Question

How does the notion of "benevolent sexism" affect women's incarceration and sentencing? Do you think benevolent sexism is a problem?

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) The term “ambivalent sexism” consists of two opposing traits. These traits are known as “hostile sexism” and “benevolent sexism.” Hostile sexism would imply exhibiting hostility towards a particular sex. For instance, saying that women are inferior to men would be hostile sexism towards women.

Benevolent sexism, on the other hand, would be when one sex is seemingly patronising towards the other sex. For instance, saying that women need to be protected by men is benevolent sexism. This notion would affect a sentencing if the jury were to pity, for example, a woman who was a single mother despite her committing a crime.

When a woman might be incarcerated, the sentencing should entirely depend on factual evidence so as to make an objective, lawful and just decision. Patronising or pitying an individual because of their sex is something that the law should not indulge in. Every individual is equal before the law and hence should be incarcerated based on a lawful sentencing and not benevolent sexism. Since the constitution and law are designed to ensure equal rights to all, most litigations are likely to be fair to all sexes and hence benevolent sexism is not really a problem.