What are the causes of gender discrimination/ sexism?

Question

What actually causes men to be on the top of the social hierarchy and women on the bottom? What are the reasons?

Answer 1

Gender inequality is no questin a product of society, and there are many theories which answer your question.

Because we have gendered institutions, such as school and the workplace, that favor men, women are often victims of discrimination. For example, because men are not allowed paternity leave in the United States just as a women gets maternity leave, some empolyers don't feel the need to promote women if they're going to take the time off and start a family. Men are seen as better workers because they don't need time away from work in the eyes of the employers.

So let's say if both men and women had the same time off after the birth of a child, women would have a better opportunity of furthur succeeding in the workplace.

There are other factors as well, such as pyschological and biological differences that influence society's views on gender. But in my opinion, gendered institutions cause for the greatest gender discrimination.