Hdfs 4330 final project

Running head: BEYOND A SINGLE STORY 1
Beyond a Single Story: Examining Sexism from an Ecological Systems Theory Perspective
Caroline Griffin: Introduction and Overview of Ecological Systems Theory
Emma Garrison: Microsystem and Mesosystem
Avery White: Exosystem and Chronosystem
Maggie Miller: Macrosystem
Campbell Daniels: Discussion and Infographic
HDFS 4300
Fall Semester

BEYOND A SINGLE STORY 2
Beyond a Single Story: Examining Sexism from an Ecological Systems Theory Perspective
Sexism, the belief that women are inferior to men because of their sex, is an issue that
permeates the United State’s history. Women everyday still face the reality of discrimination
based on their gender, despite years of activism and progress. According to the United States
Department of Labor, women earn 78.6% of what men do on average (United States Department
of Labor, 2014). In addition, according to Pew Research, 42% of women report facing
discrimination in the workplace for their gender (Parker & Funk, 2017). Beyond the workplace,
ideas of a woman’s place in the home or in the family are shaped by sexist attitudes as well.
According to the United Nations, women spend an average of 1.5 more hours each day doing
domestic chores and caring for children than men do (United Nations Gender, 2016). These are
just a few of many statistics supporting the continued existence of sexism. While the United
States has experienced progress in women’s rights, there is still a lack in progress in the personal
beliefs held about women. Herein lies the danger of only believing a single story or stereotype
about women: it hinders the fight for equality that laws for women’s rights have hoped to
achieve. Which leads to the question of what shapes sexist attitudes. Is it society as a whole,
individual attitudes, or something else? As a group of all females, sexism is a single story that
affects or group the most directly, and therefore one we wanted to understand from multiple
perspectives and levels.
The beliefs and internalizations of stereotypes such as sexism can affect development.
As people who study human development and family science, we are concerned with
“expanding the richness of human life...giving people more freedom to live lives they value”
(United Nations Development, 2018). However in the case of sexism, as long as sexist attitudes

are perpetuated, women will not have equal opportunities to seek out their fullest life.
Determining the place of origin of any barrier to a person developing naturally and freely into
who they want to be is a concern of the field of human development. In addition, sexism has
profound effects on the family. Sexist attitudes determine who cares for the children, whether or
not the mother is working, how daughters are raised, and a number of other factors that directly
affect the family’s role in an individual’s development. Therefore, examining sexism on multiple
levels of influence gives us insight as to how it specifically affects individual freedom to develop
richly.
Overview of Ecological Systems Theory
In discussing sexism, we examined literature from the perspective of the Ecological
Systems, theory, developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner. This theory posits that an individual’s
development is influenced by the factors of their environment. However, the environment exists
in different levels, referred to as ecological systems, each with varying levels of influence
(Bronfenbrenner, 1977). The five systems are the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem,
macrosystem, and chronosystem. These are not, however separate entities, as they all interact
and influence one another.
The most immediate system to the individual, the microsystem, contains the people and
environments an individual has the most direct contact with. (Bronfenbrenner, 1977). This can
include an individual’s family and home life, peers, school, job, etc. (Bronfenbrenner, 1977). The
next system, the mesosystem, is referred to by Bronfenbrenner as “the system of the
microsystems” (Bronfenbrenner, 1977). In other words, the mesosystem involves the interactions
between a person’s various microsystems. Some examples could include the interaction between

a person’s school and their parents, or perhaps between their peer group and their religious
organization (Bronfenbrenner, 1977). Next there is the exosystem, an environment that, while it
does not have a direct influence on the individual, “encompass[es] the immediate settings in
which that person is found, and thereby influence[s], delimit[s], or even determine[s] what goes
on there” (Bronfenbrenner, 1977). This system includes factors such as provision of social
services, parent’s work environment, and mass media (Bronfenbrenner, 1977).
The next system, the macrosystem, encompasses the broad attitudes and contexts of life
in a particular culture. Bronfenbrenner refers to macrosystems as the “blueprints” that “set the
pattern for the structures and activities occurring at the concrete level” (Bronfenbrenner, 1977).
In other words, overarching cultural beliefs affect how everyday life is carried out, a key piece of
development. Lastly, the final level of Ecological Systems theory is the chronosystem. The
chronosystem recognizes the factor of time as an important factor of development. Over a
person’s lifetime, changes can occur that “alter the existing relation between person and
environment, thus creating a dynamic that may instigate developmental change”
(Bronfenbrenner, 1989). In addition, different historical periods results in changes that influence
the development of entire generations, The Great Depression, for example.
Ecological Systems Theory is important in explaining that a variety of factors influence a
person’s development, and how they all influence one another. By using this theory, broad,
complex issues can be broken down and understood at different levels. For example, it helps
explain cultural differences in development, as macrosystem ideologies vary from place to place.
Even more so, it includes the factor of time, the chronosystem, illustrating how development can
change over time, and how people develop differently in different time periods. This theory can

be applied to numerous issues, and be used to help explain how specific beliefs or ideas affect
human development as a whole. Concerning sexism, Ecological Systems theory makes it clear
that there is no one direct influence on the perpetuation of stereotypes, and therefore we must
examine the issue on multiple levels.
Microsystem
The single story of sexism in the United States most affects our group since we each face
the gender inequalities in our society on a daily basis. However, we only experience
discrimination as white females. Therefore, we have more privilege than females of color and
our group faces a blindspot in that regard. Even so, all women in the U.S. experience
discrimination in their immediate environment, particularly in the home and the workplace.
These immediate surroundings and the relationships with the people closest to us are known as
the microsystem in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1977). Even
in these areas that most affect people as individuals, clear inequalities arise between females and
males.
In the home, social expectations pressure women to be caretakers and homemakers. In
fact, 77% of Americans expect women to be involved parents compared to 49% for males
(Gramlich, 2017). Similarly, men are more likely to share the household chore responsibilities if
their wife works full time. However, if the wife works part time, the husband is not likely to
contribute. The reason? Women who work full time develop the social and economic resources
to negotiate the division of labor (Stier, 2000). Without these resources, women remain forced to
take over most of the household responsibilities even if they choose to work part time. (Stier,
2000). These statistics lead one to wonder why society continues to uphold such outdated gender

roles of the female caretaker and male breadwinner. These ideals originated in the 1800’s as men
left the home to work in manufacturing and women stayed home to care for the home and
children, and has been perpetuated ever since.
Outside of the home, the workplace also contributes to the discrimination of women. The
wage gap serves as one of the most obvious inequalities between men and women. Women earn
79 cents to every man’s dollar (United States Department of Labor, 2014). Many attribute this to
failing to adjust for other factors that could lead to the difference, but these factors also prove to
be signs of discrimination. The most evident example is occupational differences between men
and women. Women gravitate towards service industries due to societal norms that influence us
from a young age, and these jobs pay less than stereotypically male jobs (United Nations Gender,
2016). Regardless, even when men and women work the exact same jobs, men still make more
on average (Schieder & Gould, 2016).
On top of the wage gap between genders, women face other forms of discrimination in
the workplace. 42% of women have reported being treated as if they were not competent,
received less support from higher-ups in their workplace than their male coworkers, and other
forms of discrimination (Gramlich, 2017). Even more disturbingly, one in five or 22% of women
report having experienced sexual harassment at work compared to 7% of men (Gramlich, 2017).
Mesosystem
The microsystems of the home and workplace hold the most examples of discrimination
in our single story, and the interactions of these two systems represent Bronfenbrenner’s
mesosystem. These two aspects of women’s lives involve layers of discrimination and
inequalities that represent our society’s view of women. Society’s expectations teaches girls to

play with babydolls and kitchen toys and boys to build legos and play rough. In the U.S. we
teach girls from a young age to enjoy caretaking, and those girls grow up to seek professions that
are systematically lower-paying. Parents more often expect their sons to work in STEM fields
even if their daughters perform just as well in math. In states where overall people agree with the
statements “math is for boys” and “women are better suited for home,” girls score lower on math
assessments and higher on reading assessments even if they have the similar school math
performance as boys. (Schieder & Gould, 2016). Therefore, the expectations parents create for
their daughters versus the ones they create for their sons directly impacts their achievements and
these ideals go on to affect their careers in adult life.
Exosystem
Bronfenbrenner's exosystem contains elements that indirectly influence an individual's
development (Bronfenbrenner, 1977). A parent’s workplace is one of the largest components of
the exosystem because it largely impacts children even though they are not directly involved.
However, women are under-represented in higher level positions of the workforce and therefore
earn a markedly lower average income than men (United Nations Gender, 2016). This could
especially negatively impact those who grow up in single-mother households because it may be
harder for mothers to provide basic necessities. Furthermore, women are assigned communal
stereotypes, such as having nurturing, interdependent, and considerate characteristics, which are
suitable for the duties of a proper wife and mother (Good & Sanchez, 2009). Although these
domestic roles are important in taking care of children, they solidify the idea that women need
the financial support of a man. This heavily impacts sexism in that young girls may grow up to
believe they must take on the domestic role, therefore causing them to depend on their husband

for financial support. Additionally, if working mothers continue to earn lower incomes than their
male co-workers, children may see this as acceptable when it comes time for them to enter the
workforce. Overall, parental workplaces heavily indirectly influence children in that mothers
experience hostile sexism and usually earn less than their male counterparts, whereas fathers are
seen as superior and are oftentimes the breadwinners for their families.
Macrosystem
Bronfenbrenner’s macrosystem consists of belief systems, bodies of knowledge,
material resources, customs lifestyle, opportunity structures, hazards, and life course options
(Bronfenbrenner, 1977). Sexism prevails in the macrosystem in the way women are choosing to
live their lives and what their beliefs are. In the past, society has expected women to bear
children and rear these children until they are out of the home. Women were also expected to
take care of the household. Now, women are going against what society expects of them. They
are choosing their own paths.
One lifestyle that has changed over the past few years is the idea of the traditional family.
According to Orr (2009), the days of the traditional family are limited. Now, the normal family
in the United States is the Nuclear family. This can mean many things, such as a single parent
household or two people cohabiting who have children. One of the ideas that is changing the
traditional family is Feminism. Feminism has proven that women who are qualified to gain
financial independence are more likely able to achieve it. More women now are choosing to earn
higher educational degrees and further their careers before getting married or starting a family.
Because women are getting higher degrees and launching their careers, the age that a
woman gives birth in the United States has risen. Miller (2018) stated that where a woman lives

affects the age at which she will give birth and if she chooses to have children. Research shows
that women living in big cities and on the coast were more likely to wait until their early 30’s to
have children, and women living in rural areas were more likely to become mothers in their early
20’s (Miller, 2018). One factor that affects where women live is their socioeconomic status. The
women with the higher socioeconomic status have access to more opportunities, such as higher
education. Because women of lower socioeconomic status may not have these opportunities, they
may turn to motherhood which can lead them to emotional satisfaction. According to Miller
(2018), younger mothers tend to be more religious, conservative, and practice traditional family
roles. On the other hand, older mothers tend to be more liberal and see that breadwinning should
be equal between man and woman (Miller, 2018).
Another factor affecting why women are postponing having children or choosing not to
have them at all is because of maternity leave policies in the United States. According to Dvorak
(2018), the birth rate in America hit the lowest it has been in decades; down 3.8 million babies
that were born in the last year. In 1993, Bill Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act
(Ingraham, 2018). This act granted women, who just had a child, 12 weeks of unpaid leave from
work. The United States is one of the only developed countries in the world that does not offer
paid maternity leave to women (Dvorak, 2018). Ingraham (2018) stated that will cost around
$233,000 to raise one child for 18 years. Because the cost of raising children is so expensive,
women are working more into their pregnancy and going back to work fairly quickly after giving
birth. Research has shown that women who do not take the time off they need to let their body
recover are actually hurting the economy, because their job performance is so poor (Ingraham,
2018).

Because women are waiting later in life to have children, many of them run into problems
with conceiving. Studies show that women are waiting past their prime childbearing years in
order to further their careers, or obtain a higher level of education (Miller, 2018). Women who
have trouble conceiving are using other options, such as in-vitro fertilization, in order to have
children. On the other hand, some women are choosing not to have children completely.
(Dvorak, 2018) reported that in the past couple of years, women felt less pressure to not have
children if they do not want to.
Overall, the macrosystem has shifted from conservative to more liberal, in terms of
women changing their roles in society. Many women are choosing higher education and careers
over beginning families. Women who do choose to have children are having them the
non-traditional way, for example out of wedlock. Also, women are waiting later in life to have
children in order to further their careers. Older mothers have shown that they are more liberal in
terms of how the family operates. They view that men and women should be equal when it
comes to breadwinning, rearing children, and caring for the household.
Chronosystem
Though women are still largely discriminated against in today’s society, many social
changes have made this issue more pressing over time. Prior to the Civil War, women were
expected to stay home to take care of children and perform household duties while men were at
work (Women in the workforce, 2018). However, following the abolition of slavery, many
African American women entered the workforce in an effort to earn a steady income (Frankel,
1997). Nonetheless, some white women also entered the workforce at this time and were almost
always hired over black males and females. Unfortunately, these women still experienced

discrimination in that they worked long hours and earned little money. However, a significant
number of women entered the workforce during World War II in order to take over the jobs done
by men who were called to war (Women in the workforce, 2018). This influx of women into the
labor force not only caused females to be more respected in the workplace, but also helped to
eliminate the idea all women should stay home to perform household chores. Additionally, more
females are beginning to work in jobs that were once considered male dominant. For example,
Hillary Clinton became the first female to run for president of the United States in 2016.
Although she did not win the election, this was still seen as monumental step because females
were at once denied the simple right to vote for government officials. However, those women
who jump feet first into roles predominantly held by males seek support from their colleagues
while facing challenges of feeling incompetent, mistreatment, and lack of voice in their
workplace (Gaines, 2017). Generally, women taking over the jobs traditionally held by men are
beginning to face unique challenges related to sexism in their workplace.
Social changes such as women entering the workforce and being granted the right to vote
still play a large role in society today; however, more recent technological advances are also
beginning to challenge sexism against women. Since gender roles have shifted and women are a
larger part of the workforce, many females are delaying childbirth in order to start their careers.
Medical advances such as egg freezing and in-vitro fertilization make this possible because
young women can freeze their eggs and therefore postpone their pregnancy for later in life
(Livingston, 2018). This technology can be especially beneficial for women who wish to have a
solid, well-paying career before having kids.

In general, many social and technological advances throughout history have gradually
given women more equality and autonomy over their lives. However, females still have many
obstacles to overcome in order to completely eliminate sexism. For example, although females
are a large part of the labor force, many still experience sexism in that they hold lower positions
of power than men and experience unequal pay (United Nations Gender, 2016). Furthermore,
technological advances such as egg-freezing and in-vitro fertilization are incredibly expensive,
meaning lower-income women do not have equal access to this technology.
Discussion and Conclusion
Reflecting on this single story of sexism and seeing how it is embedded in every level of
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model shows how far we have come in terms of feelings of
discrimination, but also how much room there is for improvement. In the beginning our group
had a little bit of trouble thinking of which -ism we wanted to discuss, but when someone
mentioned sexism, we were in agreement that this -ism would work for all of us. Our group
consist of all white females so we have all, in one way or another, been affected by sexism.
When going over which topics would be discussed in each section of the ecological systems, we
thought it would be difficult to come up with examples, however we were quickly able to think
of ways that women are influenced, discriminated against, or judged. We knew that one of the
major concerns with sexism was women being discriminated against in the workforce because it
is so commonly talked about now and is one of the main concerns of the growing movement of
feminism. However, there were some smaller issues that we did not consider until doing further
research. For example, starting at the microsystem how the parents teach gender roles has a huge
impact on what their daughter believes is achievable for their lives.

In the beginning we were curious to how different lifestyle choices have lead to a new
normal in terms of women wanting to have other options besides the traditional caretaker role.
This is mainly prevalent in the macrosystem level in how beliefs and lifestyles are slowly
changing for the modern women. As a group, this topic was relative to us all in that we are part
of the population that is increasing the age at which women begin to have children, because we
are all choosing to attend college and focus on our career first. As a group we found ourselves
agreeing and relating to all of the issues of this -ism simply because it affects us all. One
important thing we discussed as a group is how we are less aware of how minorities experience
not only sexism but also racism on top of that. We could have done a better job as a group
researching how women of color experience sexism. We were able to research how history has
led us to this point, but some questions we still have as a group are how can we as white females
better understand how sexism affects women of color.
As a group we agreed on this topic, and all of the other discussions we had when looking
at the different perspectives and levels of sexism. There was little to no tension, likely because
we picked a topic that allowed us to be unified in that way. If we had chosen to discuss a
different -ism, we would have had more discrepancies as not many of the other ones affect us all
in a similar way that sexism does. This assignment has helped broaden our understanding of
sexism because it has allowed us to see it across a span of time. We were able to discuss the
factors that have empowered or discouraged women from fighting for equality. The ecological
systems model has shown us how we have so much room for improvement in order for men and
women to be seen as equals. Starting at the microsystem, women are directly affected by their
home and workplace environments and we still have work to do to change gender stereotypes in

those settings. In the mesosystem, we see how the home and workplace interact and affect each
other in that we need to encourage women to pursue any career of their choosing, and not just the
motherhood role that has been expected for years past. The exosystem affects women in that as a
child growing up the parent’s workplace environment indirectly affects them. As a child sees
their mother struggle to obtain a higher position in her company, while their father becomes the
breadwinner of the family, this may teach the female child that they will need a man to support
them financially. The macrosystem is changing rapidly in that more and more women are
changing their belief system regarding childbearing and either delaying it to pursue their career
options, or just not having them at all. This is something that society is struggling to accept and
adapt to but it is where we are seeing women make a lot of progress in changing societies’
expectations. Lastly, the chronosystem shows us how far we have come in terms of equality for
women but also how much more room we have for improvement, especially for women of color.

References
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