Sexism In The Workplace Essay Example For Students

Sexism In The Workplace Essay Gender RolesChildren learn from their parents and society the conception offeminine and masculine. Much about these conceptions is not biological atall but cultural. The way we tend to think about men and women and their genderroles in society constitute the prevailing paradigm that influences out thinking. Riane Eisler points out that the prevailing paradigm makes it difficult for usto analyze properly the roles of men and women in prehistory we have a culturalbias that we bring to the effort and that colors our decision-making processes. Sexism is the result of that bias imposed by our process of acculturation. Gender roles in Western societies have been changing rapidly in recentyears, with the changes created both by evolutionary changes in society,including economic shifts which have altered the way people work and indeedwhich people work as more and more women enter the workforce, and by perhapspressure brought to make changes because of the perception that the traditionalsocial structure was inequitable. Gender relations are a part of thesocialization process, the initiation given the young by society, teaching themcertain values and creating in them certain behavior patterns acceptable totheir social roles. These roles have been in a state of flux in Americansociety in recent years, and men and women today can be seen as having expandedtheir roles in society, with women entering formerly male dominions and menfinding new ways to relate to and function in the family unit. When I was growing up a woman was never heard of having a job other thana school teacher or seamstress. Our(womens)job was to take careof the house. We had a big garden out back from which we got mostof our vegetables†¦A garden is a lot of work you know†¦We also had tomake clothes when there were none to be had(hand-me- downs)Gender can be defined as a social identity consisting of the role aperson is to play because of his or her sex. There is a diversity in male andfemale roles, making it impossible to define gender in terms of narrow male andfemale roles. Gender is culturally defined, with significant differences fromculture to culture. These differences are studied by anthropologists toascertain the range of behaviors that have developed to define gender and on theforces at work in the creation of these roles. The role of women in Americansociety was conditioned by religious attitudes and by the conditions of lifethat prevailed through much of American history. The cult ure of Europe andAmerica was based for centuries on a patriarchal system in which exclusiveownership of the female by a given male was considered important, with theresult that women were regulated to the role of property with no voice in theirown fate. The girl-child was trained from birth to fit the role awaiting her,and as long as compensations were adequate, women were relatively content:For Example, if in return for being a mans property a woman receiveseconomic security, a full emotional life centering around husband and children,and an opportunity to express her capacities in the management of her home, shehas little cause for discontent. While this statement is arguable in the way it assumes that women arenot discontented under such circumstances, it is clear that for most of historywomen were expected to be content with this sort of life and were trained forthat purpose. Clearly, circumstances of family life have changed in the modernera. Industry has been taken out of the home, and large families are no longereconomically possible or socially desired. The home is no longer the center ofthe husbands life, and for the traditional wife there is only a narrowing ofinterests and possibilities for development: Increasingly, the woman findsherself without an occupation and with an unsatisfactory emotional life. Thechange in sex roles that can be discerned in society is closely tied withchanges in the structure of the family. Changes in both family structure andsex roles over the last century have produced the ferment we still see today,and one of the problems with the changing role of women is the degree to whichsociety p erceives this is causing unwanted changes in the family, though it isjust as true that changes in the family have altered the roles of women. Communism In The American Education System EssayThose stuck in sexism, however, cannot grant even the simple request to ask whywomen are inferior. The reason sexism exists at all is because of anacculturation process which subtly creates it, and it is perpetuated in part forthat reason and also because perceived changes in the roles and status of womencreate a backlash based on fear of change. Surveys have shown that identical resumes or scholarly articles arerated lower if the applicant is though to be a woman rather than a man: Manssuccess is more likely to be attributed to ability and womans to luck. Whileadvances have been made over the last decade, the challenge remains for the next,and as long as women constitute small minorities in nontraditional employmentcontexts, substantial obstacles will remain. The women in the workplace mustwork harder to succeed than their male counterparts, and once they havesucceeded they have to deal with the envy and anxiety this arouses. Women whodo not advance only confirm the stereotype for others:The perception remains that women cant make it by conventionalstandards, or are less committed to doing so. In either event, they donot seem to warrant the same investment in training, assistance,and promotion opportunities as their male counterparts. Feminist theorists have been calling for some time for a change in thepolitical climate. They want more than just more women in office and thepolitical arena; they want a new type of political thinking, one that empowerspeople rather than government and that addresses the issues that are ofimportance to men and women:If we can eliminate the false polarities and appreciate the limits andtrue potential of womens power, we will be able to join with menfollow or lead—in the new human politics that must emerge beyondreaction. This new human liberation will enable us to take back theday and the night, and use the precious and limited resources of ourearth and the limitless resources of our human capital to erect new kinds ofhomes for all our dreams. . . The perception the public has had on the role of men and women isoutdated and has been for some time, but public attitudes change slowly even inthe face of overwhelming evidence. More than 40 years ago, anthropologistMargaret Mead noted the way the West had developed its concept of male andfemale:There has long been a habit in Western civilization of men to havea picture of womanhood to which women reluctantly conformed,and for women to make demands on man to which men adjustedeven more reluctantly. This has been a accurate picture of the way inwhich we have structured our society, with women as keepers of thehouse who insist that the man wipe their feet on the door-mat, and menas keepers of women in the house who insist that their wivesshould stay modestly indoors. Today, people are far less willing to accept these artificial roles evenreluctantly, and this includes the provision keeping women in the home and outof the public arena. To have more women in office it is necessary to have morewomen run. As noted, public views change more slowly than the reality of genderroles. They will continue to change slowly as long as we continue acculturatingchildren with the same sexual stereotypes that have so long prevailed. It isnecessary that we address this issue from early childhood, with parentsdemonstrating a different view of gender and sexual roles just as the school andchurch should take a part in eliminating the old stereotypes in favor of a morereasonable and equitable way to view both men and women. Business