Systemic sexism recognition and antisexism encourage gender equality activism: An adaptation of bystander intervention theory

Abstract

Although great strides have been made toward gender equality in the United States, continued progress is needed. The current paper adapts bystander intervention theory to delineate which individuals are more likely to engage in gender equality activism. We postulated that individuals who identify that systemic sexism causes gender inequalities (i.e., systemic sexism recognition) and who feel personally responsible for advocating against these inequities (i.e., high antisexism) should be most likely to engage in gender equality activism. Cross-sectional data (Studies 1 and 2) supported that systemic sexism recognition and antisexism were strong predictors of activism intent. Two experiments further demonstrated that exposure to educational paradigms designed to heighten these factors increased systemic sexism recognition (Study 3) and antisexism (Study 4), which were subsequently associated with greater gender equality activism.