The Utah Women and Leadership Project’s forth brief in the Sexist Comments and Responses series deals with stereotypes. UWLP founding director Susan Madsen said of the 800 women who submitted comments, a startling amount fell into the stereotyping category.
“This one was really interesting,” Madsen said. “About 70% of all the comments related to one of the categories under stereotypes, and so 1,221 comments, so that's a lot to work our way through.”
This brief took on everything from general sexism to comments about how women should prioritize homemaking roles to women being penalized at work for being mothers. Madsen said the comments also ranged in severity.
“Some of them just make me laugh because they like, really do people really, you know, actually say these things,” Madsen said.
While the brief says over 65% of these comments came from men, over 30% came from other women. It’s a phenomenon Madsen said is more clear in states like Utah where more people believe in traditional roles.
“Women are more judgmental of other women, if they're not staying in the “feminine” to more traditional roles or doing the more traditional things,” Madsen said.
Understanding that both men and women have room to grow is the first step at getting better, Madsen said.
“But the more that we are aware, as women and as men of the kinds of comments that are out there, we can be more thoughtful about how we speak,” Madsen said. “And on how we are allies to each other.”