Cross cultural understanding: a handbook to understand others’ cultures

B.
 
Women and Gender Discrimination 
Many of the stereotypes that result in gender 
discrimination are not only descriptive, but also prescriptive 
beliefs about how men and women. For example, women 
who are considered to be too assertive or men who lack 
physical strength are often criticized and historically faced 
societal backlash. They can also facilitate or impede 
intellectual performance, such as the stereotype threat that 
lower women's performance on mathematics tests, due to the 
stereotype that women have inferior quantitative skills 
compared to men's, or when the same stereotype leads men 
to assess their own task ability higher than women 
performing at the same level. 

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Cross Cultural Understanding | 119 
Gender discrimination or sexism refers to prejudice or 
discrimination based on gender, as well as conditions that 
foster stereotypes of gender roles. There are several 
prominent ways in which gender discrimination continues to 
play a role in modern society. Occupational sexism refers to 
discriminatory practices, statements, and/or actions based 
on a person's gender which occur in a place of employment. 
Wage discrimination in which gender is perceived to be a 
barrier to professional advancement, and sexual harassment 
in the workplace are all examples of occupational sexism.
Violence against women, including sexual assault, 
domestic violence, and sexual slavery, remains a serious 
problem around the world. Many also argue that the 
objectification of women, such as in pornography, also 
constitutes a form of gender discrimination.