Double Standards: The Oppression Of Women

In our society, women of all ages are subjected to extreme double standards to men every day. These double standards are the layer of sexism that most people hear and see in everyday life. Double standards are ideals that women are assumed and expected to abide by while men are not “needed” to because of the way society perceives gender stereotypes to be. Women are expected to fit certain physical body standards depending on age and race unlike men; too many women are ridiculed from being overweight or have stretch marks. A study found that although both women and men experience overweight prejudgement, women are more stressed to lose significant amounts of weight due to societal demands (Bahadur). Women are afraid of the discrimination of …show more content…
Women are often not treated with the same amount of professionalism and respect as men in a professional setting. A report on discrimination in the workplace states that “Fourteen percent of female workers categorize the discrimination or unfair treatment they experienced at work as severe while 61 percent described it as moderate” (“25% of Women…”). About three-fourths of working women are experiencing degrading actions towards them from their coworkers and/or bosses. This statistic is very alarming for not only women in America but across the entire world. These women are working hard to make money for themselves to pay bills, family expenses, or other items just as much as men are but are not being treated the same for their equal work. Men can talk down or degrade a woman at work and not earn any repercussions of their actions, but if it was a woman saying these things, there would be a very different outcome. Women have to deal with the stress of daily work life expecting to be treated negatively to their male counterparts while men do not have to even think about that happening to them. A test sample of women found that sexist jokes and other forms of gender disrespect less intense than physical, sexual abuse are more harmful for the overall well-being in working women (Adams). Most people assume that “small” jokes do not really affect women as much as it really does. Men and other women make jokes about many different things that are derogatory towards women because they think they are harmless but hearing these jokes daily from coworkers creates a hostile environment and decrease productivity and comfort in the workplace. This workplace humor can cause anxiety and other emotional problems for women which could eventually make it impossible for a woman to work at her place of occupation without fearing these jokes or