It is 2021. Why I still have to write about sexism towards women blows my mind, but in order for maybe one day, my daughters and their daughters and thereafter will never have to experience sexism again, it is necessary for us to continue discussing this inequality in our world. The thing about sexism is that it is not limited to one singular profession or part of life, it can in fact be applied anywhere, in the workplace, signing a lease for an apartment, buying a car, and the list goes on and on. Specifically in this column, the discussion is focused around sexism towards women in the workplace, and even more specifically, the lack of women as CEOs, the sexism they experience at the top, and also, the discrimination women face when trying to make their way up to the top. 

Ad in support of speaking out about sexism in the workplace

First, in order to understand this issue clearly, it is important to dive into the two types of sexism and the roots of how sexism even began. Any reader knows and can think of obvious examples of the roots of sexism, with women being placed to be the “gathers” of food while men were subjected to being the “hunters” of food, therefore leading women to assume more “simplistic”, perhaps, roles throughout history, leaving “tougher” roles to men. Then, this led to the defining of gender roles and tasks as “feminine” and “masculine”. 

In a study conducted at the University of Chicago by economists, it was discovered that “white women born in parts of the United States where sexist attitudes are more prevalent grow up to earn less and to work less than women born elsewhere, relative to men born in those same states.” Even if you were to move from Indiana to Ohio where levels of sexism are extremely high to low, respectfully, it still does not matter for white women. In this case, if a white woman was born in Indiana and moved to Ohio, she most likely grew up potentially not knowing could “affect a woman’s willingness to bargain for higher wages…” which “…must be something of a product of where they’re from, and continues to affect them now.” An example that Dr. Charles, one of the economists involved in this study details that “a woman imbued with her value in the marketplace is likely to reject an insufficient raise.”  Throughout a woman’s career, it also does not completely depend on where you are from, but also where a woman moves to as well. The study gives an example of a woman moving from Indiana to a southern city where everything is centered around college football, and in order to remain relevant with her co-workers, she must learn everything there is to know about college football, along with expecting her to “take notes in meetings…interrupt her and wouldn’t look her in the eye”. 

% Experienced Gender Discrimination in the Workplace

The last sentence in the paragraph above mentioned one of the types of sexism there is…most people do not even know that there are two different types of sexism. The type of sexism described above is called hostile sexism, which is sexism that we are more typically familiar with: “obvious negative stereotypes, assessments or evaluations about a gender.” There is also benevolent sexism, which is ​​”subjectively positive attitudes of gender that are damaging to individuals (particularly women) and to gender equality more generally,” such as the “…assumption that women are inferior in some way, should be confined to traditional gender roles or need protection by men”. Women face both of these types of sexism in the workplace and more often than not, males do not realize that they are creating a sexist environment simply because they are not thinking about their actions and behaviors.

Will my gender affect my career? Perhaps

Now that there is a clear understanding of sexism, let us apply it to women moving up in the workplace and the discrimination still faced once at the top. In Jessica Nordell’s book The End of Bias: A Beginning, a simulated workplace is created and it discusses the “common, everyday slights” that are often overlooked and creates computer simulated data about sexism’s effect. At the end of the day, all of these little instances of sexism add up, one example being that “if a woman’s performance is undervalued by 3% over 10 years, it will take her 8.5 years to climb from entry-level employee to executive; a male peer will get there in four”. So while it already takes women extra time to get to the top, every single little instance of sexism can add up and derail a career. Yet, once reaching the top, it is still not a fair game for women as CEOs either. “Men tend to be threatened by powerful women,” and this causes “extreme jealousy and competitiveness” for lots of men. It is quite lonely for women in the C-Suite and there is not a lot of guidance and support from peers, especially male peers once making it up there. Instead, a woman in this position is seen as a threat to a male, as her being in this position is unacceptable and they must do everything to not have a woman at the top. These are all prime cases of sexism directed towards women, and honestly, it is really sad that this an issue; it seems like this is an insecurity and lack of confidence issue that some (if not all men) need to evaluate themselves and their actions and behavior towards women in the workplace, especially once reaching roles such as CEO.

This past semester, we have divulged into the topic of Othering, and certain instances when people and /or groups would be considered “Others”. It is not necessarily a term just to explain a group or a person who might be left out, different from the others, odd, etc., but rather describing these groups/persons as someone who does not align to your personal beliefs, ideals, and values. In this case, it is quite obvious to see that women, in different levels in the workplace, would be considered “Others” by men. An even greater issue is that there is not just one level in the workplace that women are considered “Others”, but it occurs all the way from entry level positions to CEO level, as discussed previously. Certain types of jobs also hold a degree of sexism towards women as well- historically, the number of female engineers and those in STEM roles has been smaller compared to males. Those fields are simply dominated by males and there is, one hundred percent, sexism towards women when applying, interviewing, and receiving the job- as the old-fashioned notion and phrase is coined as: “women are weaker than men and are not as good at math and/or science”. Sexism towards women is the root cause of what makes women “Others” in the workplace, and we all must do a better job at being able to close this gap that separates us as those in the workforce.

So, how can we make a difference? The greatest thing that women can ask of their male allies, is to “truly be aware” and “not be a bystander”. There are significant percentages that show that men can actually recognize sexism directed towards women in the workplace, but a mere 31% will actually act and create change, ask for help, report it, etc. Let us not be scared of our co-workers who have the same goals and values in mind for our company, but rather build each other up so that we can all feel one hundred percent ourselves in the workplace and express our ideas genuinely. We have all been in cases where we see something occurring and rather than acting, we simply ignore it and go on with our day. This is causing a huge amount of discrimination towards women in the workplace and we must be better about it. A few other personal favorite ways that we can help improve ourselves to be more aware about recognizing sexism and acting upon it: learning and asking. There are so many books out there on so many topics that can act as such value that you cannot necessarily always get from the internet. Look up books on sexism, especially trying to find books that discuss a personal experience with sexism, whether the author or someone close to them has experienced it in the book. But also, we should be honest with each other about experiencing these types of situations and debriefing- if comfortable, obviously. It is important that we learn from others’ experiences. Another helpful tip that I think workplaces should create is having a very clear and open policy about discussing sexism in the workplace. There needs to be often and detailed discussions about sexism where everyone is mandatory to attend and truly participate in, especially for men to learn that the system does not work for women and we struggle to deal with sexism issues that are directed towards women. 

As a future businesswoman, I worry. But at the same time, I, along with so many others, want to make a real difference about sexism towards women in the workplace, and we must work together to make that happen.

Sources in Order of Usage:

https://bfi.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/WP_2018-56.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/hostile-sexism

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/21/sunday-review/women-ceos-glass-ceiling.html

https://hbr.org/2021/09/how-to-confront-sexism-at-work-our-favorite-reads

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/20/books/review-end-of-bias-jessica-nordell.html