NCJ Number
180626
Date Published
1997
Length
279 pages
Annotation
This volume provides a theoretical model of how sexist discrimination causes symptoms in women; presents empirical analyses that document the existence of discrimination and its effect on women in health care system and employment; and discusses individual, societal, and legal remedies for sex discrimination.
Abstract
The text conceptualizes discrimination against women as a gender-specific type of stressful event. The model asserts that sexist events have an even greater impact on women's physical and mental health than generic stressful life events, that women have less control over sexist events than they do over generic life events, and that feminist consciousness is a unique personality factor that mediates the negative impact of sexist events. The empirical analyses use data from the authors' survey of 1,279 women who were diverse in their education, ethnicity, age, and income. Ninety-nine percent of the women reported experiencing discrimination. This discrimination ranged from subtle acts such as being told sexist jokes or being called sexist names to discrimination in salaries and promotion and being physically harmed. This discrimination not only contributed to physical and psychiatric symptoms among women, but also was the single best predictor of those symptoms. Thus, sexist discrimination harms women. The volume also includes chapters by psychologists on steps that women can take to understand and address the discrimination that they experience and to decrease its negative impact. The final chapter presents a review by two attorneys of laws and court cases on sex discrimination. Tables, footnotes, appended methodological information, index, and approximately 250 references