviors. Gender nonconforming trans adults reported more events of major and everyday transphobic discrimination than their gender conforming counterparts.“JOURNAL, Miller, Lisa R., Grollman, Eric Anthony, 2015, The Social Costs of Gender Nonconformity for Transgender Adults: Implications for Discrimination and Health, Sociological Forum, 30, 3, 809–831, 10.1111/socf.12193, 27708501, 5044929, In another study conducted in collaboration with the League of United Latin American Citizens, Latino/a transgender people who were non-citizens were most vulnerable to harassment, abuse and violence.WEB,endtransdiscrimination.org/report.html, the Survey, End Trans Discrimination, March 31, 2015, An updated version of the NTDS survey, called the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, was published in December 2016.WEB, 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey,transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Executive-Summary-Dec17.pdf, National Center for Transgender Equality, January 20, 2018,

Examples

Child and forced marriage

{{Further|Dowry|Bride price}}(File:Girl Summit - 22nd July in London (14498368279).jpg|thumb|alt=Poster against child and forced marriage| Poster against child and forced marriage)A child marriage is a marriage where one or both spouses are under 18, a practice that disproportionately affects women.WEB, October 22, 2014, Child marriage,www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58008.html,web.archive.org/web/20180907061839/https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58008.html, September 7, 2018, September 24, 2013, UNICEF, WEB, June 14, 2013, Q & A: Child Marriage and Violations of Girls’ Rights—Human Rights Watch,www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/14/q-child-marriage-and-violations-girls-rights, March 31, 2015, Hrw.org, Child marriages are most common in South Asia, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, but occur in other parts of the world, too. The practice of marrying young girls is rooted in patriarchal ideologies of control of female behavior and is also sustained by traditional practices such as dowry and bride price.WEB, Dowry and abuse still a problem in India,www.port.ac.uk/uopnews/2013/11/19/dowry-and-abuse-still-a-problem-in-india/,www.port.ac.uk/uopnews/2013/11/19/dowry-and-abuse-still-a-problem-in-india/," title="web.archive.org/web/20150222181509www.port.ac.uk/uopnews/2013/11/19/dowry-and-abuse-still-a-problem-in-india/,">web.archive.org/web/20150222181509www.port.ac.uk/uopnews/2013/11/19/dowry-and-abuse-still-a-problem-in-india/, February 22, 2015, February 22, 2015, Child marriage is strongly connected with protecting female virginity.WEB, n.d., Article 16: Right to marriage and family and to equal rights of men and women during and after marriage {{!, Case Study: Forced Early Marriage |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/casestudy_art16.shtml |access-date=18 February 2024 |website=BBC World Service}} UNICEF states that:Marrying girls under 18 years old is rooted in gender discrimination, encouraging premature and continuous child bearing and giving preference to boys’ education. Child marriage is also a strategy for economic survival as families marry off their daughters at an early age to reduce their economic burden.Consequences of child marriage include restricted education and employment prospects, increased risk of domestic violence, child sexual abuse, pregnancy and birth complications, and social isolation. Early and forced marriage are defined as forms of modern-day slavery by the International Labour Organization.NEWS, September 9, 2013, Nigeria’s child brides: ‘I thought being in labour would never end’,www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/sep/02/nigeria-child-brides-religion, The Guardian, In some cases, a woman or girl who has been raped may be forced to marry her rapist to restore the honor of her family;NEWS, 2012-03-15, BBC News—Morocco protest after raped Amina Filali kills herself,www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-17379721, 2015-03-31, marriage by abduction, a practice in which a man abducts the woman or girl whom he wishes to marry and rapes her to force the marriage is common in Ethiopia.NEWS, June 18, 1999, Ethiopia: Revenge of the abducted bride,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/371944.stm, March 31, 2015, BBC News, WEB, February 23, 2007, IRIN Africa—Ethiopia: Surviving forced marriage—Ethiopia—Children—Gender Issues,www.irinnews.org/report/69993/ethiopia-surviving-forced-marriage, IRINnews, Pathfinder International/Ethiopia (2006) Report on causes and consequences of early marriage in Amhara region. Retrieved April 18, 2015 from WEB, Archived copy,www.pathfinder.org/publications-tools/pdfs/Causes-and-Consequesnces-of-Early-Marriage-in-the-Amhara-Region-of-Ethiopia.pdf,www.pathfinder.org/publications-tools/pdfs/Causes-and-Consequesnces-of-Early-Marriage-in-the-Amhara-Region-of-Ethiopia.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20130323124732www.pathfinder.org/publications-tools/pdfs/Causes-and-Consequesnces-of-Early-Marriage-in-the-Amhara-Region-of-Ethiopia.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20130323124732www.pathfinder.org/publications-tools/pdfs/Causes-and-Consequesnces-of-Early-Marriage-in-the-Amhara-Region-of-Ethiopia.pdf, March 23, 2013, December 3, 2013,

Conscription

(File:20110610 WN S1015650 0034 - Flickr - NZ Defence Force.jpg|alt=|thumb|New Zealand soldiers)Conscription, or compulsory military service, has been criticized as sexist.BOOK, Benatar, David, David Benatar,books.google.com/books?id=vdIrkGLHLPsC, The Second Sexism: Discrimination Against Men and Boys, May 7, 2012, John Wiley & Sons, 978-0-470-67451-2, May 15, 2012, April 26, 2015, {{Rp|102}}WEB, Berlatsky, Noah, May 29, 2013, When Men Experience Sexism,www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/05/when-men-experience-sexism/276355/, live,www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/05/when-men-experience-sexism/276355/," title="web.archive.org/web/20150105151244www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/05/when-men-experience-sexism/276355/,">web.archive.org/web/20150105151244www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/05/when-men-experience-sexism/276355/, January 5, 2015, April 26, 2015, The Atlantic, During the Modern era, prior to the late 20th century, mostly men were subjected to conscription,although there were several instances of conscription of women in Antiquity and the Middle AgesBOOK, Gagova, Krasimira, Power. Ideologies. Rituals., p. 47 “despite their exclusion from the sphere of power, women were sometimes subjected to conscription not only in the Byzantine Empire, but in any other parts of Europe too”; p. 66: “After that in 811 Krum mobilized thousands of armed women in the battle against the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus I”, 2015, Polis, 978-954-8624-45-9, BOOK, Matanov, Hristo, Ð’ търсене на средновековното време. Неравният път на българите (VII–XV в.)(in Bulgarian), pp. 91 “Furthermore Khan Krum subjected to conscription thousand of women and Avars in the Battle of Pliska”, 2014, IK Gutenberg, 9786191760183, {{Rp|255}}Goldstein, Joshua S. (2003). “War and Gender: Men’s War Roles—Boyhood and Coming of Age”. In Ember, Carol R.; Ember, Melvin Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World’s Cultures. Volume 1. Springer. p. 108. {{ISBN|978-0-306-47770-6}}. Retrieved April 25, 2015.Kronsell, Anica (June 29, 2006). “Methods for studying silence: The ‘silence’ of Swedish conscription”. In Ackerly, Brooke A.; Stern, Maria; True, Jacqui Feminist Methodologies for International Relations. Cambridge University Press. p. 113. {{ISBN|978-1-139-45873-3}}. Retrieved April 25, 2015.BOOK, Selmeski, Brian R.,books.google.com/books?id=nv8_omV87vkC&pg=PA149, Multicultural Citizens, Monocultural Men: Indigineity, Masculinity, and Conscription in Ecuador, 2007, 978-0-549-40315-9, Syracuse University, 149, April 25, 2015, BOOK, Joenniemi, Pertti,books.google.com/books?id=hwaa7jKmE_IC&pg=PA149, The Changing Face of European Conscription, Ashgate Publishing, 2006, 978-0-754-64410-1, 142–149, April 25, 2015, Today most countries still require only men to serve in the military.In his book The Second Sexism: Discrimination Against Men and Boys (2012), philosopher David Benatar states that “[t]he prevailing assumption is that where conscription is necessary, it is only men who should be conscripted and, similarly, that only males should be forced into combat”. This, he believes, “is a sexist assumption”.{{Rp|102}} Anthropologist Ayse Gül Altinay has commented that “given equal suffrage rights, there is no other citizenship practice that differentiates as radically between men and women as compulsory male conscription”.BOOK, Altinay, Ayse Gül,books.google.com/books?id=keLIAAAAQBAJ, The Myth of the Military-Nation: Militarism, Gender, and Education in Turkey, December 9, 2004, Palgrave Macmillan, 978-1-403-97936-0, December 10, 2004, {{Rp|34}}Only nine countries conscript women into their armed forces: China, Eritrea, Israel, Libya, Malaysia, North Korea, Norway, Peru, and Taiwan.WEB, May 30, 2006, Indepth: Femsle Soldiers—Women in the military—international,www.cbc.ca/news2/background/military-international/, live,www.cbc.ca/news2/background/military-international/," title="web.archive.org/web/20150404041241www.cbc.ca/news2/background/military-international/,">web.archive.org/web/20150404041241www.cbc.ca/news2/background/military-international/, April 4, 2015, May 2, 2015, CBC News, NEWS, Koranyi, Balazs, Fouche, Gwladys, June 14, 2014, Char, Pravin, Norway becomes first NATO country to draft women into military,www.reuters.com/article/us-norway-women-conscription-idUSBRE95D0NB20130614, live,web.archive.org/web/20150128132614/https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/14/us-norway-women-conscription-idUSBRE95D0NB20130614, January 28, 2015, April 26, 2015, Reuters, Oslo, Norway, Other countries—such as Finland, Turkey, and Singapore—still use a system of conscription which requires military service from men only, although women may serve voluntarily. In 2014, Norway became the first NATO country to introduce obligatory military service for women as an act of gender equalityWEB, October 27, 2014, Women in the Armed Forces,mil.no/organisation/personnel/women/Pages/default.aspx,mil.no/organisation/personnel/women/Pages/default.aspx," title="web.archive.org/web/20150502082510mil.no/organisation/personnel/women/Pages/default.aspx,">web.archive.org/web/20150502082510mil.no/organisation/personnel/women/Pages/default.aspx, May 2, 2015, May 2, 2015, Norwegian Armed Forces, and in 2015, the Dutch government started preparing a gender-neutral draft law.WEB, February 2, 2016, Kaderwet dienstplicht wordt aangepast voor vrouwen,www.rijksoverheid.nl/actueel/nieuws/2016/02/02/kaderwet-dienstplicht-wordt-aangepast-voor-vrouwen, Rijksoverheid, nl, The gender selective draft has been challenged in the United States.WEB, Angelluci, Marc E., April 13, 2013, National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System,ncfm.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/130404-NCFM-Selective-Service-lawsuit-complaint.pdf, live,ncfm.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/130404-NCFM-Selective-Service-lawsuit-complaint.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20150321214722ncfm.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/130404-NCFM-Selective-Service-lawsuit-complaint.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20150321214722ncfm.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/130404-NCFM-Selective-Service-lawsuit-complaint.pdf, March 21, 2015, May 2, 2015, National Coalition for Men, United States Government, Conditions in the military have been described as “sexually abusive” and the “sexual persecution” of women.WEB, Hynes, H. Patricia, 2012-01-26, Military Sexual Abuse: A Greater Menace Than Combat,truthout.org/articles/military-sexual-abuse-a-greater-menace-than-combat/, 2024-03-08, Truthout, en-US, Relentless sexist ridicule, hostility, and sexual harassment has been frequently reported.WEB, Elsesser, Kim, Women In Army Special Ops Face ‘Blatant Sexism’ And Must Wear Equipment That Doesn’t Fit, According To Study,www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2023/08/24/women-in-army-special-ops-face-blatant-sexism-and-must-wear-equipment-that-doesnt-fit-according-to-study/, 2023-11-22, Forbes, en, WEB, 2023-08-21, Female soldiers in Army special operations face rampant sexism and harassment, military report says,apnews.com/article/army-special-operations-gender-bias-female-sexism-1c904cba739b8ba3720827bd9e77f5f4, 2023-11-22, AP News, en, Women in the military are more likely to be raped by a male fellow soldier than killed by the enemy.JOURNAL, E. B. Knoer, Kelsey, 2017, The Catch-22 of Females Reporting Sexual Assault in the Military: A Cause for Holistic International Intervention,digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3048&context=nlr, Nebraska Law Review, WEB, Schmid, Megan N., Combating a Different Enemy: Proposals to Change the Culture of Sexual Assault in the Military,digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=vlr, WEB, Benedict, Helen, Why Soldiers Rape, August 13, 2008,inthesetimes.com/article/why-soldiers-rape, Prosecution of the reported crimes fails to move forward, as the Pentagon claimed it would undermine the leadership of the commanders.NEWS, Moyer, Melinda Wenner, 2021-08-03, ‘A Poison in the System’: The Epidemic of Military Sexual Assault,www.nytimes.com/2021/08/03/magazine/military-sexual-assault.html, 2023-11-22, The New York Times, en-US, 0362-4331, WEB, U.S. Army report shows women serving in the special forces face intense sexism,www.npr.org/2023/09/07/1198066527/u-s-army-report-shows-women-serving-in-the-special-forces-face-intense-sexism#:~:text=A%20recent%20report%20from%20the,Pentagon%20to%20address%20their%20conditions., NPR,

Domestic violence

{{Further|Honor killing|Acid throwing|Dowry death}}File:Acid attack victim.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|alt=Portrait of a female acid attack victim showing facial injuries | Acid attack victim in CambodiaCambodiaAlthough the exact rates are widely disputed, there is a large body of cross-cultural evidence that domestic violence is mostly committed by men against women.JOURNAL, Dobash, R. P., Dobash, R. E., Wilson, M., Daly, M., The Myth of Sexual Symmetry in Marital Violence, Social Problems, 39, 71–91, 1992, 10.1525/sp.1992.39.1.03x0064l, BOOK, Compton, Michael T., Clinical Manual of Prevention in Mental Health, 2010, American Psychiatric Publishing, Washington, D.C., 978-1-58562-347-1, 245, 1st, Women are more often the victims of domestic violence than men and are more likely to suffer injuries and health consequences{{nbsp, ...}}BOOK, Brinkerhoff, David B., Lynn K. White, Suzanne T. Ortega, Rose Weitz, Essentials of Sociology, 2008, Thomson/Wadsworth, 978-0-495-09636-8, 13, 7th, A conflict analysis of domestic violence, for example, would begin by noting that women are battered far more often and far more severely than are men{{nbsp, ...}} In addition, there is a broad consensus that women are more often subjected to severe forms of abuse and are more likely to be injured by an abusive partner. The United Nations recognizes domestic violence as a form of gender-based violence, which it describes as a human rights violation, and the result of sexism.WEB,www.un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r104.htm, 20 December 1993, A/RES/48/104. Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, United Nations General Assembly, March 16, 2015, dead,web.archive.org/web/20150404072416/https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r104.htm, Apr 4, 2015, Domestic violence is tolerated and even legally accepted in many parts of the world. For instance, in 2010, the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s Supreme Court ruled that a man has the right to discipline his wife and children physically if he does not leave visible marks.NEWS,articles.cnn.com/2010-10-19/world/uae.court.ruling_1_islamic-law-sharia-law-ruling?_s=PM:WORLD, Court in UAE says beating wife, child OK if no marks are left, CNN, July 20, 2013, October 19, 2010,articles.cnn.com/2010-10-19/world/uae.court.ruling_1_islamic-law-sharia-law-ruling?_s=PM%3AWORLD," title="web.archive.org/web/20120325143850articles.cnn.com/2010-10-19/world/uae.court.ruling_1_islamic-law-sharia-law-ruling?_s=PM%3AWORLD,">web.archive.org/web/20120325143850articles.cnn.com/2010-10-19/world/uae.court.ruling_1_islamic-law-sharia-law-ruling?_s=PM%3AWORLD, March 25, 2012, In 2015, Equality Now drew attention to a section of the Penal Code of Northern Nigeria, titled Correction of Child, Pupil, Servant or Wife which reads: “(1) Nothing is an offence which does not amount to the infliction of grievous hurt upon any persons which is done: (...) (d) by a husband for the purpose of correcting his wife, such husband and wife being subject to any native law or custom in which such correction is recognized as lawful.“WEB,www.equalitynow.org/law/the_penal_code_of_northern_nigeria, The Penal Code of Northern Nigeria, Equalitynow.org, February 6, 2015, March 31, 2015,www.equalitynow.org/law/the_penal_code_of_northern_nigeria," title="web.archive.org/web/20150402123608www.equalitynow.org/law/the_penal_code_of_northern_nigeria,">web.archive.org/web/20150402123608www.equalitynow.org/law/the_penal_code_of_northern_nigeria, April 2, 2015, Honor killings are another form of domestic violence practiced in several parts of the world, and their victims are predominantly women.JOURNAL, Maris, Cees, Sawitri Saharso, Honour Killing: A Case for Cultural Defense?, Pluralism and Law: Proceedings of the 20th IVR World Congress, Amsterdam, 2001, 2001, 3, 108, Honor killings can occur because of refusal to enter into an arranged marriage, maintaining a relationship relatives disapprove of, extramarital sex, becoming the victim of rape, dress seen as inappropriate, or homosexuality.WEB,www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/honourcrimes/crimesofhonour_1.shtml#h3, Ethics—Honour crimes, BBC, live,web.archive.org/web/20230223212110/https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/honourcrimes/crimesofhonour_1.shtml#h3, Feb 23, 2023, NEWS,edition.cnn.com/2012/01/13/world/europe/turkey-gay-killing, CNN, Shocking gay honor killing inspires movie, Ivan, Watson, January 13, 2012, live,web.archive.org/web/20230604210723/https://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/13/world/europe/turkey-gay-killing/, Jun 4, 2023, NEWS,edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/02/23/arizona.iraqi.father/index.html, CNN, Iraqi immigrant convicted in Arizona ‘honor killing’ awaits sentence, February 23, 2011, live,edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/02/23/arizona.iraqi.father/index.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20220922084250edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/02/23/arizona.iraqi.father/index.html,">web.archive.org/web/20220922084250edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/02/23/arizona.iraqi.father/index.html, Sep 22, 2022, The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime states that, “[h]onour crimes, including killing, are one of history’s oldest forms of gender-based violence”.WEB,www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/hb_eff_police_responses.pdf, Handbook on Effective police responses to violence against women, 2010, UNODC, December 4, 2019, According to a report of the Special Rapporteur submitted to the 58th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights concerning cultural practices in the family that reflect violence against women:The Special Rapporteur indicated that there had been contradictory decisions with regard to the honour defense in Brazil, and that legislative provisions allowing for partial or complete defense in that context could be found in the penal codes of Argentina, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Peru, Syria, Venezuela, and the Palestinian National Authority.Working towards the elimination of crimes against women committed in the name of honour: Report of the Secretary-General. July 2, 2002. United Nations General Assembly.Practices such as honor killings and stoning continue to be supported by mainstream politicians and other officials in some countries. In Pakistan, after the 2008 Balochistan honour killings in which five women were killed by tribesmen of the Umrani Tribe of Balochistan, Pakistani federal minister for Postal Services Israr Ullah Zehri defended the practice:NEWS,www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4678530.ece, Three teenagers buried alive in ‘honour killings’, September 5, 2008, Times Online, London, Zahid, Hussain, September 5, 2008, {{subscription required}} “These are centuries-old traditions, and I will continue to defend them. Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid.“NEWS,www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/2660881/Pakistani-women-buried-alive-for-choosing-husbands.html,ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/2660881/Pakistani-women-buried-alive-for-choosing-husbands.html, January 11, 2022, subscription, live, Pakistani women buried alive ‘for choosing husbands’, September 1, 2008, Telegraph, London, September 1, 2008, {{cbignore}} Following the 2006 case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani (which has placed Iran under international pressure for its stoning sentences), Mohammad-Javad Larijani, a senior envoy and chief of Iran’s Human Rights Council, defended the practice of stoning; he claimed it was a “lesser punishment” than execution, because it allowed those convicted a chance at survival.WEB,abcnews.go.com/International/outrage-iran-human-rights-officials-defense-stoning/story?id=12193085#.UE4Qi64Zh0I, Outrage Over Iran Human Rights Official’s Defense of Stoning, ABC News, November 19, 2010, July 20, 2013, Dowry deaths result from the killing of women who are unable to pay the high dowry price for their marriage. According to Amnesty International, “the ongoing reality of dowry-related violence is an example of what can happen when women are treated as property”.WEB,www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/women-s-rights/violence-against-women/violence-against-women-information, Violence Against Women Information, Amnesty International USA,

Education

Women have traditionally had limited access to higher education.BOOK, Solomon, Barbara Miller,archive.org/details/incompanyofeduca00solo, In the Company of Educated Women, Yale University Press, 1985, 978-0-300-03314-4, New Haven, {{Page needed|date=April 2018}} In the past, when women were admitted to higher education, they were encouraged to major in less-scientific subjects; the study of English literature in American and British colleges and universities was instituted as a field considered suitable to women’s “lesser intellects”.BOOK, Eagleton, Terry,archive.org/details/literarytheoryin00eagl, Literary Theory, University of Minnesota Press, 1983, 978-0-8166-1241-3, Minneapolis, registration, {{Page needed|date=April 2018}}Educational specialties in higher education produce and perpetuate inequality between men and women.JOURNAL, Ecklund, Elaine Howard, Lincoln, Anne E., Tansey, Cassandra, 2012, Gender Segregation in Elite Academic Science,www.nsf.gov/career-life-balance/Gender%20Segregation%20in%20Elite%20Academic%20Science_Sage%20Pub_2012.pdf, Gender & Society, 26, 5, 693–717, 10.1177/0891243212451904, 146588435, Disparity persists particularly in computer and information science, where in the US women received only 21% of the undergraduate degrees, and in engineering, where women obtained only 19% of the degrees in 2008.JOURNAL, Fox, M., Sonnert, G., Nikiforova, I., 2011, Programs for Undergraduate Women in Science and Engineering: Issues, Problems, and Solutions, Gender and Society, 25, 5, 589–615 [p. 590], 10.1177/0891243211416809, 145693091, Only one out of five of physics doctorates in the US are awarded to women, and only about half those women are American.NEWS, Pollack, E., 2013, Why are there still so few women in science?,www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/magazine/why-are-there-still-so-few-women-in-science.html, April 18, 2015, The New York Times, Of all the physics professors in the country, only 14% are women. As of 2019, women account for just 27% of all workers in STEM fields, and on average earn almost 20% less than men in the same industries.WEB,www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics-stem/, Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) (Quick Take), World literacy is lower for females than for males. Data from The World Factbook shows that 79.7% of women are literate, compared to 88.6% of men (aged 15 and over).WEB, November 10, 2021, The World Factbook,www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/world/, cia.gov, In some parts of the world, girls continue to be excluded from proper public or private education. In parts of Afghanistan, girls who go to school face serious violence from some local community members and religious groups.NEWS, Torgan, Allie, August 2, 2012, Acid attacks, poison: What Afghan girls risk by going to school,edition.cnn.com/2012/08/02/world/meast/cnnheroes-jan-afghan-school/index.html, 18 Feb 2024, CNN, According to 2010 UN estimates, only Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen had less than 90 girls per 100 boys at school.NEWS, 2013, Making Room for Girls,www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/11/gender-inequality, Jayachandran and Lleras-Muney’s study of Sri Lankan economic development has suggested that increases in the life expectancy for women encourages educational investment because a longer time horizon increases the value of investments that pay out over time.JOURNAL, Jayachandran, Seema, Lleras-Muney, Adriana, Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2009, Life Expectancy and Human Capital Investments: Evidence from Maternal Mortality Declines,www.nber.org/papers/w13947.pdf, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124, 1, 349–397, 10.1162/qjec.2009.124.1.349, 13244502, Educational opportunities and outcomes for women have greatly improved in the West. Since 1991, the proportion of women enrolled in college in the United States has exceeded the enrollment rate for men, and the gap has widened over time.WEB, Postsecondary Participation Rates by Sex and Race/Ethnicity: 1974–2003,nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005028.pdf, December 4, 2019, nces.ed.gov, {{as of|2007}}, women made up the majority—54%—of the 10.8 million college students enrolled in the United States.WEB, The Crossover in Female-Male College Enrollment Rates,www.prb.org/Articles/2007/CrossoverinFemaleMaleCollegeEnrollmentRates.aspx,www.prb.org/Articles/2007/CrossoverinFemaleMaleCollegeEnrollmentRates.aspx," title="web.archive.org/web/20130527135418www.prb.org/Articles/2007/CrossoverinFemaleMaleCollegeEnrollmentRates.aspx,">web.archive.org/web/20130527135418www.prb.org/Articles/2007/CrossoverinFemaleMaleCollegeEnrollmentRates.aspx, May 27, 2013, July 20, 2013, Prb.org, However, research by Diane Halpern has indicated that boys receive more attention, praise, blame and punishment in the grammar-school classroom,Halpern, Diane F. Sex differences in cognitive abilities. Laurence Erlbaum Associates, 2000. {{ISBN|0-8058-2792-7}}. Page 259. and “this pattern of more active teacher attention directed at male students continues at the postsecondary level”.BOOK, Sadker, Myra,archive.org/details/genderinclassroo00ffer/page/177, Gender in the Classroom: Power and Pedagogy, Sadker, David, University of Illinois Press, 1990, 978-0-252-06110-3, Gabriel, Susan L., Urbana, 177, Confronting Sexism in the College Classroom, Smithson, Isaiah,archive.org/details/genderinclassroo00ffer, Over time, female students speak less in a classroom setting.BOOK, Sadker, Myra,archive.org/details/mappingsociallan00susa_2/page/350, Mapping the social landscape: readings in sociology, Sadker, David, Taylor & Francis, 1999, 978-0-7674-0616-1, Ferguson, Sandra J., 350, Failing at Fairness: Hidden Lessons,archive.org/details/mappingsociallan00susa_2, Teachers also tend to spend more time supporting the academic achievements of girls.JOURNAL, Younger, Michael, Warrington, Molly, Williams, Jacquetta, 1999, The Gender Gap and Classroom Interactions: Reality and rhetoric?, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 20, 3, 325–341, 10.1080/01425699995290, Boys are frequently diagnosed with ADHD, which some see as a result of school systems being more likely to apply these labels to males.NEWS, Abraham, Carolyn, August 23, 2012, Part 3: Are we medicating a disorder or treating boyhood as a disease?,www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/failing-boys/part-3-are-we-medicating-a-disorder-or-treating-boyhood-as-a-disease/article1762859/,www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/failing-boys/part-3-are-we-medicating-a-disorder-or-treating-boyhood-as-a-disease/article1762859/," title="web.archive.org/web/20130513222447www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/failing-boys/part-3-are-we-medicating-a-disorder-or-treating-boyhood-as-a-disease/article1762859/,">web.archive.org/web/20130513222447www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/failing-boys/part-3-are-we-medicating-a-disorder-or-treating-boyhood-as-a-disease/article1762859/, May 13, 2013, July 20, 2013, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, A recent study by the OECD in over 60 countries found that teachers give boys lower grades for the same work. The researchers attribute this to stereotypical ideas about boys and recommend teachers to be aware of this gender bias.NEWS, Coughlan, Sean, March 5, 2015, Teachers ‘give higher marks to girls’,www.bbc.com/news/education-31751672, June 14, 2015, One study found that students give female professors worse evaluation scores than male professors, even though the students appear to do as well under female professors as male professors.JOURNAL, Boring, Anne, 2017, Gender Biases in Student Evaluations of Teaching,pure.eur.nl/en/publications/a37339e4-7b42-4e5f-8333-bbb2f9fdcce5, Journal of Public Economics, 145, 27–41, 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2016.11.006, Gender bias and gender-based discrimination still permeate the education process in many settings. For example, in the teaching and learning process, including differential engagement, expectations and interactions by teachers with their male and female students, as well as gender stereotypes in textbooks and learning materials. There has been a lack in adequate resources and infrastructure to ensure safe and enabling learning environments, and insufficient policy, legal and planning frameworks, that respect, protect and fulfil the right to education.BOOK, UNESCO,unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000369000?posInSet=1&queryId=1d7dd56b-7298-433b-a194-50d378d393e6, From access to empowerment: UNESCO strategy for gender equality in and through education 2019-2025, UNESCO, 2019, 978-92-3-100330-1,

Fashion

{{See also|Foot binding|Burqa}}{{Further|Gendered associations of pink and blue}}File:Gobert - Louis XV as child, Fundación Jakober.jpg|thumb|upright|alt= Louis XV as a boy wearing a pink dress. |Louis XVLouis XVFile:A HIGH CASTE LADYS DAINTY LILY FEET.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A Chinese woman shows the effects of foot binding on her feet. |Chinese woman shows the effect of foot bindingfoot bindingFeminists argue that clothing and footwear fashion have been oppressive to women, restricting their movements, increasing their vulnerability, and endangering their health.BOOK, Jeffreys, Sheila,www.feministes-radicales.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Jeffreys_Beauty_and_Misogyny_Harmful_Cultural_Practices_in_the_West__Women_and_Psychology_1.pdf, Beauty and Misogyny:Harmful cultural practices in the west, Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005, 978-0-203-69856-3, East Sussex, March 8, 2013,www.feministes-radicales.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Jeffreys_Beauty_and_Misogyny_Harmful_Cultural_Practices_in_the_West__Women_and_Psychology_1.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20130606103815www.feministes-radicales.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Jeffreys_Beauty_and_Misogyny_Harmful_Cultural_Practices_in_the_West__Women_and_Psychology_1.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20130606103815www.feministes-radicales.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Jeffreys_Beauty_and_Misogyny_Harmful_Cultural_Practices_in_the_West__Women_and_Psychology_1.pdf, June 6, 2013, live, Using thin models in the fashion industry has encouraged the development of bulimia and anorexia nervosa, as well as locking female consumers into false feminine identities.BOOK, Hollows, Joanne,archive.org/details/feminismfeminini0000holl, Feminism, Femininity and Popular Culture, Manchester University Press, 2000, 978-0-7190-4394-9, Manchester, UK, 139, Oppressive fashions feminism., March 11, 2013, registration, The assignment of gender-specific baby clothes can instill in children a belief in negative gender stereotypes.NEWS, Bindel, Julie, January 24, 2012, Julie Bindel: Boys aren’t born wanting to wear blue,www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/julie-bindel-boys-arent-born-wanting-to-wear-blue-6293688.html, The Independent, London, One example is the assignment in some countries of the color pink to girls and blue to boys. The fashion is recent one. At the beginning of the 20th century the trend was the opposite: blue for girls and pink for boys.MAGAZINE, Maglaty, Jeanne, April 7, 2011, When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?,www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-did-girls-start-wearing-pink-1370097/, March 16, 2015, Smithsonian (magazine), Smithsonian, In the early 1900s, The Women’s Journal wrote that “pink being a more decided and stronger colour, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl”. DressMaker magazine also explained that “[t]he preferred colour to dress young boys in is pink. Blue is reserved for girls as it is considered paler, and the more dainty of the two colours, and pink is thought to be stronger (akin to red)”.NEWS, January 8, 2009, Should we not dress girls in pink?,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7817496.stm, March 31, 2015, BBC News, Today, in many countries, it is considered inappropriate for boys to wear dresses and skirts, but this is also a relatively recent view. From the mid-16th centuryMelanie Scheussler suggests a date of post-1540 for England, France, and the Low Countries; see Scheussler, {{“’}}She Hath Over Grown All that She Ever Hath’: Children’s Clothing in the Lisle Letters, 1533–40”, in Netherton, Robin, and Gale R. Owen-Crocker, editors, Medieval Clothing and Textiles, Volume 3, p. 185. Before roughly this date various styles of long robes were in any case commonly worn by adult males of various sorts, so boys wearing them could probably not be said to form a distinct phenomenon. until the late 19th or early 20th century, young boys in the Western world were unbreeched and wore gowns or dresses until an age that varied between two and eight.Baumgarten, Linda: What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America, p. 166Laws that dictate how women must dress are seen by many international human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, as gender discrimination.WEB, 10 November 2010, Women’s right to choose their dress, free of coercion,doc.es.amnesty.org/cgi-bin/ai/BRSCGI/WOMENS%20RIGHT%20TO%20CHOOSE%20THEIR%20DRESS%20FREE%20OF%20COERCION?CMD=VEROBJ&MLKOB=29309215959,web.archive.org/web/20130927134431/https://doc.es.amnesty.org/cgi-bin/ai/BRSCGI/WOMENS%20RIGHT%20TO%20CHOOSE%20THEIR%20DRESS%20FREE%20OF%20COERCION?CMD=VEROBJ&MLKOB=29309215959, 2013-09-27, PDF, Amnesty International, 1, PDF, IOR 40/022/2010, In many countries, women face violence for failing to adhere to certain dress codes, whether by the authorities (such as the religious police), family members, or the community.NEWS, July 15, 2007, Iran to intensify dress crackdown,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6900111.stm, BBC News, NEWS, March 15, 2002, Saudi police ‘stopped’ fire rescue,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1874471.stm, 2015-03-31, BBC News, Amnesty International states:Interpretations of religion, culture, or tradition cannot justify imposing rules about dress on those who choose to dress differently. States should take measures to protect individuals from being coerced to dress in specific ways by family members, community or religious groups or leaders.The production process also faces criticism for sexist practices. In the garment industry, approximately 80 percent of workers are female.WEB, Davelaar, Geertjan, Gender: Women workers mistreated—Clean Clothes Campaign,cleanclothes.org/issues/gender, November 6, 2016, cleanclothes.org, en, Much garment production is located in Asia because of low labor costs. Women who work in these factories are sexually harassed by managers and male workers, paid low wages, and discriminated against when pregnant.NEWS, March 11, 2015, Work Faster or Get Out,www.hrw.org/report/2015/03/11/work-faster-or-get-out/labor-rights-abuses-cambodias-garment-industry, November 6, 2016, Human Rights Watch,

Female genital mutilation

File:Campaign road sign against female genital mutilation (cropped).jpg|left|thumb|alt=Campaign sign against female genital mutilation that reads:Stop Female Circumcision It is Dangerous to Women’s Health |Campaign against female genital mutilation in UgandaUgandaFemale genital mutilation is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons”. The WHO further states, “The practice has no health benefits for girls and women and [can] cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths.“WEB, 5 February 2024, Female genital mutilation,www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation, 18 February 2024, Newsroom, World Health Organization, It “is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women” and “constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women”. The European Parliament stated in a 2014 resolution that the practice “clearly goes against the European founding value of equality between women and men and maintains traditional values according to which women are seen as the objects and properties of men”.WEB, Texts adopted - Elimination of female genital mutilation - Thursday, 6 February 2014,www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-7-2014-0105_EN.html, 18 February 2024, European Parliament,

Gendercide and forced sterilization

(File:2012 Birth Sex Ratio World Map.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|left|alt= World map showing birth sex ratios |World map of birth sex ratios, 2012)(File:Something you wouldn’t see in America (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|alt=Sign in an Indian clinic reading “Prenatal disclosure of sex of foetues is prohibited under law” in English and Hindi.)(File:G106-Dajipu-to-Daye-hills-0068.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|left|alt= Roadside graffiti reading:“Crack down on medically unnecessary fetus sex identification and pregnancy termination practices.” |“Crack down on medically unnecessary fetus sex identification and pregnancy termination practices.”)Female infanticide is the killing of newborn female children, while female selective abortion is the terminating of a pregnancy based upon the female sex of the fetus. Gendercide is the systematic killing of members of a specific gender and it is an extreme form of gender-based violence.WEB,eige.europa.eu/content/what-is-gender-based-violence, What is gender-based violence?, EIGE, September 24, 2013, May 9, 2015,eige.europa.eu/content/what-is-gender-based-violence," title="web.archive.org/web/20150509145046eige.europa.eu/content/what-is-gender-based-violence,">web.archive.org/web/20150509145046eige.europa.eu/content/what-is-gender-based-violence, WEB,www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/medical/infanticide_1.shtml, Ethics—Abortion: Female infanticide, BBC, live,web.archive.org/web/20240116171112/https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/medical/infanticide_1.shtml, Jan 16, 2024, WEB,www.gsdrc.org/go/topic-guides/gender/gender-based-violence, Gender-based violence, GSDRC, March 31, 2015, dead,www.gsdrc.org/go/topic-guides/gender/gender-based-violence," title="web.archive.org/web/20150414235651www.gsdrc.org/go/topic-guides/gender/gender-based-violence,">web.archive.org/web/20150414235651www.gsdrc.org/go/topic-guides/gender/gender-based-violence, Apr 14, 2015, Female infanticide is more common than male infanticide, and is especially prevalent in South Asia, in countries such as China, India and Pakistan.NEWS,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6934540.stm, BBC News, Nick, Bryant, Girls at risk amid India’s prosperity, August 18, 2007, March 31, 2015, live,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6934540.stm," title="web.archive.org/web/20160101131250news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6934540.stm,">web.archive.org/web/20160101131250news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6934540.stm, Jan 1, 2016, WEB,www.domesticviolenceservices.com/female-infanticide.html, Female Infanticide in India and China, September 24, 2013, Recent studies suggest that over 90 million women and girls are missing in China and India as a result of infanticide.“Missing: 50 million Indian girls”. The New York Times. November 25, 2005WEB,iussp2005.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=51345, Estimation of the Number of Missing Females in China: 1900-2000, July 15, 2013,iussp2005.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=51345," title="web.archive.org/web/20120420051451iussp2005.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=51345,">web.archive.org/web/20120420051451iussp2005.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=51345, April 20, 2012, Sex-selective abortion involves terminating a pregnancy based upon the predicted sex of the baby. The abortion of female fetuses is most common in areas where a culture values male children over females, such as parts of East Asia and South Asia (China, India, Korea), the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia), and Western Balkans (Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo).JOURNAL, 1999, Should Prenatal Sex Selection be Restricted?: Ethical Questions and Their Implications for Research and Policy, Population Studies, 53, 1, 49–61, 10.1080/00324720308069, 2584811, Goodkind, Daniel, BOOK, A., Gettis, J., Getis, J. D., Fellmann, 2004, Introduction to Geography, Ninth, New York, McGraw-Hill, 200, 978-0-07-252183-2, One reason for this preference is that males are seen as generating more income than females. The trend has grown steadily over the previous decade, and may result in a future shortage of women.WEB,www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110314132244.htm, The impact of sex selection and abortion in China, India and South Korea, ScienceDaily, en, August 26, 2019, Forced sterilization and forced abortion are also forms of gender-based violence. Forced sterilization was practiced during the first half of the 20th century by many Western countries and there are reports of this practice being currently employed in some countries, such as Uzbekistan and China.NEWS,www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17612550, BBC News, Uzbekistan’s policy of secretly sterilising women, April 12, 2012, March 31, 2015, WEB,www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01fjx63, BBC Radio 4—Crossing Continents, Forced Sterilisation in Uzbekistan, BBC, March 31, 2015, WEB,www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/130409/china-mother-dies-after-forced-sterilization-one-child-policy, China ‘one-child’ policy: Mother of 2 dies after forced sterilization—GlobalPost, GlobalPost, WEB,www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/thousands-risk-forced-sterilization-china-2010-04-22, Everything you need to know about human rights, Amnesty International, March 31, 2015, May 29, 2013,web.archive.org/web/20130529125647/https://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/thousands-risk-forced-sterilization-china-2010-04-22, In China, the one child policy interacting with the low status of women has been deemed responsible for many abuses, such as female infanticide, sex-selective abortion, abandonment of baby girls, forced abortion, and forced sterilization.NEWS,www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-34667551, Explainer: What was China’s one-child policy?, 29 October 2015, BBC News, NEWS,www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/06/chinas-barbaric-one-child-policy, China’s barbaric one-child policy, Ma, Jian, May 6, 2013, The Guardian, In India, the custom of dowry is strongly related to female infanticide, sex-selective abortion, abandonment and mistreatment of girls.WEB, Kirti Singh, August 2013, Laws and Son Preference in India: A Reality Check,india.unfpa.org/drive/LawsandSonPreferenceinIndia.pdf,india.unfpa.org/drive/LawsandSonPreferenceinIndia.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20140313094849india.unfpa.org/drive/LawsandSonPreferenceinIndia.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20140313094849india.unfpa.org/drive/LawsandSonPreferenceinIndia.pdf, March 13, 2014, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)—India, Such practices are especially present in the northwestern part of the country: Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Delhi. (See Female foeticide in India and Female infanticide in India).

Legal justice and regulations

File:Taliban beating woman in public RAWA.jpg|thumb|alt=A Taliban religious policeman beating a woman because she removed her burqa in public.| Member of the Taliban’s religious police beating an Afghan woman in Kabul on August 26, 2001. State violence against women is a form of discrimination.]]In several Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries the legal testimony of a woman is worth legally half of that of a man (see Status of women’s testimony in Islam). Such countries include: Algeria (in criminal cases), Bahrain (in Sharia courts), Egypt (in family courts), Iran (in most cases), Iraq (in some cases), Jordan (in Sharia courts), Kuwait (in family courts), Libya (in some cases), Morocco (in family cases), Palestine (in cases related to marriage, divorce and child custody), Qatar (in family law matters), Syria (in Sharia courts), United Arab Emirates (in some civil matters), Yemen (not allowed to testify at all in cases of adultery and retribution), and Saudi Arabia.WEB, Gender equality profiles from the Middle East and North Africa Region,www.unicef.org/gender/gender_62215.html,www.unicef.org/gender/gender_62215.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20150326010714www.unicef.org/gender/gender_62215.html,">web.archive.org/web/20150326010714www.unicef.org/gender/gender_62215.html, March 26, 2015, 2015-03-31, UNICEF, NEWS, Article 7: Right to equal protection by the law,www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/casestudy_art07.shtml, March 31, 2015, BBC World Service, BBC, Such laws have been criticized by Human Rights Watch and Equality Now as being discriminatory towards women.WEB, May 7, 2012, Codifying Repression,www.hrw.org/zh-hans/node/109622/section/11, March 31, 2015, Human Rights Watch, April 2, 2015,www.hrw.org/zh-hans/node/109622/section/11," title="web.archive.org/web/20150402132636www.hrw.org/zh-hans/node/109622/section/11,">web.archive.org/web/20150402132636www.hrw.org/zh-hans/node/109622/section/11, dead, WEB, February 6, 2015, The Islamic Penal Code of 2013, Books I, II and V,www.equalitynow.org/law/the_islamic_penal_code_of_2013_books_i_ii_and_v,www.equalitynow.org/law/the_islamic_penal_code_of_2013_books_i_ii_and_v," title="web.archive.org/web/20150402163041www.equalitynow.org/law/the_islamic_penal_code_of_2013_books_i_ii_and_v,">web.archive.org/web/20150402163041www.equalitynow.org/law/the_islamic_penal_code_of_2013_books_i_ii_and_v, April 2, 2015, March 31, 2015, Equality Now, The criminal justice system in many common law countries has also been accused of discriminating against women. Provocation is, in many common law countries, a partial defense to murder, which converts what would have been murder into manslaughter. It is meant to be applied when a person kills in the “heat of passion” upon being “provoked” by the behavior of the victim. This defense has been criticized as being gendered, favoring men, because of it being used disproportionately in cases of adultery, and other domestic disputes when women are killed by their partners. As a result of the defense exhibiting a strong gender bias, and being a form of legitimization of male violence against women and minimization of the harm caused by violence against women, it has been abolished or restricted in several jurisdictions.{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140623052433www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/publications.nsf/0/F2BA1BFEED2D87EECA257A4800001BD7/%24File/briefing%20paper.provocation%20and%20self-defence.pdf|date=June 23, 2014}}JOURNAL, Kate Fitz-Gibbon, August 1, 2012, Provocation in New South Wales: The need for abolition, Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 45, 2, 194–213, 10.1177/0004865812443681, 144833987, The traditional leniency towards crimes of passion] in Latin American countries has been deemed to have its origin in the view that women are property.WEB, Mayell, Hillary, February 12, 2002, Thousands of Women Killed for Family ‘Honor’,news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/02/0212_020212_honorkilling.html, dead,news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/02/0212_020212_honorkilling.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20020215152919news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/02/0212_020212_honorkilling.html,">web.archive.org/web/20020215152919news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/02/0212_020212_honorkilling.html, February 15, 2002, National Geographic News, In 2002, Widney Brown, advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, stated that, “[S]o-called crimes of passion have a similar dynamic [to honor killings] in that the women are killed by male family members and the crimes are perceived as excusable or understandable.” The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has called for “the elimination of discriminatory provisions in the legislation, including mitigating factors for ‘crimes of passion{{’}}.“WEB, August 2013, Gender-Related Killings of Women and Girls,www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/OnePagers/Gender_motivated_killings.pdf, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, In the United States, some studies have shown that for identical crimes, men are given harsher sentences than women. Controlling for arrest offense, criminal history, and other pre-charge variables, sentences are over 60% heavier for men. Women are more likely to avoid charges entirely, and to avoid imprisonment if convicted.NEWS, McCormack, Simon, September 11, 2012, Men Sentenced To Longer Prison Terms Than Women For Same Crimes, Study Says,www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/11/men-women-prison-sentence-length-gender-gap_n_1874742.html, July 20, 2013, Huffington Post, WEB, Nov 16, 2012, Prof. Starr’s research shows large unexplained gender disparities in federal criminal cases,www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/features/Pages/starr_gender_disparities.aspx, dead,www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/features/Pages/starr_gender_disparities.aspx," title="web.archive.org/web/20131005022637www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/features/Pages/starr_gender_disparities.aspx,">web.archive.org/web/20131005022637www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/features/Pages/starr_gender_disparities.aspx, Oct 5, 2013, The University of Michigan Law School, The gender disparity varies according to the nature of the case. For example, the gender gap is less pronounced in fraud cases than in drug trafficking and firearms. This disparity occurs in US federal courts, despite guidelines designed to avoid differential sentencing.THESIS, Doerner, Jill Kathleen, Explaining the Gender Gap in Sentencing Outcomes: An Investigation of Differential Treatment in U.S. Federal Courts, 2009, Ph.D., Bowling Green State University,etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=bgsu1237482038, OhioLINK ETD Center,etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=bgsu1237482038," title="web.archive.org/web/20130630184354etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=bgsu1237482038,">web.archive.org/web/20130630184354etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=bgsu1237482038, 2013-06-30, The death penalty may also suffer from gender bias. According to Shatz and Shatz, “[t]he present study confirms what earlier studies have shown: that the death penalty is imposed on women relatively infrequently and that it is disproportionately imposed for the killing of women”.WEB, Feb 28, 2011, Studies: Gender Bias in Death Sentencing,www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/studies-gender-bias-death-sentencing, March 31, 2015, Death Penalty Information Center, There have been several reasons postulated for the gender criminal justice disparity in the United States. One of the most common is the expectation that women are predominantly care-givers. Other possible reasons include the “girlfriend theory” (whereby women are seen as tools of their boyfriends), the theory that female defendants are more likely to cooperate with authorities, and that women are often successful at turning their violent crime into victimhood by citing defenses such as postpartum depression or battered wife syndrome.BOOK, Pearson, Patricia,archive.org/details/whenshewasbadhow00pear/page/236, When She Was Bad: How and Why Women Get Away With Murder, Penguin Books, 1998, 978-0-14-024388-8, New York, 236–239, However, none of these theories account for the total disparity, and sexism has also been suggested as an underlying cause.“Unlike race and ethnic discrimination, however, the evidence is more consistent that part of this gap is due to different treatment of offenders based on their gender.“WEB, Chapter Four: Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities In Federal Sentencing Today,www.ussc.gov/Research_and_Statistics/Research_Projects/Miscellaneous/15_Year_Study/chap4.pdf,www.ussc.gov/Research_and_Statistics/Research_Projects/Miscellaneous/15_Year_Study/chap4.pdf," title="web.archive.org/web/20130823204828www.ussc.gov/Research_and_Statistics/Research_Projects/Miscellaneous/15_Year_Study/chap4.pdf,">web.archive.org/web/20130823204828www.ussc.gov/Research_and_Statistics/Research_Projects/Miscellaneous/15_Year_Study/chap4.pdf, August 23, 2013, August 30, 2013, Ussc.gov, Gender discrimination also helps explain the differences between trial outcomes in which some female defendants are sentenced to death and other female defendants are sentenced to lesser punishments. Phillip Barron argues that female defendants are more likely to be sentenced to death for crimes that violate gender norms, such as killing children or killing strangers.JOURNAL, Barron, Phillip, 2000, Gender Discrimination in the U.S. Death Penalty System,philpapers.org/rec/BARGDI, Radical Philosophy Review, 3, 1, 89–96, 10.5840/radphilrev20003110, Transgender people face widespread discrimination while incarcerated. They are generally housed according to their legal birth sex, rather than their gender identity. Studies have shown that transgender people are at an increased risk for harassment and sexual assault in this environment. They may also be denied access to medical procedures related to their reassignment.“Unlike race and ethnic discrimination, however, the evidence is more consistent that part of this gap is due to different treatment of offenders based on their gender.“WEB, July 25, 2013, Real life Sophia Bursets Transgender Women face a nightmare in Men’s Prisons,www.autostraddle.com/real-life-sophia-bursets-transgender-women-face-a-nightmare-in-mens-prisons-186876/, October 18, 2013, Some countries use stoning as a form of capital punishment. According to Amnesty International, the majority of those stoned are women and women are disproportionately affected by stoning because of sexism in the legal system.WEB, January 15, 2008, Amnesty International—Iran: Death by stoning, a grotesque and unacceptable penalty,www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/iran-death-stoning-grotesque-and-unacceptable-penalty-20080115,www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/iran-death-stoning-grotesque-and-unacceptable-penalty-20080115," title="web.archive.org/web/20131020184028www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/iran-death-stoning-grotesque-and-unacceptable-penalty-20080115,">web.archive.org/web/20131020184028www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/iran-death-stoning-grotesque-and-unacceptable-penalty-20080115, October 20, 2013, amnesty.org, One study found that: [O]n average, women receive lighter sentences in comparison with men{{nbsp}}... roughly 30% of the gender differences in incarceration cannot be explained by the observed criminal characteristics of offense and offender. We also find evidence of considerable heterogeneity across judges in their treatment of female and male offenders. There is little evidence, however, that tastes for gender discrimination are driving the mean gender disparity or the variance in treatment between judges.JOURNAL, Butcher, Kristin F., Park, Kyung H., Morrison Piehl, Anne, 2017, Comparing Apples to Oranges: Differences in Women’s and Men’s Incarceration and Sentencing Outcomes,www.nber.org/papers/w23079.pdf, Journal of Labor Economics, 35, S1, S201–S234, 10.1086/691276, 149991197, A 2017 study by Knepper found that “female plaintiffs filing workplace sex discrimination claims are substantially more likely to settle and win compensation whenever a female judge is assigned to the case. Additionally, female judges are 15 percentage points less likely than male judges to grant motions filed by defendants, which suggests that final negotiations are shaped by the emergence of the bias.“JOURNAL, Knepper, Matthew, 2017, When the Shadow is the Substance: Judge Gender and the Outcomes of Workplace Sex Discrimination Cases, Journal of Labor Economics, 36, 3, 623–664, 10.1086/696150, 157714160,

Reproductive rights

The United Nations Population Fund writes that, “Family planning is central to gender equality and women’s empowerment”.WEB, Family planning—UNFPA—United Nations Population Fund,www.unfpa.org/family-planning, June 14, 2015, Women in many countries around the world are denied medical and informational services related to reproductive health, including access to pregnancy care, family planning, and contraception.WEB, Paul Hunt, Judith Bueno de Mesquita, Reducing Maternal Mortality,www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/reducing_mm.pdf, In countries with very strict abortion laws (particularly in Latin America) women who suffer miscarriages are often investigated by the police under suspicion of having deliberately provoked the miscarriage and are sometimes jailed,NEWS, Lakhani, Nina, October 18, 2013, El Salvador: Where women may be jailed for miscarrying,www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24532694, June 14, 2015, a practice which Amnesty International called a “ruthless campaign against women’s rights”.WEB, January 15, 2015, El Salvador must release women imprisoned after pregnancy related complications,www.amnesty.org/en/articles/news/2015/01/el-salvador-must-release-women-imprisoned-after-pregnancy-related-complications/, Doctors may be reluctant to treat pregnant women who are very ill, because they are afraid the treatment may result in fetal loss.WEB, Nicaragua abortion ban ‘cruel and inhuman disgrace’,edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/28/nicaragua.abortion.ban/, June 14, 2015, According to Amnesty International, “Discriminatory attitudes towards women and girls also means access to sex education and contraceptives are near impossible [in El Salvador]”.WEB, El Salvador: Total ban on abortion is killing women and girls and condemning others to decades behind bars,www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/el-salvador-total-ban-on-abortion-is-killing-women-and-girls-and-condemning-others-to-decades-behind, June 14, 2015, Amnesty International USA, The organization has also criticized laws and policies which require the husband’s consent for a woman to use reproductive health services as being discriminatory and dangerous to women’s health and life: “[F]or the woman who needs her husband’s consent to get contraception, the consequences of discrimination can be serious—even fatal”.WEB, Women’s Lives, Women’s Rights Campaigning for Maternal Health and Sexual and Reproductive Rights,www.amnesty.ca/sites/amnesty/files/womens_lives_womens_rights_campaigning.pdf, Amnesty International,

Sexual assault and treatment of victims

File:Bangalore protests following Delhi gang-rape (photo - Jim Ankan Deka).jpg|thumb|alt=People carrying a banner marching in a protest against gang rape|People in Bangalore, India, demanding justice for a student gang-raped in Delhi in 2012]]Research by Lisak and Roth into factors motivating perpetrators of sexual assault, including rape, against women revealed a pattern of hatred towards women and pleasure in inflicting psychological and physical trauma, rather than sexual interest.JOURNAL, Lisak, D., David Lisak, Roth, S., 1988, Motivational factors in nonincarcerated sexually aggressive men, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 5, 795–802, 3210146, 10.1037/0022-3514.55.5.795, Mary Odem and Peggy Reeves Sanday posit that rape is the result not of pathology but of systems of male dominance, cultural practices and beliefs.JOURNAL, The Socio-Cultural Context of Rape: A Cross-Cultural Study, Sanday, Peggy Reeves, Journal of Social Issues, 1981, 37, 4, 5–27, 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1981.tb01068.x, Odem, Jody Clay-Warner, and Susan Brownmiller argue that sexist attitudes are propagated by a series of myths about rape and rapists.{{rp|130–140}}BOOK, Brownmiller, Susan, Susan Brownmiller, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape, 1975, Penguin Books, Limited, New York, 978-0-14-013986-0, 480, They state that in contrast to those myths, rapists often plan a rape before they choose a victim and acquaintance rape (not assault by a stranger) is the most common form of rape.{{rp|xiv}}BOOK, Parrot, Andrea, Bechhofer, Laurie, Bohmer, Carol, Acquaintance rape and the law, Acquaintance rape: the hidden crime, 1991, Wiley (publisher), Wiley, New York, 978-0-471-51023-9, 317–333, Odem also asserts that these rape myths propagate sexist attitudes about men, by perpetuating the belief that men cannot control their sexuality.BOOK, Odem, Mary E., Clay-Warner, Jody, Confronting rape and sexual assault, 1998, Scholarly Resources, Wilmington, Del., 978-0-8420-2599-7, 135,archive.org/details/confrontingrapes00odem/page/135, Sexism can promote the stigmatization of women and girls who have been raped and inhibit recovery.WEB,whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2002/9241545615_chap6_eng.pdf?ua=1, World report on violence and health, whqlibdoc.who.int, December 4, 2019, In many parts of the world, women who have been raped are ostracized, rejected by their families, subjected to violence, and—in extreme cases—may become victims of honor killings because they are deemed to have brought shame upon their families.NEWS,www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13760895, BBC News, Libya rape victims ‘face honour killings’, June 14, 2011, March 31, 2015, The criminalization of marital rape is very recent, having occurred during the past few decades; in many countries it is still legal. Several countries in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia made spousal rape illegal before 1970; other European countries and some English-speaking countries outside Europe outlawed it later, mostly in the 1980s and 1990s;BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=VWttAAAAQBAJ&q=The+Routledge+Handbook+of+European+Criminology&pg=PR1, The Routledge Handbook of European Criminology, Google.ro, March 31, 2015, 978-1-136-18549-6, Body-Gendrot, Sophie Body-Gendrot, Sophie, Hough, Mike, Kerezsi, Klara, Lévy, René, Snacken, Sonja, August 15, 2013, Routledge, some countries outlawed it in the 2000s.NEWS,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6225872.stm, Thailand passes marital rape bill, 21 June 2007, BBC News, The WHO wrote that: “Marriage is often used to legitimize a range of forms of sexual violence against women. The custom of marrying off young children, particularly girls, is found in many parts of the world. This practice—legal in many countries—is a form of sexual violence, since the children involved are unable to give or withhold their consent”.In countries where fornication or adultery are illegal, victims of rape can be charged criminally.NEWS,www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-21595814, BBC News—Maldives girl to get 100 lashes for pre-marital sex, March 31, 2015, February 26, 2013, Lang, Olivia,

War rape

File:DRC raped women.jpg|thumb|alt=Female rape victims stand in front of a “peace hut”. |Meeting of victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congosexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the CongoSexism is manifested by the crime of rape targeting women civilians and soldiers, committed by soldiers, combatants or civilians during armed conflict, war or military occupation. This arises from the long tradition of women being seen as sexual booty and from the misogynistic culture of military training.NEWS,www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103844570, The Nation: The Plight of Women Soldiers, May 6, 2009, NPR, March 31, 2015, Benedict, Helen, JOURNAL,www.inthesetimes.com/article/3848/, Why Soldiers Rape, In These Times (publication), In These Times, March 31, 2015, August 13, 2008, May 18, 2019,inthesetimes.com/article/3848/," title="web.archive.org/web/20190518145847inthesetimes.com/article/3848/,">web.archive.org/web/20190518145847inthesetimes.com/article/3848/,

See also

{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}

• Ambivalent sexism
• Antifeminism
• Conscription and sexism
• Discrimination against men
• Discrimination against non-binary people
• Femicide
• Feminism
• Gender apartheid
• Gender bias on Pseudopedia
• Gender discrimination in Pakistan
• Gendered racism
• Gender egalitarianism
• Gender neutrality
• Gender polarization
• Heterosexism
• Hipster sexism
• Internalized sexism
• Male privilege
• Masculism
• Matriarchy
• Men and feminism
• Men’s movement
• Misandry
• Misogyny
• National Organization for Men Against Sexism
• Occupational sexism
• Pink-collar worker
• Reverse sexism
• Sex differences in humans
• Sexism and video games
• Sexism in academia
• Sexism in India
• Sexism in the technology industry
• Sex segregation

{{div col end}}

Sources

{{Free-content attribution| title = From access to empowerment: UNESCO strategy for gender equality in and through education 2019-2025| author = UNESCO| publisher = UNESCO| page numbers = | source = UNESCO| documentURL =unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000369000?posInSet=1&queryId=1d7dd56b-7298-433b-a194-50d378d393e6| license statement URL = | license = CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO}}

References

{{Reflist}}

Bibliography

• Atwell, Mary Welek. 2002. ‘Equal Protection of the Law?: Gender and Justice in the United States’. New York: P. Lang. {{ISBN|978-0-8204-5502-0}}
• Benatar, David. The Second Sexism: Discrimination Against Men And Boys. 2012. John Wiley & Sons Inc., West Sussex, UK; {{ISBN|978-0-470-67446-8}}
• JOURNAL, Bojarska, Katarzyna, 2012, Responding to lexical stimuli with gender associations: A Cognitive–Cultural Model, Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 10.1177/0261927X12463008, 32, 46–61, 145006661,
• BOOK, Cudd, Ann E., Andreasen, Robin O., Ann Cudd, Feminist theory: a philosophical anthology, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK Malden, Massachusetts, 2005, 978-1-4051-1661-9, Part II What is Sexism? pp. 69–114.
• {{citation |last1=Cudd |first1=Ann E. |last2=Jones |first2=Leslie E. |author-link1=Ann Cudd |contribution=Sexism |editor1-last=Frey |editor1-first=R.G. |editor2-last=Heath Wellman |editor2-first=Christopher |title=A companion to applied ethics |pages=102–117 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |series=Blackwell Companions to Philosophy |location=Oxford, UK; Malden, Massachusetts |year=2005 |doi=10.1002/9780470996621.ch8 |isbn=978-1-4051-3345-6 |postscript=. |url=https://archive.org/details/companiontoappli0000unse/page/102}}
• “Discrimination against Transgender People.” ACLU. Available (online) : against Transgender People.” ACLU. Available (online) : Transgender Rights
• “Employment Non-Discrimination Act”. Human Rights Campaign. Available (online): www.hrc.org/laws-and-legislation/federal-legislation/employment-non-discrimination-act" title="web.archive.org/web/20140520071809www.hrc.org/laws-and-legislation/federal-legislation/employment-non-discrimination-act">Employment Non-Discrimination Act | Human Rights Campaign
• Feder, Jody and Cynthia Brougher. Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination in Employment: A Legal Analysis of the Employment {{ISBN?}}
• Haberfeld, Yitchak. Employment Discrimination: An Organizational Model {{ISBN?}}
• Hurst, C. Social Inequality: Forms, Causes, and Consequences. Sixth Edition. 2007. 131, 139–142 {{ISBN?}}
• Macklem, Tony. 2004. Beyond Comparison: Sex and Discrimination. New York: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN?}}
• Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).” July 15, 2013. Available (online): www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40934.pdf
• Leila Schneps and Coralie Colmez, Math on trial. How numbers get used and abused in the courtroom, Basic Books, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-465-03292-1}}. (Sixth chapter: “Math error number 6: Simpson’s paradox. The Berkeley sex bias case: discrimination detection“).
• “Transgender.” UC Berkekely Online. Available (online): GenEq | Centers for Educational Justice & Community Engagement ↑ ↑ “Discrimination against Transgender People.” ACLU. Available (online) : Transgender Rights
• Management Journal 35.1 (1992): 161–180. Business Source Complete.
• Kail, R., & Cavanaugh, J. (2010). Human Growth and Development (5 ed.). Belmont, Ca: Wadsworth Learning {{ISBN?}}

External links

{{Commons category|Sexism}}

• {{Wiktionary inline}}
• Sexism in the Workplace
• 10 sexist scenarios that women face at work
• The New Subtle Sexism Toward Women in the Workplace
• Sexism in Language {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191121082351www.linguarama.com/ps/legal-themed-english/sexism-in-language.htm |date=November 21, 2019 }}
• Sexist Language

{{Discrimination}}{{Sexual identities}}{{Feminism}}{{Authority control}}