Sexism

A father and a son are in a horrible car accident that kills the dad. The son is rushed to hospital; just as he's about to go under the knife, the surgeon says, "I cannot operate this boy is my son!" why is it that most people reading this would assume that the surgeon is a man? It seems that women have always been referred to as the 'weaker' sex, they have always had the 'less' important jobs. Even this riddle shows us that 'man' is considered the norm. But why can't a woman do what a man does?

Even from the beginning the etymology of women is sexist; it is a compound of wife and man. In fact it suggests a female servant. This shows us that women cannot even have their own word without it having an emphasis on men or being downgrading towards what some see as a woman's role.  As well as this the use of the male pronoun 'mankind' makes me wonder why the human race is not called womankind. There are just as many women in the world. But doesn't this simply suggest the patriarchy society we live in?

Sexism starts from a young age. As children, it is normal for girls and boys to play with toys 'appropriate' to their gender. Parents bring marketing gender into their child's life as soon as they're born. They choose to let girls follow the footsteps of mum and let boys help dad. Maybe this is the reason jobs are stereotyped, maybe this is why women are restricted in their work force. If a man was to enter a room and say he was a nurse, people would judge him simply because this is seen as a 'woman's' job.  A job which has a lower status, in the public eye the man should be a doctor, the one with higher authority. There are many examples of this and there are many jobs or hobbies which women are unable to do because it is not seen as 'right'.

Sexism doesn't only happen in the work place, connotations of words also degrade women. Many words used to describe men suggest power and toughness. For example a man can be called master but the opposite of this for a woman suggests a lower status. If a woman is called a mistress, it has the connotations of affairs and prostitution.

I believe people should be more politically correct when talking about women, the way people speak about women  I find insulting, being a woman myself I hate it when people make sly comments such as 'those woman drivers' what does this achieve? I hope there is a solution to the male dominated society we live in, and even though women have come such a long way I still don't believe men and women are equal. Is there a solution and if so what is it?

By Calista Woods