Caribbean Stud Essays

1.
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 (prejudice or
discrimination based on race). 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.
Gender socialization begins at birth, intensifies during adolescence and contributes to gender inequalities in
education, employment, income, empowerment, and other significant outcomes of well-being during adolescence
and later in life. Adolescent boys and young men are more likely to die in violent conflict and automobile accidents,
and engage in substance abuse (Kato-Wallace et al., 2016). In some settings they are subjected to proving their
manhood in aggressive initiation practises or are forced to join armed groups, urban gangs, crime syndicates, or
rebel and government forces (Barker and Ricardo, 2005; UNICEF 2012).
Gender inequality in organizations is a complex phenomenon that can be seen in organizational

structures, processes, and practices. For women, some of the most harmful gender inequalities are
enacted within human resources (HRs) practices. This is because HR practices (i.e., policies, decision-
making, and their enactment) affect the hiring, training, pay, and promotion of women. We propose a
model of gender discrimination in HR that emphasizes the reciprocal nature of gender inequalities within
organizations. We suggest that gender discrimination in HR-related decision-making and in the
enactment of HR practices stems from gender inequalities in broader organizational structures, processes,
and practices. This includes leadership, structure, strategy, culture, organizational climate, as well as HR
policies. In addition, organizational decision makers’ levels of sexism can affect their likelihood of making
gender biased HR-related decisions and/or behaving in a sexist manner while enacting HR practices.
Importantly, institutional discrimination in organizational structures, processes, and practices play a pre-
eminent role because not only do they affect HR practices, they also provide a socializing context for
organizational decision makers’ levels of hostile and benevolent sexism. Although we portray gender
inequality as a self-reinforcing system that can perpetuate discrimination, important levers for reducing
discrimination are identified.
Girls and boys are expected to act in certain ways, and these ways are socialized from birth by
many parents (and society). For example, girls are expected to be clean and quiet, while boys are messy
and loud. As children get older, gender stereotypes become more apparent in styles of dress and choice of
leisure activities. Boys and girls who do not conform to gender stereotypes are usually ostracized by same-
age peers for being different. This can lead to negative effects, such as lower self-esteem.
As gender identities come to be more disputed, new legal frontiers are opening on the basis that
a male/female gender binary, as written into the law, discriminates against individuals who either
identify as the opposite of their biological sex or who identify as neither male nor female. On college
campuses, gender-restrictive dorm housing is facing opposition by individuals who identify as neither a
man nor a woman. Many public spaces and workplaces are instituting gender-neutral bathroom
facilities. Gender identity has become a piece of international law as a branch of human rights doctrines.
2. Sexual harassment was first recognized in cases in which women lost their jobs because
they rejected sexual overtures from their employers (e.g., Barnes v. Costle 19771). This type of
sexual harassment became defined as quid pro quo sexual harassment (Latin for “this for that,”
meaning that a job or educational opportunity is conditioned on some kind of sexual performance).
Such coercive behavior was judged to constitute a violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Soon it was recognized in employment law that pervasive sexist behavior from coworkers can
create odious conditions of employment—what became known as a hostile work environment—
and also constitute illegal discrimination (Farley 1978; MacKinnon 1979; Williams v. Saxbe 19762).
Illegal sexual harassment falls under the umbrella of a more comprehensive

category, discriminatory behavior. Illegal discrimination can occur on the basis of any legally
protected category: race, ethnicity, religious creed, age, sex, gender identity, marital status, national
origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, genetic information, physical or mental disabilities, veteran
status, prior conviction of a crime, gender identity or expression, or membership in other protected
classes set forth in state or federal law. Regarding sexual harassment, the focus of this report, this
includes gender harassment, a term designed to emphasize that harmful or illegal sexual
harassment does not have to be about sexual activity (USEEOC n.d.b.). Sexual harassment
constitutes discrimination because it is harmful and it is based on gender—it is not necessarily
motivated by sexual desire nor does it need to involve sexual activity.
Feminist theory posits that sexual harassment should be treated as a sexist act that aims to
subjugate and disempower women, and punish their efforts to compete with men over jobs and
status. This theory challenges the idea that sexual harassment is a sexual act and invites scholars to
see it from a gender-based angle that reflects male dominance and women's subordination, which
are constantly condoned by society.
Interestingly, the motivation underlying sexual coercion and unwanted sexual attention behaviors
appears different from the motivation underlying gender harassment. Whereas the first two
categories suggest sexual advances (the goal being sexual exploitation of women), the third
category is expressing hostility toward women (the goals being insult, humiliation, or ostracism)
(Holland and Cortina 2016). In other words, sexual coercion and unwanted sexual attention can be
viewed as “come-ons,” while gender harassment is, for all intents and purposes, a “put-down”
(Fitzgerald, Gelfand, and Drasgow 1995; Leskinen, Cortina, and Kabat 2011).
Some researchers further define the verbal insults associated with gender harassment, along with
accompanying nonverbal affronts, as microaggressions. This term refers to “brief and commonplace
daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that
communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative” messages (Sue et al. 2007, 271) to or about
historically stigmatized groups.
Feminists prefer to categorise sexual assaults or harassment as an act of violence rather than
discrimination because they believe the rights of women are being suppressed and they feel that as a
result of gender bias and gender inequalities that sexual harassment is an act of putting down women
and making them feel inferior.
Although human rights violations affect men as well as women, their impact and character clearly
change according to the sex of the victim. Moreover, most of the 8 violations of the rights of women and
the discrimination and abuse to which women are subjected are specifically attributable to their sex.
Despite the existence of such factors as ethnic origin, social class, sexual preference, disabilities and
political and religious affiliation which are factors in the victimization of women, generally speaking,
every act of aggression perpetrated against a woman has some characteristic or other that identifies it
as gender-based violence.
The way aggression against women is conceptualized also has to be changed, and women's right to live
without violence has to be recognized. In our countries, this implies an acknowledgement of the
following: 1) that respect for human rights is an indispensable requisite for the development and full
exercise of citizenship, and 2) that there are serious conflicts — conflicts that have to be resolved—
between individual and collective rights and between the principle of equality and the right to be
different.

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Gender inequality in organizations is a complex phenomenon that can be seen in organizational

Illegal sexual harassment falls under the umbrella of a more comprehensive

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