What is sexism and how does it influence US society?

Sexism consists of policies, attitudes, and behaviors that are biased, most often against women, because of gender. Many people believe that due to the 2nd wave of feminism in the 1960’s-1970’s era, sexism has disappeared from society and that the U.S. no longer discriminates against women. This is incorrect, since there are still many ways in which sexist attitudes and policies affect women and men. An obvious statistic that stands out is that women still earn 78 cents for every dollar earned by men. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, although women make up a large part of the workforce, their presence shrinks in every industry as one evaluates careers with higher prestige and power. This explains why although women make up 46.3% of the labor force, only 2.6% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. And while women earn more college and graduate degrees than men, they are still discouraged from entering high-earning STEM fields. Women are also the victims of widespread sexual and domestic violence, and are more affected by emotional stress and body image issues. This is unfortunately widely accepted by the media, which portrays women as beauty-based objects and accepts rape myths. This is especially true in advertising. Sexism also affects men. I would love to be a stay-at-home dad one day, but I feel that there are sexist attitudes that prevent me from making this choice. Feminist Gloria Steinem famously said,