UN: Britain's sexism more 'pervasive' than any other country

[BainsBane]

56. I think it's an issue of different manifestations of sexism

My own experience is that sexism manifests itself in different ways in different cultures. I've lived in Brazil, the UK, and the US. I noticed no difference between the US and UK on these issues, but Brazil was different--worse in some ways and better in others. The woman in the article comments mainly on media culture and social interaction on the street.

There is a historical basis to differences in standing of women. Women were deprived basic rights, including the right to own property, under English common law that influenced the formation of US law. In contrast, Portuguese and Brazilian law required that daughters were provided for in their fathers wills, and their husbands were required to keep the principal of a dowry secure for the wife's use. That may seem like a random bit of historical trivia, but it certainly influence the inability of US married women to have property in their own name until ~70s, and that may reflect more pervasive inequality as well.

The place I've visited where men were the grabbiest, as in total strangers touching me, was Italy. Now I could have had a string of bad luck there. It's hard to say. I wasn't in the country that long.