About the Author

Jane A. Tilly, DrPH is an independent consultant, researcher, and author. She began exploring women's contributions to society and their human rights after the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health decision and reading Katy Hessel's The Story of Art without Men. These experiences led her to recognize how little her own education had covered women's abilities, accomplishments, and struggles for human rights. Unable to find an accessible general overview, she decided to write one herself.

Dr. Tilly earned her Doctor of Public Health degree from the University of Michigan, which provided intensive training in research methods and the analysis of complex evidence. She built her career at the intersection of public health research and policy by conducting policy research and analysis at the AARP Public Policy Institute and the Urban Institute. She then spent five years at the Alzheimer’s Association, where she focused on dementia policy and practice. Dr. Tilly next served for ten years at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where her work centered on healthy aging, dementia, and supportive services.

Throughout her career, Dr. Tilly's research has contributed to meaningful policy and program changes at the state, national, and international levels. That same commitment to summarizing and analyzing research clearly for policymakers and general readers drives this overview of the myths that shape and constrain the lives of women and men today.

Dr. Tilly welcomes reader correspondence through her website at janetillywrites.wordpress.com.

Table of Contents

About the Author

General Introduction to Essay Collection

Essay Series 1: Myths about the abilities and roles of women and men hurt everyone.

Introduction to Essay Series 1

Essay Series 1.1: While there are biological differences between women and men, women are not the weaker sex.

Essay Series 1.2: Girls and boys are forced into gender roles from childhood, with consequences for both.

Essay Series 1.3: Charles Darwin and his successors came to false conclusions about the sexes and their behaviors.

Concluding Thoughts on Essay Series 1

Essay Series 2: Women have always been leaders and entrepreneurs. They have also experienced routine backlashes, including witch trials.

Introduction to Essay Series 2

Essay Series 2.1: Women have been strong leaders throughout history.

Essay Series 2.2: Women had prominent roles in some ancient societies, including being leaders, hunters, and warriors.

Essay Series 2.3: Ancient Greek and Roman men disparaged and dominated women.

Essay Series 2.4: Some women had economic independence during Europe’s Middle Ages.

Essay Series 2.5: Many men enjoyed the Renaissance of arts and sciences, while others persecuted and killed tens of thousands of women.

Concluding Thoughts on Essay Series 2

Essay Series 3: History has erased women’s accomplishments in science, art, philosophy, and religion.

Introduction to Essay Series 3

Essay Series 3.1: Women’s contributions to the physical sciences have been ignored, minimized, dismissed, erased, or stolen.

Essay Series 3.2: History has ignored, minimized, or erased women’s art, even if they were famous during their lifetimes.

Essay Series 3.3: Women’s contributions to philosophy have been ignored, suppressed, or erased.

Essay Series 3.4: Women’s leadership in major religions has been ignored, minimized, dismissed, or erased.

Concluding Thoughts on Essay Series 3

Essay Series 4: Health and mental health systems hurt women in the United States.

Introduction to Essay Series 4

Essay Series 4.1: Medical myths hurt women.

Essay Series 4.2: U.S. medical research has focused on men’s health to the detriment of women.

Essay Series 4.3: Comprehensive reproductive health care doesn’t exist for many women.

Essay Series 4.4: Women’s and men’s mental health suffers under society’s sexist myths.

Essay Series 4.5: Ageism affects older adults’ health and well-being.

Concluding Thoughts on Essay Series 4

Essay Series 5: Misogynist men hurt and kill girls and women.

Introduction to Essay Series 5

Essay Series 5.1: Sexual expression has changed over time.

Essay Series 5.2: The Manosphere desires, hates, and abuses women.

Essay Series 5.3: Pornography, which primarily shows men abusing women, has become a substitute for sex education in many parts of the country.

Essay Series 5.4: Sexual harassment is the background to most women’s lives.

Essay Series 5.5: Sexual violence, rape, and femicide are part of our culture.

Concluding Thoughts on Essay Series 5

Essay Series 6: Women have gained rights over the past 150 years, but are losing them in the United States.

Introduction to Essay Series 6

Essay Series 6.1: Women didn’t benefit from the European Enlightenment or the American and French revolutions during the 1700s.

Essay Series 6.2: Many Indigenous North American women had independence while White men confined White women to domestic roles and enslaved Black women.

Essay Series 6.3: Women gained some human rights during the 1800s in some Western countries.

Essay Series 6.4: U.S. women advocated successfully for human rights during the 1800s and early 1900s.

Essay Series 6.5: The movement toward women’s equal rights realized major successes, while history has erased women’s contributions to other civil rights struggles.

Essay Series 6.6: The power structure that men dominate still treats women as second-class citizens (1980s - 2020s).

Concluding Thoughts on Essay Series 6

Essay Series 7: Women have progressed in education, yet fall behind men in pay for their work, while continuing to do most unpaid labor.

Introduction to Essay Series 7

Essay Series 7.1: Girls and women are catching up to boys and men by some measures of educational achievement.

Essay Series 7.2: Women’s unpaid labor at home and non-promotable paid work hurts them personally and professionally.

Essay Series 7.3: Women have always worked.

Essay Series 7.4: Women have made some progress toward equality with men in the workplace, but improvement is needed.

Essay Series 7.5: Women and men still face many obstacles to full participation in work.

Concluding Thoughts on Essay Series 7

Timeline of Education Laws and Court Decisions,

Timeline of Employment Laws and Court Decisions

Conclusion to Essay Series: We need to break down the myths that trap women and men so everyone enjoys full human rights.

End Notes

The Myths that Trap Women and Men: What You May Not Know