exin en, sexism describes the specificity of female oppression. Starting from the traditional belief of the difference between the sexes sexism embodies two core concepts. The first is that men are more important than women. Not necessarily superior -we are far too sophisticated these days than to use those tainted terms --but more important, more significant, more valuable,more worthwhile. This value justifies the idea that it is more important for a man, the breadwinner", to have a job or a promotion, than a women,more important for a man to be paid well, more important for a man to have an ducation and in general to have preference over a women It is the basis of the feeling by men that if women enter a particular occupation they will degrade it and that men must leave or be themselves degraded, and the feeling by women that they can raise the prestige of their professions by recruiting men, which they can only do by giving them the better job From this value comes the attitude that a husband must earn more than his wife or suffer a loss of personal status and a wife must subsume her interests to his or be socially castigated. From this value comes the practice of rewarding men for serving in the armed forces and punishing women for having children. The first core concept of sexist thought is that men do the important work in the world and the work done by men is what is important. The second core concept is that women are here for the pleasure and assistance of men This is what is meant when women are told that their role is complementary to that of men that they should fulfill their naturalfeminine functions: that they are different from men and should not compete with them. From this concept comes the attitude that women are and should be dependent on men: for everything but especially their identities, the social definition of who they are. It defines the few roles for which women are socially rewarded - wife, mother and mistress --all of which are pleasing or beneficial to men, and leads directly to the "pedestal theory which extols women who stay in their place as good helpmates to men. It is this attitude which stigmatizes those women who do not marry or who do not devote their primary energies to the care of men and their children. Association with a man is the basic criterion for participation by women in this society and one who does not seek her identity through a man is a threat to its social values. It is similarly this attitude which causes women's liberation activists to be labeled as man haters for exposing the nature of sexism. People feel that a woman not devoted to looking after men must act this way because of hatred or inability toSexism For women, sexism describes the specificity of female oppression. Starting from the traditional belief of the difference between the sexes, sexism embodies two core concepts. The first is that men are more important than women. Not necessarily superior -- we are far too sophisticated these days than to use those tainted terms -- but more important, more significant, more valuable, more worthwhile. This value justifies the idea that it is more important for a man, the "breadwinner", to have a job or a promotion, than a women, more important for a man to be paid well, more important for a man to have an education and in general to have preference over a women. It is the basis of the feeling by men that if women enter a particular occupation they will degrade it and that men must leave or be themselves degraded, and the feeling by women that they can raise the prestige of their professions by recruiting men, which they can only do by giving them the better jobs. From this value comes the attitude that a husband must earn more than his wife or suffer a loss of personal status and a wife must subsume her interests to his or be socially castigated. From this value comes the practice of rewarding men for serving in the armed forces and punishing women for having children. The first core concept of sexist thought is that men do the important work in the world and the work done by men is what is important. The second core concept is that women are here for the pleasure and assistance of men. This is what is meant when women are told that their role is complementary to that of men; that they should fulfill their natural "feminine" functions; that they are "different" from men and should not compete with them. From this concept comes the attitude that women are and should be dependent on men; for everything but especially their identities, the social definition of who they are. It defines the few roles for which women are socially rewarded -- wife, mother and mistress -- all of which are pleasing or beneficial to men, and leads directly to the "pedestal" theory which extols women who stay in their place as good helpmates to men. It is this attitude which stigmatizes those women who do not marry or who do not devote their primary energies to the care of men and their children. Association with a man is the basic criterion for participation by women in this society and one who does not seek her identity through a man is a threat to its social values. It is similarly this attitude which causes women's liberation activists to be labeled as man haters for exposing the nature of sexism. People feel that a woman not devoted to looking after men must act this way because of hatred or inability to