Sexism In The Modern World

Misogyny is definitely not a new problem in society. It has been around for millennia. In today's day and age women are able to get jobs, occupy positions of power and be independent but however, the increasing cases of mistreatment and violence against women make this a cause for alarm. Sexism is still a problem in the modern world, although women have spoken up about sexism being an issue with movements in the 1960’s and 70’s, women today are still facing unequal pay, objectification and sexual harassment.


An example of sexism in the modern world is that most women are being paid substantially less than men. Congress passed the equal pay act in 1963. However major gender pay disparities still exist more than 50 years after that act was passed. Although there are great variations among individual salaries, on average women are being paid just 79 cents to every dollar a man makes. This makes things like paying off student debt harder for most women. Men and women both pay the same amount of money for tuition, automobiles, houses, and yet women are being paid substantially less than men, this makes it more difficult for women to gain financial independence. Some politicians argue that equal pay acts already made it illegal to discriminate on gender, and that any further legislation is unnecessary. Others also argue that women are taking lower paying jobs than men so this statistic is misleading.


Another reason that sexism is still a problem is that women are being objectified. An actress dressed in a black crewneck and jeans videoed herself walking around New York City for ten hours. “Over one hundred instances of verbal street harassment took place within ten hours, involving people of all backgrounds. This doesn’t include the countless winks, whistles, etc.” After the video was uploaded the actress received numerous rape threats online.


The Huffington post interviewed New Yorkers about their experiences with verbal street harassment and being harassed. Some men in the video tried to justify their verbal assault, saying “If you have a beautiful body, why can’t I say something?” The women in the video explained how uncomfortable and how unsafe being verbally assaulted makes them feel. One woman commented “I think there should be a more respectful way to approach women”. While they were interviewing a young women about being verbally harassed on the streets, an older man came up and grabbed her shoulder, the women responding “Sorry sir” and trying to get loose from his grip. Only after one of the interviewers went up to the old man, he let go of her.


Verbal harassment on the streets is an under researched topic but it’s clear from the few studies that exist that it is a significant and prevalent problem. In 2014, SSH had commissioned a 2,000 person survey in America. The survey found that over 99 percent of the female respondents said that they had experienced some form of verbal street assault and or harassment - only three women out of the 916 respondents said they had not.


Many women are being taken advantage of and are raped. The death of the gang rape victim in Delhi on December 2012 had sparked a collective outrage against sexual violence in india, with month long protests wide spread around the region. Even after all the protests and laws against sexual harassment women and girls are still at risk. A new campus sexual assault survey from the Association of American Universities finds that one in four female undergraduates in a new survey of 150,000 students at 27 colleges reported being a victim of sexual assault or misconduct.


Does a women deserve to get raped because of the way she dresses? Photos of scantily dressed women on Facebook were accompanied with accusatory comments. One of the many were: “She’s asking to get raped… don’t blame the rapists” and “Most of the time, the victims asked for it”. This shows that the people leaving these comments have the mentality that rape is acceptable, as long as the victim was “asking for it”, it reinforces the notion that it is not the rapist's fault for raping girls but it’s the victim's fault. In parts of the world victims of rape are being blamed and punished. The fact that not only some people, but some countries have this ignorant mindset is unbelievable. A victim of rape is not responsible for the rapists actions, and should not be held accountable.