Sexism: Still A Problem?

[Noodles]

Do you guys think sexism is still a problem in the US? My friend is writing a speech for speech tournament, and her topic is sexism. I'm like, "Wasn't that from a really, really, long time ago?" and she says it's still present in today's society. I was just wondering, what does the MagiStream community think?

[ShenziSixaxis]

Of course it is. Maybe not in big company things, but in society it is. Yes, females are more prone to this and that and males not so much, but the usual bad crap still happens. I'm not sure what to think of it, since I'm extremely bullheaded and often had guys wheeling away from me in school, but it's definitely a pain in the ass when you see it happening.

[Glow]

Ha, I just spent a few days studying this in an economics class. The answer, like others have said, is yes, unfortunately. Women are moving up, and surprisingly, the recession is HELPING women get jobs (crazy but true). Women are becoming more valuable in the workforce, and as that happens, views of women tend to change. However, as of last September, on average women made $.83 cents to every dollar a man made. That's the highest it's ever been, but it's still not equal.

Of course, that's bad, but compared to other parts of the world, American women have it good.

PS. If you were wondering how the recession is helping women, think of the $.83: $1.00 ratio. Lay offs are commonplace nowadays, and who are the first to get cut? The highest paid-but-still-expendable workers; aka, the men. There's other factors too, but that's a big one.

Okay, I'm done being a geek.

[BluMajica]

Yes it is.

Look at the business world. How many MEN rule and are in positions of power? versus how many women? Pay amounts differ between the sexes as well. although this is being phased out...and I know women are far more outspoken then say the 50's, but they are also taking it too far imo. They want men to be equal, but often in reality they want preference (the balls in the purse debate almost) I have seen women react very badly to men trying to be polite, open doors, offering seats etc - and get abuse for being nice (chivalrous) and we wonder why chivalry is dead?? We women have almost killed it with our stillettos...its still there.. but not as much as it was...

so yes sesism is still there - on both sides.

[Kestrad]

Not to mention that there are still a bunch of closet chauvinists out there. I had a friend, ish, in high school. Turns out he likes to read a blog that is, ah, chauvinist at best--it definitely borders on sexist. He linked to it in his chat status and I went there and honestly was shocked by the number of men out there who have pretty unflattering views on women. (Incidentally, a bunch of the comments seemed to show that they were frustrated at being unable to get laid, probably part of the reason why they were sexist). Snippets included statements like "because the more indiscreet a woman is, the more attention she gets," and blanket statements about how women's genetic imperatives caused whatever behaviors. (I'm not explaining this very well, but it was definitely mildly offensive.)

And that blog was pretty toned down in comparison to another one I stumbled upon which basically stated that all women should stay in the kitchen, that men should be allowed to have their way with women, things like that.

And of course, there was that Walmart scandal a few years back where some stores refused to pay women as much as men "because God created Adam first."

Yes, American women have it good. But sexism still very definitely exists.

[EvilJJ]

I am in Australia, but I stared a business administration course this week, I am the only male in the class, I can tell you sexism still exists, but in some places the tables have turned. It is not only females that are victims.

[BluMajica]

@ kestrad - that wasn't Maddock's site was it??

@Eviljjj - of course not! its very rare to see a male in some of my courses at uni - it most definatly is not women who are the victims all the time.

[Carthasis]

I am in Australia, but I stared a business administration course this week, I am the only male in the class, I can tell you sexism still exists, but in some places the tables have turned. It is not only females that are victims.

But it's not really about whether men are in a minority in a particular group or not, within society as a whole, men are in a decisive position of privilege - being only one male in a group doesn't automatically make you victim of sexism in the same way as women are.

The whole reason behind why some subjects/careers/uni course are dominated by women and some by men is in itself sexist: women are still considered to be unsuited for certain work. Or, in reverse some work is considered to be women's work - such as bureaucracy, administration for example - if it's a traditionally female work, it's value is considered to be lower, which reflects for example in pay - it's usually significantly lower in workspaces dominated by women than in comparable workspaces dominated by men. Also, when men enter traditionally women-dominated careers, they very often are the one who achieve the highest level positions possible.

I'm not in the US, so this specific example might not apply, but it illustrates my point pretty well anyway:
I'm studying library science, with a goal to become a librarian (duh.) The vast majority of librarians in Germany are women. Many, very many library managers are men. Why? Men are definitely in the minority in libraries. So it would makes sense - simply based on the relative numbers - if there were more female top managers in libraries, than male. And yet still that minority takes the majority of managerial positions.
It's subtle, but it's still a pretty good way to illustrate how sexism work in today's society.

[Brynmala]

I do think it is rather interesting that the OP, a male, thinks sexism is something from the past... just try being a woman taking a car to be mended, especially if you actually know what is wrong with it! You'll learn all about sexism very quickly.

I do however agree that sexism works both ways - you just have to listen to any heterosexual single sex group of people discussing thier partners' shortcomings.

(@Catharsis) - Hey a fellow librarian! I've been a professional librarian for 20 years (and for the rest of you, it takes two degrees to do that, and we don't just stamp books ). I totally agree about men often being in top management in libraries. In the library I now work in there are far more women than men, the men are almost all working in the IT and systems positions, not 'traditional' library positions. This is consistent in libraries in the UK, be they public, academic, or whatever. Very many library posts (especially in public libraries where opening hours are short and cuts ever-present) are part time, and that appeals more to women than men.

I used to work in a professional services company. There the non-fee earners (ie all the support staff, including me in the Library) were female. The fee earners were predominantly male... about two thirds to one third female. And this was a company that was consistently at or very near the top of the professions rankings for employing the highest percentage of female fee earning staff. Of the 4 partners and 6 associate partners only two were women.

Part of the problem with women not reaching higher managment positions in any work is also their role in bringing up families - it is still far more normal for the woman to stay at home, or work part time whilst children are young. It is still quite rare to hear of the husband taking on this role. Consequently women are not in the workforce at the ages at which they would be competing for the higher roles - they get overtaken by the men with continuous work records.

[starpokewars]

Of course.
Sexism is a problem, but not male against female. It's female against male. I know very few sexist males compared to females. The business world has more men, sure. But that was established long ago, it could be over run by hard work.