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Denial of gender discrimination is associated with better subjective well‐being among women: A system justification account
Author(s) -
Napier Jaime L.,
Suppes Alexandra,
Bettinsoli Maria Laura
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2702
Subject(s) - denial , acknowledgement , psychology , social psychology , distancing , gender inequality , gender discrimination , prejudice (legal term) , inequality , covid-19 , demographic economics , medicine , mathematical analysis , computer security , disease , mathematics , pathology , computer science , economics , psychoanalysis , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Despite the fact that women face socially and politically sanctioned disadvantages every day, a large percentage of women and men report that gender discrimination is no longer a problem. Across three studies, which together include over 20,000 participants from 23 countries, we test the hypothesis that denial (vs. acknowledgement) of gender discrimination is associated with higher subjective well‐being among women (Studies 1–3), and this is because denying gender discrimination promotes the view that the system is fair (Study 1). We further show that this happens above and beyond personal experiences with sexism (Study 1) and that the association is stronger in countries where sexism is relatively high (vs. low; Study 3). We argue that denial of discrimination is an individual‐level coping mechanism and that, like other self‐group distancing strategies, it may perpetuate gender inequality.