Discrimination Against Women: Prevalence, Consequences, Remedies

How frequently do women experience sexist discrimination? Does sexism have an effect on women’s physical or mental health? How can we measure the impact of sexism, both blatant and subtle, on women exposed to it? Discrimination against Women provides answers to these questions. Part One offers an empirically validated scale for measuring the health effects of sexism, and presents the findings which resulted from using the scale on a large sample of women surveyed by the authors. Part Two consists of contributions from leading psychologists on what women can do about discrimination in their own lives. The final part reviews laws regarding discrimination against women in the United States. An Appendix offers a guide to the methodological issues underlying the authors’ sexism scale and findings, and provides a primer for readers unfamiliar with scientific research and statistics.