Written by Duaa Memon
March 4th, 2022
In late 2016, a 2005 recording of Donald Trump making crude and vulgar comments about women resurfaced on the internet only to be rightfully criticized by many. Some of the criticism came from influential men, including Ted Cruz who used his Twitter platform to denounce Trump’s behavior as inappropriate, voicing the need to respect every wife, mother, and daughter. Similarly, Jeb Bush condemned Trump’s comments with respect to being the “grandfather of two precious girls”. These tweets were liked and retweeted by thousands in agreement with the said message.
Something about these comments produced a great deal of discomfort within me and many other women. But many others, especially men, viewed it as a non-issue and attacked anyone who expressed their discomfort as being insatiable feminists. Perhaps because such comments can appear to be sympathetic to the gender equality movement, making people like Cruz appear as well-intentioned feminist allies, when in reality it does not make them any better than the perpetrators they denounce. At the very core, they are still promoting sexism.
This is not the only instance of such an occurrence. Think of when in a professional environment your achievements as a woman have been overlooked only for you to be praised for your personality and/or behavior. Think of all the times your male colleague has offered to help you out with simpler tasks but does not seem to offer the same help to your other male coworkers as such. Think of all the times you felt you were treated better when you looked more ‘feminine’ that day. Well then you might wonder, if this is so common, then why is it that it remains unnoticed and even unaddressed? Presumably because it hides behind a friendly façade that masks the misogyny lying underneath it.
Such behaviors can be characterized as Benevolent sexism, a sub-component of Ambivalent sexism. Peter Glick and Susan Fiske first introduced the Ambivalent sexism model in the 1990s, categorizing sexist behaviors into two streams, Benevolent and Hostile sexism. As per Peter Glick, this paradox of hostile and benevolent behaviors toward women stems from men’s need to control women and keep them in their place, while being intimately interdependent on them. While Hostile sexism is the quintessential representation of everyday sexism that most of us are familiar with, Benevolent sexism is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It is an imposter, lurking slyly behind the guise of benevolence only to undermine women. In fact, it is so sleek, that even the women being subjected to such sexism fail to identify it as such. It does so by reinforcing the positive stereotypes associated with femininity, such as seeing women as ‘nurturing’ or ‘pure’. Additionally, it promotes protective paternalism as women are deemed ‘delicate flowers’ in need of protection by a strong capable man, ultimately harming women.
But if it is so polite and well-intentioned, then how does it harm women? Research shows that in certain instances Benevolent sexism may undermine women’s equality and well-being even more than Hostile sexism. Bollier, et al. (2007) show that priming with Benevolent sexism tends to impair women’s performance on cognitive tests. Another study by Montanes, et al. (2012) shows that endorsing the idea of a ‘male provider’ leads to diminishing academic ambition and performance in high school girls. In the workplace, women are assigned fewer demanding tasks, and thus are less likely to be promoted despite receiving more positive feedback than their male counterparts. More so, independent of the impact of Hostile sexism, Benevolent sexism is a notable predictor of nationwide gender inequality. In nations where Benevolent sexism was more eminent, men had higher life expectancy, literacy rates, wealth, and economic and political participation compared to women.
Benevolent sexism not only cements Hostile sexism but promotes inaction against gender inequality as it reduces women’s incentive to resist unfair treatment. Ultimately, raising awareness and educating society about Benevolent sexism is the only way to defeat it due to its covert nature. As a society, we cannot achieve true gender equality even if we erase all Hostile sexism if its Benevolent counterpart prevails. While systematic and organizational effort is what will truly defeat such sexism, at the individual level, self-reflection, and challenging one’s core beliefs about traditional femininity and protective paternalism would be a starting point.
Sources:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/marriage-equals/202001/cant-live-them-cant-live-without-them
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