While we should certainly celebrate the historic and courageous ways in which women have gained a more equal footing, let us not forget that there’s still an awful lot of work to be done.
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As we commemorate International Women’s Day, I reflect on the term “sexism,” which I define as the overarching system of advantages bestowed on males. It is prejudice and discrimination based on sex, especially against females and intersex people, and is founded on a patriarchal structure of male dominance promoted through individual, institutional, social, and cultural systems.
Throughout history, examples abound of male domination over the rights and lives of women and girls. Men denied women the vote until women fought hard and demanded the rights of political enfranchisement, though women in some countries today still are restricted from voting; strictly enforced gender-based social roles mandated without choice that women’s only option was to remain in the home to undertake cleaning and childcare duties; women were and continue to be by far the primary target of harassment, abuse, physical assault, and rape by men; women were and remain locked out of many professions; rules required that women teachers relinquish their jobs after marriage; in fact, the institution of marriage itself was structured on a foundation of male domination with men serving as the so-called “head of the household” and taking on sole ownership of all property thereby restricting these rights from women. In other words, women have been constructed as second-class and even third-class citizens, but certainly not as victims, because through it all, women as a group have challenged the inequities and have pushed back against patriarchal constraints.
That was then, but what about now?
I often hear some men and even some women claim that sexism is a thing of the past, that women have achieved the equality that was once denied them (at least in “Western” countries), that we live in a system of meritocracy where one’s success in life is based solely on merit, work ethic, motivation, and abilities, rather than on our social identities or the stations of life to which we are born.
This was brought to light by a respondent to an editorial I wrote that appeared in my former university campus newspaper, the Iowa State Daily, titled “Awareness Rewards,” in which I attempted to make visible the often invisible condition of dominant group privilege, for example, male, white, heterosexual, and Christian.
Responding to my claim specifically of male privilege, the respondent flatly rejected the notion by providing examples allegedly showing otherwise:
“The idea that women are considered inferior is absurd in a nation where doors are opened for them from coast to coast, their meals and entertainment are paid by men eager to please them, they are the physical majority, they own the majority of wealth and control most of the rest, and they live longer because they have easier lives.”
I would like to address these claims point by point.
Yes, men continue literally to open doors for women, and they often pay for their meals and entertainment. While this can in certain settings be regarded as a sign of politeness and admiration, does it actually indicate a true respect for women, and does this signify an equality among the sexes? I argue quite the contrary, that it represents, rather, a reification of socially constructed gender norms keeping a sexual hierarchy firmly in place, with men literally and figuratively on top, where men remain in control, and where women are expected to perform a dependent role.
The respondent also claims that women are the physical majority. Yes, this is statistically true. I’m afraid, however, that the respondent confuses “majority” in terms of numbers with dominance in terms of social power. For example, though black Africans numbered the vast majority under the corrupt apartheid system in South Africa, white South Africans held the social power to invoke and to maintain, for many years, their oppressive control.
In addition, do women in fact, as the respondent claims, “own the majority of wealth and control most of the rest.” While women’s annual salaries have grown over the past decades, and while many studies indicate that women have fared somewhat better during the recent economic recession, reports indicate that women continue to make substantially less than their male counterparts when performing similar roles in similar jobs.
For example, the U.S. Department of Labor has found that women overall make approximately 77 cents compared to $1.00 by white men. Looking at women of color, the findings are even lower: Asian American women, 74 cents; African American women, 67 cents; and Latinas, 56 cents. (see PDF)
In the respondent’s claim that women live longer than men, while most comparative studies do indicate that women on average outlive men, I cannot see how this proves the absence of sexism and male domination. I would also like the respondent to validate the claim that women have “easier lives.” Which criteria is this respondent considering?
The respondent continues: “Women are worshipped in this country, with beauty pageants to showcase them, like Miss America and Miss Universe. Where are the Mister America and Mister Universe pageants and who would watch them? Men knock themselves out in this country to find a good woman they can make the center of their world.”
So, the question here arises, do these women’s beauty pageants indicate a worshipping and veneration of women, or something else entirely? While pageants can offer a number of financial and career enhancing benefits to the women involved, let us be clear who and what is really being honored.
Rather than considering women’s beauty pageants as honoring women, I believe they further reinscribe gender roles by promoting socially constructed norms of beauty, which are exclusionary hegemonic ideologies in terms of body size and shape, standards for skin and hair type, and an idealized and circumscribed age range that acts to the detriment of all women. As such, beauty pageants remain a consumeristic colonization of women’s bodies for the edification and commodification of the objectifying male gaze.
“In other words, male dominance is maintained by its relative invisibility…”
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Though many women and men are fully aware of the continuing existence of sexism and male privilege, and they are working tirelessly for its eradication, many others, however, fail to perceive its harmful effects on themselves and others. This apparent invisibility of sexism and male privilege in many “Western” countries, in fact, not only fortifies but, indeed, strengthens this form of oppression and privilege by perpetuating patriarchal hegemony in such a way as to avoid detection.
In other words, male dominance is maintained by its relative invisibility (though for many of us, it stands as blatantly obvious), and with this relative invisibility, privilege escapes analysis and scrutiny, interrogation and confrontation by many. Dominance is perceived as unremarkable or “normal,” and when anyone poses a challenge or attempts to reveal its true impact and significance, those in the dominant group brand them as “subversive” or even “accuse” them of being “overly analytical.” Possibly those who make these accusations are not themselves sufficiently analytical.
I have heard some people refer to our current times as a “post-Feminist” era, where sexism and male privilege no longer impose major social barriers. They are referring to “Feminism,” which can be defined as the cultural, political, economic, and civil rights movement for the advancement of equality and equity between the sexes.
For me this brings to mind a cleaver and I believe insightful bumper sticker produced by the National Association for Women: “I’ll be Post-Feminist in the Post-Patriarchy.” Unfortunately, however, the patriarchy is still alive and fully functioning.
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–Photo: the childhood home of Rosa Park, Patrick Henson/Flickr
“The respondent also claims that women are the physical majority. Yes, this is statistically true. I’m afraid, however, that the respondent confuses “majority” in terms of numbers with dominance in terms of social power. For example, though black Africans numbered the vast majority under the corrupt apartheid system in South Africa, white South Africans held the social power to invoke and to maintain, for many years, their oppressive control.” In North America we don’t live in a society at all like South Africa during apartheid , in even put both of those things in the same sentence is disengenious at… Read more »
“In North America we don’t live in a society at all like South Africa during apartheid , in even put both of those things in the same sentence is disengenious at best and outright lying at worst.” He was exemplifying, not suggesting you live in a society like South Africa during apartheid. Come on. That is also common knowledge that women, all over the world, not only in North America, earn less for the same job under the same hours. I doubt studies all over the world could be inaccurate. “Yet for the last 25 (longer) years MEN have had… Read more »
I disagree with the whole notion of the dichotomy here; the implication that in ‘Western’ democratic nations either “we live in a system of meritocracy where one’s success in life is based solely on merit, work ethic, motivation, and abilities, rather than on our social identities or the stations of life to which we are born.” Or baring this being true, we have the notion that we live in system of institutionalized sexism: “The overarching system of advantages bestowed on males. It is prejudice and discrimination based on sex, especially against females and intersex people, and is founded on a patriarchal structure… Read more »
Me thinks that this is becoming a feminist.
Me thinks you are mad now, since you hate and start burning your boxers whenever women talk about their issues, right, Tom Brechlin?
OP: “As we commemorate International Women’s Day, I reflect on the term “sexism,” which I define as the overarching system of advantages bestowed on males.” Do you honestly believe we still live in this kind of world? Tell me, what advantages does a homeless man have over women? What advantages do divorced fathers fleeced by the child support system have over women? What advantages does a male survivor of sexual abuse (whether it be from a male, female or both) have over women? What advantages do boys failing in the education system have over women? And one more question: Why… Read more »
“Do you honestly believe we still live in this kind of WORLD?” Yes, we do. MOST Countries still have women with less rights and being seen as inferior. Women do have some advantages (or “easier ways”) over men in America. That does not make up for the oppression women still face daily. It is in a more sociocultural level, but believe it, it can hurt just as much as having your rights neglected. I hope you believe it, because men also face sexism in a sociocultural level. What is next, saying black people can’t point the problems they face because… Read more »
July: “Women do have some advantages (or “easier ways”) over men in America. That does not make up for the oppression women still face daily. It is in a more sociocultural level, but believe it, it can hurt just as much as having your rights neglected. I hope you believe it, because men also face sexism in a sociocultural level.” So why disparage men as a whole then? Why not talk about the issues that effect women without the urge to throw blame in the face of men? And since men have issues, why not talk about those things as… Read more »
“So why disparage men as a whole then? Why not talk about the issues that effect women without the urge to throw blame in the face of men? I don’t think I did it? Of course I believe blaming all men for everything is wrong, and I do disagree with that statement. The problem is, everything that might be said in a wrong way and boom – a lot of men talking about their issues, sometimes even talking as if women had it easy. “And since men have issues, why not talk about those things as well (which we are,… Read more »
July: When you say advantages, don’t you mean privileges.
Same thing?
Your whole approach is apathetic. You just deny we live in a world which certainly sees women as inferior in general. You didn’t take women’s issues as a real problem and just went on to say that some men also face problems. And yes, as much as you wanted to deny it, men in general still have it better in many ways than women in general (again: taking only gender into consideration, and not to say the same women do not have other things better than these very same men). Sorry dude. Now go and read again your last paragraphs.… Read more »
“examples abound of male domination over the rights and lives of women and girls. Men denied women the vote until women fought hard and demanded the rights of political enfranchisement” That was a response to black men getting the vote 40 years or so earlier. White women and men of privilege couldn’t stomach a black man being able to vote, but not a white woman. The feminist revolution followed the civil rights struggles of the 50s. Even today’s feminism seems to be centered on upper, middle class, white women. The 12 weeks unpaid leave afforded in FMLA wasn’t to assist… Read more »
I disagree with a lot of what you said. I work in the health sector which has always been female dominated. Being that it’s unionized we all get paid the same wages according to what we do. The only discrepancies in wage diffences that feminists have pointed out are in the top professions such as doctors and CEO’s. Those top professions only make up a small percentage of the workforce. Just because there is a descrepency in doctor wages doesn’t mean the rest of the people below them in the health sector don’t get paid the same. Also in recent… Read more »
And you believe a small percentage of men earning more than women when doing the same job is nothing. Okay. The pressure for women to look certain way will only be understood by the “dudes” the day most of them feel the exact same pressure, and believe me, they will. it is happening in some Countries already, and the results are saddening but interesting – only now men are talking about beauty standards and acknowledging them. America will take longer because of the strong, hard gender roles and sexism there, but you guys will get the same on day. Give… Read more »
@ July “And you believe a small percentage of men earning more than women when doing the same job is nothing. Okay.” That depends on the reason. One reason men may make more in nursing is the demand for male nurses. Many hospitals have enacted a patients bill of rights when it comes to same gender care for intimate procedures. Some municipalities mandate same gender care for intimate procedures when the patient hasn’t stated a preference and is unable to state a preference. For incapacitated patients they assume preference for same gender care. This can create a premium for male… Read more »