The sexualization of women, along with the prominent view of women as mothers or potential mothers, shapes a significant amount of the issues women face in society today. For instance, young women are less likely to move up the corporate ladder, in part, because it is assumed that they will quit or become less committed once they have children. If they do prove successful professionally, it is often assumed that they slept their way to the top. Both of these scenarios reduce women down to motherhood and/or sexual objects, and completely ignore their identities as complex human beings in their own right. This also highlights the importance of considering the early days of women in the workplace and how certain positions more closely associated with the “traditional” female roles were more readily accepted by society. For instance, women as teachers was largely uncontroversial, as teaching parallels the responsibilities assumed by women through motherhood. Powerful corporate positions, on the other hand, were (and to a certain extent, still are) tremendously difficult for women to obtain. This links back to the ways in which society socialises men to perceive women as unequal, and ultimately works to uphold the patriarchy.
Interested in learning more? Read PATRIARCHY: TOWARDS A
RECONCEPTUALISATION by Foord and Gregson