The Influence Of Sexism In The Workplace

Over the last several decades, great strides have been made when it comes to eliminating sexism and progressing towards gender equality. However, sexism is still ingrained in our everyday culture. This is evident in the fact that in 2017 women earn about 80 cents to a man’s dollar and are less likely to be promoted within the workplace. It’s an unfortunate fact the most women will experience some form of sexism throughout their lives. In this paper, I will address my personal experiences with both hostile and benevolent sexism, how the two forms of sexism differ, and how these experiences have affected me.

51 percent of the United States is female but only 34.4 percent of doctors are women. While 90.4 percent of nurses are female (“Women in Medicine”; “Male Nurses Becoming”), the women who do become doctors earn an astounding 25 percent less than their male counterparts (Groves). These staggering figures are only a single piece in the larger overall lack of women in STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, which has remained prevalent since the beginning of these fields. Although women are underrepresented in these STEM fields, this is not due to ineptitude, but instead it is a result of the force of societal stereotypes coupled with their wider range of abilities. The recent increase in women’s association with STEM seems

Moreover, all though “experiencing gender bias … Was mitigated among participants who also had a supportive network of STEM peers” (Robnett 73), due to the small number of women in STEM, this may be a hard task to accomplish (this will be further analyzed later in the study). A male-dominant environment can be difficult for women to permeate, as explained through the Social Identity Theory. This theory states that those in a place of privilege, such as being in the majority, will work to defend this privilege—in this context, this could be seen as men subconsciously seeing women in STEM as a threat. Gender bias in physics and math intensive fields puts women at a disadvantage, and furthermore these “Stereotypes can lead to biased evaluations against women in so-called gender-incongruous contexts, such as in STEM fields in which men have historically been dominant (engineering, physics, economics, computer science, geosciences, and mathematics)” (Ceci et al. 1). Therefore, as can be seen, women studying and working in physics and math-intensive fields face the additional challenges of stepping outside of their prescribed gender roles, permeating a male-dominant environment, and facing a possibly unwelcoming

Sexism against women in the workplace is still common, particularly in managerial positions, which creates glass ceilings for women who can do as good or better job as their male counterparts. It is a sad fact that sexism still exists in the twenty-first century. What is the glass ceiling you may ask? The glass ceiling is (Bell, Mclaughlin, & Sequeira, 2002) as “the invisible or artificial barriers that prevent women (and people of colour) from advancing past a certain level” (Federal Glass Ceiling Commission-FGCC, 1997; Morison and von Glinow, 1990). As a civilization where we want equality for all – we should strive to eliminate inequality caused by the glass ceiling. I believe that if we do not seek to eliminate sexism, it will have a negative impact on us and future generations.

Throughout the years, males have dominated the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) with very few females finding their way in the mix (Steinberg, Okun, & Aiken, 2012). Those females enrolling in the STEM majors soon find themselves questioning why they have, and many quickly change their majors to more female-accepting professions (Steele, James, & Barnett, 2002). The view that women lack the intellect to succeeded in STEM disciplines has been a prevailing one for much of history (Cadinu, Maass, Rosabianca, & Kiesner, 2005). Many researchers have questioned whether it is social stigma impeding female success or indeed basic biological differences that make males are more successful

Sexism in the Workplace The workplace is the area in which sexism is most commonly found. Sexism is in evidence in unfair recruitment practices, unequal pay, and intimidating behavior towards colleagues. Legislation is now in place in many countries that prohibits unfair treatment of staff on the grounds of their sex. The problem with this legislation is that they are often difficult to apply.

One area where structural sexism exists and has an impact on women today is in education. Until recently, approximately the same number of male and females were graduating high school and earning college degrees. However, that trend has been gradually changing. More women are now enrolling into colleges and universities and many women have higher educations than that of their husbands. The structural sexism component does not stem so much from the levels of education between men and women, but more about what career fields and professions women are continuing to pursue. Men still far outnumber women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professions. According to Understanding Social Problems, “reasons for the STEM gender

Sophomore year of high school, the Robotics Club sent some of our members to a unique STEM program: one about women in technology. There, I learned there existed a stigma against girls in these fields. At the time, however, my interest in technology was limited to a recreational club. I didn’t see how it applied to me, but I didn’t feel right ignoring something so important just because it didn’t concern me directly.

Some people say that sexism no longer exists in the workplace, yet only "19%" of women are in a presidential or chief position at work(Bomey ). Women are less likely to be hired for a job despite having all the qualifications, women earn less than men, and women are continuously harassed in the workplace. Despite the fact that women are capable to "perform with the same skill and success" as men, the issue of gender discrimination still continues to rise( ). In society, sometimes it can be difficult to recognize issues of sexism not only at work but in life. With the failure to realize gender discrimination and harassment in the world, educating people on the issue of sexism can make the workplace a success.

place brings negative consequences to their positive traits and limits their independence, rights and opportunities to succeed like man do.

For almost a century, women have been working in the same jobs as men but with lower “titles” and lower incomes. According to Naomi Barko, almost no women has entered a job that stereotypically classifies the job as a “man’s job.” The stereotypical “women’s job” incudes those of secretarial, teaching, and nursing which are often paid less for work that is harder than what most think. The majority of women and men who enter the “women’s job” continue wot complain about unequal pay hey are receiving comparable to that of the men in the same job, yet they continue to work in the same job and accept the pay they are receiving. There seems to be a major lack of action taken which is rooted from the social acceptance of womanly jobs are less important

-The stereotypical woman’s place is working at home, doing domestic tasks, and having lower statuses in their occupation

In class we discussed as a group about sexism and its effects on society. It was an interesting class that put so much perspective about the ramifications of this behavior. This discussion was around the same time of the Donald Trump scandal, where he made sexist comments and putdowns towards women. It made me realize that this is a current issue within the United States, where women especially are stereotyped or discriminated because of gender expectations or appearances. Thinking about the scandal, my outlook on the issue was that ‘men will be men.’ I wasn’t aware of my own micro-aggression that was being targeted towards my own gender. This class was an eye-opening experience where I began to realize my own perceptions and how I normalized

Sexism is still an issue in modern day America, but people are beginning to take a stand against issues such as this. My first experience with sexism in the workplace was at a young before I even had the chance to start a career. From the time I was a young girl I was determined to be a veterinarian and proudly told people that whenever I was asked. Then one day a male family member told me something that struck a nerve. I was told to change what I want to do because I was a female and my job would be to stay at home and raise a family and my husband would work or that I should find something more suitable for a woman. Little did I know that comments and actions such as this would not stop there and for many women it continues when they officially enter the workforce.

What builds a society and its perspectives? The way we are expected to act and live our lives has been constant. Traditional career roles and life choices for women have always been a non-technical, housemaker-kind. As a result, women have stayed to be underrepresented in various fields. One of those fields is STEM. Over the past years, women’s participation in STEM fields has been largely lower than that of men. There have been various reasons and implications behind this. The strongest one is that women stay undermined and are assessed incapable when compared to men. Women who have not yet entered science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields underestimate how well they will perform in those fields (e.g., Correll, 2001; Meece, Parsons, Kaczala, & Goff, 1982). They are forced to underestimate themselves and thus they kill the breakthroughs they could be a part of even before they even try to accomplish them.