Overt, Covert, And Subtle Sexism: A Comparison Between the Attitudes Toward Women and Modern Sexism Scales
Abstract
The Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS) is routinely used as a general measure of sexism. In this article, it is argued that the AWS (Spence, Helmreich, & Stapp, 1973) actually measures overt or blatant sexism (harmful and unequal treatment of women that is intentional, visible, and unambiguous), whereas the Modern Sexism Scale (MS) measures covert or subtle forms of sexism (sexism that is either hidden and clandestine or unnoticed because it is built into cultural and societal norms). Support for this distinction is shown by way of (a) confirmatory factor analyses, (b) correlations with affective reactions to different categories of women and men (i.e., women and men in general, traditional women and men, feminists, and chauvinists), and (c) correlations with perceptions of sexual harassment. These analyses indicate that the AWS and MS scales measure distinct but related constructs.
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Men are higher in sexism compared to women.
“Research has shown for a long time that men are higher in sexism compared to women (e.g. Ekehammar et al., 2000; Swim & Cohen, 1997; Swim et al., 1995).”
From A Sexist Language? Gender Differences in Attitudes and Use of Gender-Inclusive Pronouns (2025) · cites this paper as Swim & Cohen, 1997
Men as a group, on average, express significantly more sexist attitudes compared to women as a group.
“men as a group, on average, express significantly more sexist attitudes compared to women as a group (Ekehammar et al., 2000; Swim & Cohen, 1997; Swim et al., 1995)”
From A Sexist Language? Gender Differences in Attitudes and Use of Gender-Inclusive Pronouns (2025) · cites this paper as Swim & Cohen, 1997
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Hostile and Benevolent Sexism: Measuring Ambivalent Sexist Attitudes Toward Women
Glick, P., & Fiske, S. T. (1997) · Psychology of Women Quarterly · doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.1997.tb00104.x · Cited by 905 · see citing works
Preconscious control of stereotype activation through chronic egalitarian goals.
Moskowitz, G. B., Gollwitzer, P. M., Wasel, W., & Schaal, B. (1999) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.77.1.167 · Cited by 500 · see citing works
What affects people’s use of and attitudes toward gender-inclusive language? A literature review
Lange, E., & von Stockhausen, L. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1657753 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
A Sexist Language? Gender Differences in Attitudes and Use of Gender-Inclusive Pronouns
Remsö, A., Bäck, H., & Renström, E. A. (2025) · Journal of Language and Social Psychology · doi:10.1177/0261927x251335305 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“This is also what has been found in research, such that men as a group, on average, express signi fi cantly more sexist attitudes compared to women as a group (Ekehammar et al., 2000; Swim & Cohen, 1997; Swim et al., 1995).”
- Authors
- Swim, J. K., & Cohen, L. L.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- ORCID
- Swim, Janet K.
- Venue
- Psychology of Women Quarterly
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1997-03
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 103-118
- ISSN
- 0361-6843 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-6402
- OpenAlex
- W1529307694
- Cited by
- 374
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 36.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychology of Women Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Feminist Studies
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Roles and Identity Studies
- Keywords
- sexism, Attitudes Toward Women Scale, scale validity, gender stereotypes, attitudes toward women, feminist attitudes, chauvinism
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