Sexism 1-3

In the first article, the area of discussion is science, a field traditionally associated with men. Hence people tend to conform to such believes and as such, women in science-related fields feel that they are discriminated against when they do not get the same job opportunities as men. An example brought up to support this point is that Harvard, a high-prestige institution, neglects lot of females. Also from the article, studies have shown that in evaluating a woman in a male-dominated field, both male and female observers see her as less competent than a similarly described man unless there is clear information that she is a top performer in the field. And in that case, they see her as less likeable than a comparable man. Summers claims that we all have “gender schemas” of what it means to be male or female.

The second article however, deals with women being sexually violated, a very sensitive issue. As a result, a woman’s word is stronger than the man’s as she is often seen as being more vulnerable, the person that suffers most as a result of sexual offenses. If the woman feigns distress during the trial, her trauma can be seen as evidence of a sexual offence having taken place, making it difficult for the male offender to fight his case. A swimming instructor who was accused of molesting a woman when he merely collided into her felt that the ‘legal system here (in Singapore) seems heavily weighted on the side of the women … the burden of proof is on the man’. This is due to the discrimination of the males in sexual offenses and complaints from the males are often not heeded.

For the third article, women’s complaints are often neglected as women are more often than not portrayed as overly sensitive creatures who complain about trivial things. Men on the other hand are perceived as being more hardy, and that they do not voice out their complains unless they have no choice. As such, this could be the reason why doctors take complaints from men and women differently. Males are seen to be dominant over the females as they receive greater priority and complaints from the females are usually ignored.

Bryan, Inez, Charlene and Isis
09S03K