GENDER JUSTICE AND SEXISM

 ABSTRACT

The question of gender justice In post-industrial liberal-democratic societies, opinions vary dramatically on whether these societies are gender just. Both scholars and the wider public disagree on this question. As Deborah Rhode argues, some claim that unjust inequalities between women and men no longer exist, or that women's liberation has achieved more than enough, and these days it is men who are suffering discrimination. Others disagree, and argue that unjust inequalities to the disadvantage of women remain, despite the post-feminist discourse.Unfortunately, this is not really the case: there are very few systematic studies that provide a satisfying answer to this question. The reason for this is that an adequate answer to this question requires both normative theorising and empirical analysis.

INTRODUCTION

Here I propose, and defend, a principle of gender justice meant to capture the nature of a very wide range of injustices based on gender. 1 In a nutshell, the principle says that, in a gender just world, a gender-neutral lifestyle would be the least costly option for both women and men. And also Sexism,prejudice or discrimination based on sex or gender, especially against women and girls. Although its origin is unclear, the term sexism emerged from the “second-wave” feminism of the 1960s through the ’80s and was most likely modeled on the civil rights movement’s term racism. Sexism can be a belief that one sex is superior to or more valuable than another sex. It imposes limits on what men and boys can and should do and what women and girls can and should do.

CONCEPTUALISING GENDER

What is gender? The concept of gender can be theorised in many different ways, and the usefulness of any such conceptualization depends to some extent on which purposes one wants to use the concept for, and in which intellectual traditions one wants to introduce it. In what follows, I will sketch a conceptualisation of gender that aims to be useful for answering rather mainstream questions, such as the one that is central to this chapter. In other intellectual traditions, such as psychoanalysis, post-modernism and post-structuralism, different conceptualisations of gender are used, which are more suited to the different epistemological goals of these fields.

SEXISM

 

Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it Primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to stereotypes and gender roles, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is intrinsically superior to another. Extreme sexism may foster sexual harassment, rape, and other formsof sexual violence. Gender discrimination may encompass sexism, and is discrimination toward people based on their gender identity or their gender or sex differences. Gender discrimination is especially defined in terms of workplaceinequality. It may arise from social or cultural customs and norms.

Modern Sexism

“Modern Sexism” represents a contemporary form of sexism based not on a belief in female inferiority, but rather on resentment or hostility towards working women themselves. Modern Sexism, in other words, does not measure whether a woman is capable of being successful, but whether she will be liked and trusted as a working woman. In order to have a “sexist” score, respondents must, on average, agree that discrimination against women is no longera problem women complain about discrimination even when they lose to a man fairly that feminists want more power than men as opposed to equality that most women are too quick/too sensitive when labeling comments or actions as sexist and that women really just want preferential treatment in the workplace as opposed to equality. Even being neutral on these statements implies a distrust of working women and a denial of the inequities that women face. 

Neosexism

In recent years, there has been an increase in neosexist ideas within society. Neosexism can be defined as continuing discrimination towards women on the basis of women’s competence compared to men rather than direct discrimination based on their gender. Neosexism is present in workplaces when it comes to those in power positions. Considering that neosexist beliefs don’t necessarily have to be just the thought of men, it is socially more acceptable. When we look at neosexist ideas in regards to the workplace, it attributes to men’s dominance of managerial positions and positions of power. The general thought of neosexism when it comes to career advancements is that it is more beneficial in looking for a male mentor rather than a female mentor because of their ability to access better resources. We know that this is not always the case; there are many establishments where women are in position of power and lead the establishment to successful gains.

Ambivalent Sexism

Ambivalent sexism is a theoretical framework which posits that sexism has two subcomponents: "hostile sexism" and "benevolent sexism".Hostile sexism reflects overtly negative evaluations and stereotypes about a gender.Benevolent sexism represents evaluations of gender that may appear subjectively positive, but are actually damaging to people and gender equality more broadly. For the most part, psychologists have studied hostile forms of sexism. However, theorists using the theoretical framework of ambivalent sexism have found extensive empirical evidence for both varieties.