Occupational sexism

[3] Occupational sexism is caused by the social role theory and different stereotypes in society.

Before World War II, women were usually found in the home, performing traditionally womanly duties such as cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children.

Men are viewed as superior in occupations because of the stereotype that they are stronger and more capable of dealing with their emotions than women.

Positive impressions of those who display anger are reserved for people who are stereotypically conferred a higher status.

[14] In the late 1980s, studies saw that about a fair amount of the gender pay gap was due to differences in the skills and experience that women bring to the labor market and about 28 percent was due to differences in industry, occupation, and union status among men and women.

The industries with the highest death rates are mining, agriculture, forestry, fishing, and construction, all of which employ more men than women.

[20] Sociologists, economists, and politicians have proposed several theories about the causes of gender wage gap.

This is said to be relatively true at time because many women who select these careers find it easier to continue working these simple jobs rather that quit them if they choose to raise a family.

[22] Occupational sexism become institutionalized in the U.S. today when women were originally able to join the workforce by men primarily in the 20th century and were paid up to two-thirds of what male's income were.

Since then it is now thought of as "good business" to hire women because they could perform many jobs similar to men, yet give them lesser wages.

[17] Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Organization for Women are established to fight against this discrimination, leading to the creation of groundbreaking laws such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963.

However, identifying and challenging sex discrimination in the workplace (on legal grounds) has been argued as being extremely difficult for the average person to attempt and even harder to prove in court.

[24] Another Supreme Court case, Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., saw a judgment in favor of plaintiff Lilly Ledbetter—which had awarded her back pay and damages for several years of receiving disproportionately low pay in comparison to her male counterparts—overturned because she waited too long to file suit.

After a 5–4 decision, the majority cited reasoning that "Federal law states that 'employees must file their discrimination complaints within 180 days of the incident,'" a task that dissenting Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg claimed was unreasonable considering that quite often women have no reason to suspect discrimination until certain unfair patterns develop and they are made aware of them.