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McKayla Williams
Mrs. Davis
Composition II
16 November 2015
Sexism
What do you think of when you hear the word sexism? What gender comes to mind, male
or female? Sexism is just like racism, and it is just as common in this society because not so
long ago, overt gender bias was a perfectly acceptable office practice meaning that it was
normal and okay for women to be discriminated against in the workplace because they couldnt
compare to men (Jaffe 2015). Women and men face sexism in the work place, in advertising, and
just everyday life because that is what our society does, they classify people before they even
know what they are capable of doing and contributing to the world. Most women are stereo
typed as being weak and men are even looked as being tough when really it isnt always like that
and that is societies downfall is. Women face the most discrimination and face the most criticism
when they have to end up quitting or giving up in a certain situations because, they dont get that
much support behind them then when they quit they get accused of being lazy, and they just
depend on men to do all the work when that isnt the reason. Sexism needs to come to an end
because men and women deserve to be equal, women have rights to feel superior, men also
deserve to be superior, and our society needs to make a change before it gets out of hand.
Every event that happens in a person life is always looked at as a competition of who can
do something better whether it is at work, school, sports, or just at home. Sexism does have its
pros about it because it helps make some competition between the sexes and could possibly
lead an example for other women and men in the world to show what they are capable of doing if

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they just put their mind to it and throw in some hard work. Everyone deserves an equal chance in
life whether it is at work, in sports, or just everyday life, it can sometimes just be looked at as
friendly competition. There is a constant battle to prove something to the opposite sex and that is
where society faces this controversy. Men act like they know their role in society for example, at
work a man may find out about a new colleague and he will still think since she is new that she is
not an equal to him. A reason for that behavior is because ever since a person is young the males
role is to be superior and the caretaker of women so that is how men are brought up in this
society. So when a man asks another woman to help set up meeting or to answer phones he may
not see that he is being sexist.
Even though women are the ones that face most of the discrimination, men and women
are both stereotyped but women should have a right to feel superior just as much as men do. As
stated by Rikki Rogers about the roles most women and men are expected to play in society
women are naturally more kind, emotional, and compassionate, while men are naturally more
rational, less emotional, and tougher, mentally and physically which basically means women
and men are stereo typed before people know what they can really bring to the table (Rogers.
2015). Most people may think a man should be tougher when in reality he is more compassionate
as a woman, and a woman is looked at as being more emotional at work when she is really
tougher mentally or physically than some of her male colleagues. So if men have a right to feel
superior and it is looked at as normal it should be normal for women to be superior at work, and
any other competitive position. Women would want to work more and harder for a position if
they knew they had a better chance at getting the job they are wanting. One of the main reasons
why women end up quitting their job that they are being discriminated against is because they
dont want to put up with the inequality and people not believing them when they tell others what

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the problem is. As stated in the article by Laura Snapes about why women consider giving up
instead if fighting for their job because To preserve sanity, its often easier to quit a job than
deal with the labour-intensive process of pursuing a grievance so that means women would
rather just quit than put up with fighting the upper class people over a job and discrimination
(Snapes.2015). In the work place women face the need to feel superior but also the
discrimination of being to masculine in the work place because they want a higher and more
superior job when. Susan Adams talked about a manual for women in the work place and how
they are expected to be for example, women are expected to walk a metaphorical tightrope in
the office which basically means that women have to learn to balance their feminine and
masculine qualities when they are at work (Adams.2014). Just some examples of what qualities
women have to have while at work are to learn to have a pleading voice, speaker louder and
faster, dont tail wag which means dont move your hips or smile to much while walking, and
if you have children talk about them as little as possible and that seems like a lot more stuff
women have to be conscious about compared to what men have to watch while at work on the
job (Adams. 2014). Women deserve to feel superior just as much as men do and if women were
given that privilege than there would be a lot more successful women and people would feel
equal.
Men also have every right to feel superior at some point in society even though they have
a better chance at being the superior being in a position. Even though most men are beating out
women for some position at work or in sports, men do deserve an equal chance at any position
available. For an example to how men should be looked at just as good as women is how they
can help take care of younger children. Some men are not seen as the caregiving type to deal
with children but some men can have that quality, and take care of children better than some

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women can. Men can have many more qualities than just the caregiver type but that
characteristic is the most common cause people think men cant be as compassionate and caring.
The article in the Business Insider about how women are given specific jobs in a work place that
a man isnt going to do cause they will be happy to do the office housework, or low-value
tasks like taking notes in meetings which means men are the ones that will give those kind of
orders and women are the only gender that will like doing that kind of work (Elkins. 2015). In
some ways men are looked at as the provider in their family cause if they dont work and pay the
bills around the house they are looked at as bums or that they are good enough to be called a
man so with that example sexism could be good cause it gives a man a reason why he has to
work harder than a woman. When it comes to men as stated in the article by Rachel Feltman
about how men are not just dominant aggressors are not just the definition of sexists, Other men
believe that women should be treated with kindness and love, but still dont see them as being
capable of achieving the same things as men means that men can be nice to women at work but
dont really support them in the kind of work they do (Feltman). Society has so many standards
to how men and women should be but if they dont decide to change and give people the equal
opportunity they deserve then its just going to continue down the same path and maybe even
make matters worse than they are at the moment.
Society is becoming to be immune to this style of life and if there is no change than
someday there will just be a constant war of men vs. women. Men complain about how women
dont want to work or that they just expect men to be the providers in the society when that is
mostly false. Women would probably want to work more if they knew that they would have an
equal opportunity at obtaining the job and not being discriminated against, and be given a lower
ranked job than what they were going for in the first place. Men on the other hand want to be the

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provider cause society says that is the way to be, but it should be equal, and men and women
should both work and be given an equal chance. Like stated by Kathleen Elkins about how
women still go against sexism at their work, but it is getting more difficult to recognize the
discrimination (Elkins. 2015). Sexism is a reoccurring problem in society everywhere a person
looks and for this time in age it is difficult to wonder why it is still happening. In the article
written by Elizabeth Day about how sexism shouldnt still be occurring because of all the past
legislation acts that were passed women are still getting abused verbally by how a man might
shout sexual comments at you while you are walking down the street or even when you are
getting called a slag, bitch, or even whore, and how you are not good at reading a map or driving
a car is just some examples of how women are still discriminated against even after the fight
previous women went through to get those acts passed in congress and made a law (Day 2011).
Women will continue to fight every single day until a man can accept that women can do things
men can do just as good or just as better.
When it comes down to getting rid of sexism it will be tough because each sex has the
idea in their head that they are better and our society is too use to having this battle between
sexes. Sexism needs to come to an end because men and women deserve to be equal, women
have rights to feel superior, men also deserve to be superior, and our society needs to make a
change before it gets out of hand. Even though each sex deserves to be superior at some time,
society needs to learn to balance the equality. Learning how to give everyone a equal chance will
increase the number of working women in society, and women wouldnt have to take the heat for
not being able to do a real hardworking job like men can do. Also men would be given a chance
to prove the softer or more compassionate side of them other than the tough side of them.

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Society needs to make a change before it becomes so immune to that way of life and society as
we know it will just work one way and the women will continue to listening to the men.

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Works Cited
Adams, Susan. "How Women Can Get Ahead At Work: A New Manual." Forbes. Forbes
Magazine, 14 Jan. 2015. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.
Day, Elizibeth. "Why Sexism Is No Laughing Matter, despite What the Boys Might Say." The
Gaurdian. Equality: The Observer, 29 Jan. 2011. Web. 5 Nov. 2015
Elkins, Kathleen. "6 Examples of Subtle Sexism That Women Still Face at Work." Business
Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 27 May 2015. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.
Feltman, Rachel. "Sexism Often Comes with a Smile, Study Finds." Washington Post. The
Washington Post, 9 Mar. 2015. Web. 05 Nov. 2015.
Jaffe, Eric. "The New Subtle Sexism Toward Women in the Workplace." Fast Company.
FastCompany, 02 June 2014. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.
Rogers, Rikki. "Women Are Kind and Men Are Strong: How Benevolent Sexism Hurts Us All."
Women Are Kind and Men Are Strong: How Benevolent Sexism Hurts Us All. The
Muse, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2015.
Snapes, Laura. "The Guilt of Quitting Sexist Workplaces." The Gaurdian. The Gaurdian, 24
Aug. 2015. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.