Gender

The idea that sexism can have negative consequences within workplaces and specific areas of public life is well-established. But how sexist attitudes on the part of individuals can operate in the aggregate at the societal level — their national economic and social consequences — has not been well documented.

The United States has one of the highest obesity rates in the world, and the primary causes — unhealthy diets and a lack of exercise — are well known. However, the social, economic, psychological and policy factors underlying the problem are less clear.

According to survey data, American women consistently score lower on questions of political knowledge than do men. This difference makes women less likely to vote, run for office or communicate with their elected representatives. However, the root causes and structural barriers that explain this persistent gender gap in political knowledge — typically a 10-point difference in surveys — are not well understood.

A 2011 study in Demography, “The Black Gender Gap in Educational Attainment: Historical Trends and Racial Comparisons” (PDF), uses Census data from 1940 to 2000, with additional data from the Census Bureau’s companion American Community Survey, to compare higher education completion rates for black men and women between 1940 and 2000.

According to a 2010 report on Fortune 500 companies, women represented only 2% of CEOs, 14% of top executives and 16% of corporate directors. Some two-thirds of such companies had at least one woman in their executive ranks, however.

In recent decades, some American corporations have promoted team work and encouraged looser job roles. By 2002, up to 80% of medium- to large-sized workplaces had put in place cross-boundary structures that increased collaboration across work functions. These programs have often given non-managerial women and minorities the opportunity to interact with a wider range of workers, managers, and jobs across their organizations.