User:Sofya.Omarova/sandbox

"Sexism" Group Project

We propose to significantly edit the Wikipedia page on Sexism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexism. Our edits will encompass a re-titling of the page to Sexism/Gender Discrimination. We will also rewrite several sections to include a more global perspective and a more neutral and academic viewpoint, delete several sections that we feel do not belong and add several sections that better illustrate and explain the concepts. Where possible we will draw upon theoretical foundations to form our arguments. Our proposal includes the following.

First, we will add a section on “gender discrimination” to the page. Justify why this is important and should be included and explain what you plan to include.

The term gender discrimination is theoretically different from the term sexism. Drawing from a conceptual basis that distinguishes sex from gender, our group has decided to add a section on gender discrimination for the purposes of problematizing the differences. Currently, the wikipedia search for gender discrimination results in the page on sexism. Therefore, we propose to add a section on gender discrimination to the sexism page in order to explore the differences. Ultimately, gender discrimination should be developed into its own page, but for the purposes of this exercise, we will develop the section on gender stereotypes as an intersecting practice of gender discrimination.

Next, we will rewrite the section on “Coverture and Marriage”. Justify why this is important and should be included and explain what you plan to include.

Next we will rewrite the section on “Gender Stereotypes”. The gender stereotypes section that currently exists takes a very narrow view on gender stereotypes, focusing only on negative views of women. It does not take stereotypes of men into account. Nor does it use any theoretical bases in looking at the effects of gender stereotypes, how gender stereotypes work and how they affect all people. We will include men into the idea of gender stereotyping and bring a more theoretical foundation to the section.

Then we will rewrite the section on “Objectification”. Why must we include objectification? Objectification is a direct consequence of sexism, as it often reduces women to a single body part, thus dehumanizing them in the process. Objectification can take place in a variety of areas, such as in pornography and the media. More importantly, objectification can have important repercussions on women, particularly young women, as had been demonstrated by Fredrickson & Roberts (1997), who have argued that it can lead to mental disorders (depression, eating disorders, etc…) It is important to point out, however, that the section will need substantial editing and reorganization. Some sub-sections, such as “media portrayals,” must be expanded, as there is much more additional scholarship that must be included, while other sub-sections sections such as “sexist jokes” must be minimized, or eliminated altogether.

Following that, we will also rewrite the “Language” section. Language is both descriptive, reflecting reality, as well as prescriptive, in that language can reinforce certain systems. Thus, it is important to examine both what sexism/gender discrimination in language is and what it looks like as well as the effects it has. Theory from both linguists and feminists will be utilized, such as Douglas Hofstadter and Sherryl Kleinman. The current section does not accomplish this, as it only looks at pejorative language with no foundation in theory. We will take a more academic and holistic look at how sexism operates in gender discrimination for both men and women.

We will rewrite the Occupational Sexism section - particularly because it contains very few references to the claims which are being made. The subsection - wage gap can be supplemented with a more global perspective on the discrepancies between wages of women and men around the world. We will also rewrite the section on “In Politics”.

Then we will rewrite the section on “Objectification”.

The section “gender discrimination in politics” must be kept, as gender discrimination in politics is highly problematic. Indeed, on a fundamental level, gender equality in government is necessary for any democracy to thrive. In addition, sexism can manifest itself in politics in more subtly ways, by voters choosing government officials based on perceived qualities of each gender (e.g. women in education) or based on looks. It is important to note, though, that the section will need to be significantly altered, as it is superficial and not thorough enough.

Rather than summing up examples of sexism at the end of the page, we plan to include examples throughout the different sub-chapters. Therefore, we plan to delete the “Examples” section.

We will add to the “Anti-feminism” section. Justify why this is important and should be included and explain what you plan to include. Marguerite

We will add a section on “Sexism in Education”.

Education part requires serious improvements due to the lack of academic materials in description of phenomenon and poor analytical cohesion in the paragraphs. Therefore, our mission would be to deal with these theoretical imperfections of secondary data and sequence of description.

We will also add a section on “Criminal Justice”.

‘The criminal justice system is often condemned as an institutionally sexist operation that lets down female victims, fails to help women offenders out of a cycle of crime and prevents professionals reaching the top jobs.’ (Guardian, May 2009) Clearly criminal justice encounters numerous interconnected issues with sexism. The section ‘Criminal Justice’ in Wikipedia requires more balanced view on the problem. It should include broader worldwide vision from theoretical and contextual perspectives. Currently the subject includes only US position towards female criminal justice and sexism. With this regard, our group suggests to add ‘men’ in the sexism’s analysis of criminal justice system.

Individual Contribution (by Sofya Omarova) in the “Sexism” Wikipedia project

Sexism in Education

1. The third Millennium Development Goal is directed at achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment around the world. (http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/gender.shtml)

2. Improvement of equal educational opportunity contributes to the women’s empowerment (Salome Francis, 1991, “Empower the Women! Empower the Nation!”
Sexual Politics, pp. 33-35)

3. Educational specialties in higher education produce and perpetuate the existing segregation between men and women. Disparity persists particularly in computer and information science, where women receive only 21 percent of the undergraduate degrees, and in engineering, women obtain only 19 percent of the degrees in 2008 (Fox, M. Sonnert G. and Nikiforova, I., 2011, “Programs for Undergraduate Women in Science and Engineering: Issues, Problems, and Solutions, Gender and Society”, 25 vol. p. 590).

4. According to 2010 UN estimates, only Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen have less than 90 girls per 100 boys at school. (http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/11/gender-inequality - Blog???)

5. Greater variation of gender educational discrepancy exists within countries. The situation appears to be more critical in rural areas, for instance, UNICEF statistics revealed that in Nigerian villages less than 40 girls per 100 boys gained access to primary education

       (http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/nigeria_statistics.html)

6. Only one-fifth of physics Ph.D.’s in the US are awarded to women, and only about half of those women are American; of all the physics professors in the country, only 14 percent are women. (Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science? Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/magazine/why-are-there-still-so-few-women-in-science.html?_r=1&)

7. Studies of Sri Lanka economic development suggested that increased life expectancy of girls encourages educational investment because a longer time horizon increases the value of investments that pay out over time. (JAYACHANDRAN S. AND LLERAS-MUNEY A., 2009, Life expectancy and human capital investments: evidence from material mortality declines, available at http://qje.oxfordjournals.org/)

8. There is a clear evidence that education plays an important role in determining women's input in financial and household decisions related to social and organizational matters. (Anju Malhotra and Mark Mather, 1997, Do Schooling and Work Empower Women in Developing Countries? Sociological Forum, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 599-630)

Sexism in Criminal Justice

• Constructionist theories suggest that the female violence arrests may be policy generated because arrest statistics are produced by violent behavior and changing official responses (e.g., net-widening enforcement policies). Normative theories attribute the rise to female behavior changes (e.g., in response to increased freedoms or hardships). (Schwartz, Steffensmeier, Feldmeyer, 2009, Assessing Trends in Women's Violence via Data Triangulation: Arrests, Convictions, Incarcerations, and Victim Reports, Social Problems, Vol. 56, No. 3, pp. 494-525) • The number of women under criminal justice supervision has increased dramatically. In 1990, there were approximately 600,000 women in prisons or jails, on probation, or on parole in the United States; in 2000, the figure had risen to more than one million women. Stephanie S. Covington & Barbara E. Bloom, 2003, Gendered Justice: Women in the Criminal Justice System, Carolina Academic Press, p.1 • In 1998, nearly two-thirds of women in state prisons were serving sentences for nonviolent offenses (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1999). • Women are arrested and incarcerated primarily for property and drug offenses, with drug offenses representing the largest source of the increase (36%) in the number of women prisoners in 1998. Interestingly, the proportion of women imprisoned for violent crimes has continued to decrease. Many of the violent crimes committed by women are against a spouse, ex-spouse, or partner, and the women committing such crimes are likely to report having been physically and/or sexually abused, often by the person they assaulted. Stephanie S. Covington & Barbara E. Bloom, 2003, Gendered Justice: Women in the Criminal Justice System, Carolina Academic Press, p.1 Before editing /Users/sathya/Desktop/Gender and IA/Wiki project/Education_Wiki (before changes).png /Users/sathya/Desktop/Gender and IA/Wiki project/Criminal justice Before.png

Talk Page

Banedon question

A question ... the statistics and facts etc are good, but what does it have to do with sexism? Statistics like the total number of women imprisoned, like the total number of men imprisoned, doesn't seem related to sexism at all.

Sofya Omarova answer

Sexism aspect pertains to the fact that gender discrimination exist in a criminal sentencing, i.e. "men are given harsher sentences than women"