Page 205 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

The Detrimental Impact of Gender Microaggressions 179

National Center for Health Statistics, 2007). Studies suggest that women are
more likely to be affected by stress in their roles as caregivers for children, part-
ners, and parents (Stambor, 2006). For women, confl icts with societal standards,
discrimination, cultural expectations, and exposure to gender microaggressions
can significantly impact health.

Impact on Psychological Health

Scholars have concluded that women are consistently subjected to greater
stressors than men (Morales & Sheafor, 2004; Spradlin & Parsons, 2008; National
Academies, 2006):

• Women carry more of the domestic burden and more responsibility for
social and interpersonal relationships and for childcare, despite holding
full - time employment outside of the home.
• They must contend with low wages and low - skilled occupations.
• They must contend with frequent sexual harassment: 81% of girls in
8th to 11th grades report having been sexually harassed, as have 30% of
undergraduates and 40% of graduate students.
• They are paid less than their male counterparts for similar jobs.
• They receive less recognition, approval, and encouragement in class-
rooms than do their male counterparts.
• They are more likely to live in poverty.
• They encounter greater discrimination and victimization.
• They face more barriers in their career choices.

Depression
It would be a denial of gender reality to say that women ’ s sense of self - worth,
sense of well - being, and mental health are unaffected by these daily and con-
stant assaults, insults, and invalidations. Up to 7 million women suffer from
depression, double the number of men (Kessler, 2003; Schwartzman & Glaus,
2000). While some argue that differences can be attributed to self - reporting
(women are more inclined to seek treatment than men), gender bias in diagnosis
toward depression, and biological differences associated with hormonal fl uctu-
ations, which may account for the higher incidence in women, it appears that a
major explanation relates to sexism (Strickland, 1992). Gender role expectations
diminish a sense of control in life, foster helplessness, impose self - subordina-

tion, and produce role conflicts that are oftentimes associated with depression.

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