Abstract:

Sexism refers to beliefs, behaviors and institutional practices that contribute to the protection of existing gender inequality in society, harming individuals, affects all gender but it mostly affects women. Internalized sexism is the sexism that women direct to themselves or other women. Since internalized sexism differs from directly visible sexism, it often remains unnoticed and prevents an effective fight against gender inequality. Thus, developing an instrument to measure internalized sexism is of great significance. This study aims to develop a measurement tool to measure internalized sexism in women. In this study, data were collected from 1088 female participants, ages 18-53 from three different study groups. Content validity, construct validity and reliability studies were conducted in the scale development process. The results of the Exploratory Factor Analysis showed that the scale comprised of 5 sub-dimensions as Self-Objectification, Derogation, Loss of Self/Internalized Powerlessness, Competition/Self-Separation, and Male Prioritization) and this construct was then tested in a different study group with First and Second-Order Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The Cronbach's Alpha internal consistency was 0.84 for the whole Internalized Sexism Scale, 0.75 for Self-Objectification subscale, 0.75 for Derogation, 0.71 for Internalized Powerlessness, 0.71 for Self-Separation, and 0.66 for Male Prioritization. The test-retest reliability for the whole scale was 0.76, 0. 76 for Self-Objectification subscale, 0.69 for Loss of Self/Internalized Powerlessness, 0.73 for Self-Separation, and 0.64 for Male Prioritization. As a result of the validity and reliability analyses, it can be stated that the scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool.

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