Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to stereotypes and gender roles, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is intrinsically superior to another. Extreme sexism may foster sexual harassment, rape, and other forms of sexual violence. Gender discrimination may encompass sexism, and is discrimination toward people based on their gender identity or their gender or sex differences. Gender discrimination is especially defined in terms of workplace inequality. It may arise from social or cultural customs and norms.

Patriarchy is a social system in which men hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, and social privilege. A patriarchal society consists of a male-dominated power structure throughout organized society and in individual relationships. Most contemporary societies are, in practice, patriarchal. Patriarchy is associated with a set of ideas, a patriarchal ideology that acts to explain and justify this dominance and attributes it to inherent natural differences between men and women. Feminist theorists have expanded the definition of patriarchal society to describe a systemic bias against women, and most feminists saw that oppression of women…   Read more