Mental Health Harm of Sexism & Misogyny Archives

Time Travel to Women’s Equality

I have traveled to the future of women’s equality and it is wonderful. By future, I mean Sweden. Spending more than 20 years working with Swedish companies as a communications consultant, I had the privilege of experiencing gender equality, as good as it gets on this planet earth.

Over the years, one Swedish client led to more, and I soon found myself with multiple yearly trips to Stockholm. I made friends, and spent a great deal of time, with some of the most fantastisk Swedish people. Yes, fantastisk is spelled correctly, the Swedish way. If my feminist activity should ever render me a refugee, I will seek asylum in Sweden.

Of no surprise to me, Sweden ranked #1 in a report recently released by the United Nations titled, THE PATHS TO EQUAL, Twin indices on women’s empowerment and gender equalit y. Also not surprisingly, the United States’ ranking was poor. Of 114 countries ranked, the United States ranked 22nd on the Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI) and a pathetic 33rd on the Global Gender Parity Index (GGPI). In addition to Sweden, I have had the pleasure of working with clients in other countries that outrank the US including Australia, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany. Despite our self-perception of greatness, the data shows the U.S. is not such a great place for women. In comparison to more advanced countries, the U.S. culture screams misogyny and women have internalized this misogyny, leading to relational aggression between women perpetuating the problem. The UN report’s forward highlights the significance of global women’s issues as, “… the unfinished business of our time.”

The UN report ranked countries on two indices, the Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI) and the Global Gender Parity Index (GGPI). The WEI focused on women’s empowerment, to evaluate their power and freedom to make choices and seize opportunities. The GGPI evaluated the status of women relative to men to expose the gender gap. Evaluated together, they offer a big picture view into a countries progress towards women’s empowerment and gender equality.

What does gender equality feel like? Unfortunately, nobody really knows because it does not exist. None of the 114 countries analyzed in the report has achieved full women’s empowerment or complete gender parity. We may not know what full equality feels like, yet we do know that a lack of gender equality is a mental and physical health issue.

With a long-term mindfulness and meditation practice, experience as a psychotherapist, plus a ton of experience facilitating business meetings, my level of awareness regarding the nuances of human behavior is strong. Combined with education and up-to-date expertise in psychology and women’s issues, I have a contextual awareness and a felt sense of the energetic vibration of gender equality.

In March, U.N. chief, Secretary General António Guterres, spoke on the status of gender equality and outlined global atrocities, including the rolling back of women’s sexual and reproductive rights, and warned that women’s rights are now 300 years away from gender equality.

Guterres named the silencing of women as part of the challenge and mentioned the “misogynistic disinformation and misinformation” and social media gender trolling aimed at “silencing women and forcing them out of public life.”

The World Economic Forum’s G lobal Gender Gap Report 2023 was more optimistic naming a gap of 131 years and ranking the U.S. at 43rd, a drop from last year because of a sharp decline in the U.S. on the political empowerment index, a measure of the gap in the highest levels of political decision-making.

I am not sure how many years ahead I traveled by spending time in Sweden. Sweden Is not perfect so most likely not 300 years or even 131 years. I have heard some estimate it to be about 50 years.

How can we help the U.S. advance toward equality with a healthier culture that offers well-being and freedom to all its citizens? The issue is a psychological issue as everyone works to unpack and undo harmful patriarchal norms. This is especially an issue for women, as patriarchy, misogyny, sexism and gender-based oppression result in women’s identity-based trauma and the resulting internalized misogyny.

Travelers know that travel creates internal change for the better in fundamental ways. Mark Twain, in The Innocents Abroad (1869) famously said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

Travel creates the opportunity to build understanding out of our earned experience and wisdom. Not everyone will have the privilege of international travel or spending time in Sweden. This does not mean we cannot choose to be open-minded and humble in our worldview.

We don’t necessarily need to travel to hear the data speak on gender equality. The way that we respond to this data will determine the nature of our future.

Sexism Contributes to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Sexism-Based Traumatic Stress (SBTS)

Mental Health Harm of Sexism & Misogyny

Women experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at higher rates than men. Researchers have looked for explanations of this difference. Until recently, they have been unable to identify contextual factors including rates of sexual assault, prior mental health conditions, or gender differences in symptom reporting biases.

The Counseling Psychologist published an article titled Sexist Microaggressions: Traumatic Stressors Mediated by Self Compassion and presented how our understanding has changed. There is a clearly built empirical foundation that links the systemic oppression of women and the resulting impact on women’s mental health, including PTSD.

This article offers more specific information on the data, links, and detrimental impacts of everyday sexism. The research findings presented support our understanding that sexist microaggressions are a major contributor to trauma symptomatology. Sexist microaggressions are a form of oppression-based trauma.

In addition, it presents an overview of Sexism-Based Traumatic Stress (SBTS), a form of identity-based trauma that results in psychological injury. This form of injury undermines self-compassion, and may create negative changes in self-regard, sense of worth and value. This supports our general everyday knowledge that women often struggle with these issues for no outwardly appearing reason.

Gender discrimination has been observed and studied as a known continuous, pervasive, lifelong trauma for females. Studies support the hypothesis that discrimination has made women more vulnerable to PTSD, complex PTSD, depression, anxiety, and has contributed to a higher comorbidity with other mental and physical health disorders. The intersectionality of racial discrimination and interpersonal trauma for black women has also been found to contribute to PTSD.

One of the most cited multicultural scholars, Dr. Derald Wing Sue in his book, Microaggressions in Everyday Life supports the idea that the cumulative effects of the sexist microaggressions endured by women has long been attributed to this mental health inequity. He states that “daily sexist microaggressions immerse women in a sea of discriminatory messages causing an accumulative strain.” He lists the many ways sexism harms women including contributing to depression, anxiety, stress, body image, eating disorders, self-esteem, identity, performance, standard of living and physical health outcomes.

As the Counseling Psychology study points out, given the evidence supporting that sexism functions as an everyday traumatic stressor, and creates trauma symptomatology, this may be the answer that researchers have sought in the higher rates of PTSD in women.

The findings also indicate that SBTS may be present in clients experiencing trauma symptomatology. The authors suggest that when women have trauma symptoms, but do not meet DSM Criterion A, or “exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence…” then clinicians may consider assessing for experience with sexist microaggressions.

Sexism and Misogyny Are Mental Health Issues

Mental Health Harm of Sexism & Misogyny

Women’s mental health is negatively impacted by sexism, misogyny and gender-based discrimination. Women are approximately twice as likely to experience depression, anxiety and trauma disorders. When considering how these factors can impact a person’s well-being, this is no small difference.

Women have higher rates of depression

The Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics published a study finding that women in the United States are almost twice as likely to have depression. Gender differences in depression are well known and this study only confirms previous research. Not only do women have double the frequency, women experience depression with greater severity than men. Social issues impact these differences.

Women have a higher incidence of anxiety and trauma disorders

A study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research found the lifetime male:female prevalence ratios of any anxiety disorder was 1:1.7. The study also found a higher illness burden for women, making anxiety more disabling in women. It found this higher rate of diagnosis for each of the anxiety disorders examined including, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder (PD), agoraphobia without history of panic disorder (AG), specific phobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD.) The study also found a higher incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It did not find a difference in social anxiety disorder, however, another more recent study found that women are more likely to have social anxiety disorder (SAD) and report greater clinical severity.

Why is there a gender difference in the prevalence of these mental health diagnosis? Some studies suggest that potential biological, hormonal factors, and postpartum may be central to mental health differences.

It is becoming increasingly clear that there are many potential gendered risk factors that contribute to mental health inequities including structural inequities and the feminization of poverty. Many studies seeking answers point to factors that directly point to the impact of sexism, misogyny and gender-based inequality, discrimination and abuse including interpersonal stressors, lower self-esteem, high body shame, and higher levels of fear, trauma, childhood sexual abuse and domestic violence.

As much as our patriarchal-centered cultures would like to attribute mental health inequities to other factors, I suggest that this deflection is a denial of culpability. This opinion is supported by research. A study published by the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys, Archives of General Psychiatry, Cross-National Associations Between Gender and Mental Disorders in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys found that these gender differences in major depression were significantly lower when cultures had less traditional gender roles. This finding was consistent across times and places. When women’s roles are more equal to those of men, women are less depressed.

The starting place for healing women from the harmful mental health impact of sexism, misogyny and gender-based discrimination is having this knowledge. We need to address these issues so that women may take back the power of their mental health.