institutional sexism
Embedded gender bias
Institutional sexism is discrimination based on sex or gender embedded in the policies, practices, and structures of organizations and social systems.
Unlike individual prejudice, it operates through established procedures that systematically disadvantage one sex—historically women—regardless of the intentions of people within those institutions: The pay gap reflects institutional sexism, not just individual bias.
The term parallels institutional racism in describing how inequality persists through systems rather than personal attitudes.
- gender discriminationPrejudice based on sex
- glass ceilingUnacknowledged limit blocking advancement
- patriarchyMale-dominated social order
- good old boysInsular network of influential men
- workplace biasPrejudice in professional environments
pay gap · harassment · old boys club · boardroom · corner office · inequality · systemic · barriers · mommy track · promotion · hiring · exclusion · stereotypes · pink collar · corporate · power structures · male gaze · marginalization
- feminismfeminism, feminist theory, gender equality, women's rights, feminist novels
- gender equitygender equality, gender equity, equal rights, gender gap, pay equity
- patriarchymale dominance, male supremacy, pater familias, patria potestas, male privilege
institutional sexismgender equality
Equal treatment regardless sex
gender equity · equal opportunity · gender justice · meritocracy · egalitarianism
institutional sexisminstitutional racism
Prejudice embedded in organizations
institution, institutional, institutionalize, institutionalized, institutionalization, institute, instituted, institutes, instituting