Sexism In The Workplace

Sexism means, “prejudice or discrimination based on sex.” It is a term used to segregate a large group of individuals based on their gender. This ideology stems from traditional household roles. The male would be named head of household and women as housewives. Women would do all the house cleaning, raise the children, and serve the husband. Nowadays, women have evolved in their societal roles. Females have entered the workforce as doctors, lawyers, professors, etc. They contribute to the economy and count in the labor participation rate. Although women have made enormous steps to changing what it means to be a female, something that has always stuck was the covert practice of sexism. This means that instead of sexism being openly imposed on women, it is now disguised in the system, particularly the workforce. Women are being penalized

Employers believe that any women applying for a job is bound to go the family route. This is generally called, “mommy stamp.” It is the idea that women will plateau in their careers because they can only go so far when they have a child. After they begin to start a family, employers feel like being a mother will be the new full-time job. In the article, The All-or-Nothing Workplace: Flexibility Stigma and “Opting Out” Among Professional-Managerial Women, it states, “Women, by virtue of their caregiving responsibilities in the home, are less able than men to meet the time demands of professional jobs” (Hernandez 2). This statement is an example of how employers believe that women are less competent of doing the job because they wouldn’t be as committed compared to the male. It comes to show that although females are applying for high paying occupations, they cannot leave behind the tradition of being responsible for raising the children. The result of this stamp causes women to be hired in less engaging positions and are often treated with less