Sexist individuals threaten 'equality' of society

An individual's sexism leads to gender inequality in the society as a whole, according to a new study

An individual's sexism leads to gender inequality in the society as a whole, according to a new study.
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"I'm interested in the consequences people's beliefs about how the world should work and how the world does work," says Mark Brandt of DePaul University, the author of the new study.
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For this study on sexism, he used data from an international survey conducted between 2005 and 2007.
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The survey included two statements to measure sexism: "On the whole, men make better political leaders than women do" and "On the whole, men make better business executives than women do."
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He also used a United Nations measure of gender inequality, from the year the sexism question was asked and from 2009.
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Brandt found that sexism was directly associated with increases in gender inequality overtime.
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"You could get the impression that having sexist beliefs, or prejudiced beliefs more generally, is just an individual thing -- 'my beliefs don't impact you,'" Brandt says.
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But this study shows that isn't true. If individual people in a society are sexist, men and women in that society become less equal.
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"Gender inequality is such a tough beast to crack because there are so many contributing factors," Brandt says.
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Policies can contribute to inequality -- and some countries have insured some measure of equality by mandating that some number of seats in the legislature be reserved for women.
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But this study suggests that if the goal is increased equality, individual attitudes have to change.
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The study has been published in the journal Psychological Science.