Turns out I’m sexist, and so are you

IF you asked me a few weeks ago if I was sexist, I would have said no. After hearing a radio show called Why Are Even Women Biased Against Women?, I’m not so sure.

Turns out that examples of women’s bias against other women abound. The actress Anne Hathaway admits to “internalised misogyny”, saying in the past she failed to trust a female director as much as she would have trusted a man.

Then there is US author Catherine Nichols who, when submitting her manuscript to (a majority of female) literary agents, only got two interested responses to 50 letters. So she did the Bronte sisters’ trick, changed her name to a man’s and sent the same information out again. This time she got 17 responses. Turns out she was eight times a better writer with a male pseudonym.

The evidence isn’t just anecdotal. Studies have proved that gender bias exists and, women are sexist too. The problem is these discriminatory attitudes are so deeprooted, we don’t even know we are doing it. What’s more, it’s a vicious circle: the more we are exposed to sexist attitudes, the more we become hardwired to be sexist.

It’s been on my mind this week more than ever, the week celebrating the centenary of (some) women in Ireland and the UK winning the right to vote. It was an incredible achievement.

Exercising our vote in elections and referenda is our right, and we should use it, but we cast dozens of little votes every day — where we buy our coffee, the articles we chose to click on and the way we chose to speak to and treat others. Let’s not forget that either.