Institutional Discrimination of Women
It is clear to the educated members of our population that the institutional discrimination of women runs rampant in society today. Women are seen as a lower class, meant to be providers of domesticity. Stereotypes are the standard that women are held to, in relationships, in the workplace, and in their families. The biggest responsibility in a woman’s life is to find a man to marry, have 2.5 children, and passively carry out the domestic duties of their white picket fence household. The woman is expected to be a caring and nurturing presence in the home (Baxter, 1992). Now the latter may be a hyperbole (in most cases), but it gets the point across that there are very different gender roles and expectations, …show more content…
These situations are particularly difficult to prosecute due to the fact that acquaintance rape often takes place in situations where there is the potential for consensual sex. Some argue that women who enter into a relationship with a man is consenting to sexual contact simply by being in the relationship, and are therefore responsible for anything that may happen (Abrams, Vicki, Masser, & Bohner, 2003). There is strong empirical evidence that suggests that those who commit these assaults are hostile to women, and are more likely to use the previously discussed justifications for their assault (Abrams, Vicki, Masser, & Bohner, …show more content…
This most often occurs when racism, sexism, and poverty intersect in one individual, meaning that they have to deal with discriminations from each of those categories (Woldeguiorguis, 2003). This has the most impact on decisions made in child protective services. There is not any solid evidence to support the claim that different races have different rates of child maltreatment, but the number of African-American families and children are over represented in the child welfare system. For example, African-American children represent 17 percent of the population, yet they represent 42 percent of children in foster care (Woldeguiorguis, 2003). Much of this has to do with the institutional discrimination of minority populations, which is a whole different story, and not the focus of this paper. But, there is also gender discrimination in the child welfare system. This is usually in the form of “mother-blaming” (Woldeguiorguis, 2003). As was discussed previously, there is an idealized image of the woman/mother that women in our society are held to. When they do not live up to this image, they are scorned as bad
It is clear to the educated members of our population that the institutional discrimination of women runs rampant in society today. Women are seen as a lower class, meant to be providers of domesticity. Stereotypes are the standard that women are held to, in relationships, in the workplace, and in their families. The biggest responsibility in a woman’s life is to find a man to marry, have 2.5 children, and passively carry out the domestic duties of their white picket fence household. The woman is expected to be a caring and nurturing presence in the home (Baxter, 1992). Now the latter may be a hyperbole (in most cases), but it gets the point across that there are very different gender roles and expectations, …show more content…
These situations are particularly difficult to prosecute due to the fact that acquaintance rape often takes place in situations where there is the potential for consensual sex. Some argue that women who enter into a relationship with a man is consenting to sexual contact simply by being in the relationship, and are therefore responsible for anything that may happen (Abrams, Vicki, Masser, & Bohner, 2003). There is strong empirical evidence that suggests that those who commit these assaults are hostile to women, and are more likely to use the previously discussed justifications for their assault (Abrams, Vicki, Masser, & Bohner, …show more content…
This most often occurs when racism, sexism, and poverty intersect in one individual, meaning that they have to deal with discriminations from each of those categories (Woldeguiorguis, 2003). This has the most impact on decisions made in child protective services. There is not any solid evidence to support the claim that different races have different rates of child maltreatment, but the number of African-American families and children are over represented in the child welfare system. For example, African-American children represent 17 percent of the population, yet they represent 42 percent of children in foster care (Woldeguiorguis, 2003). Much of this has to do with the institutional discrimination of minority populations, which is a whole different story, and not the focus of this paper. But, there is also gender discrimination in the child welfare system. This is usually in the form of “mother-blaming” (Woldeguiorguis, 2003). As was discussed previously, there is an idealized image of the woman/mother that women in our society are held to. When they do not live up to this image, they are scorned as bad