A rule which is applied more stringently to one party than to others, particularly relating to the stricter moral behavior demanded of women than of men.

An unequal set of standards, rules or expectations that gives one group more rights or privileges than another group. For instance, throughout history, it's been morally okay for a guy to have sex before marriage, but not for a woman. That's a double standard.

The idea or standard, which relates that one group has more options or privileges then another group within society.

A double standard, according to the World Book Dictionary, is a standard applied more leniently to one group than to another. For example, the belief that it is permissible for teenage boys, but not teenage girls, to engage in premarital sex is a double standard. When judicial processes are applied more strictly to some people more than others, such double standards are seen as unjust because they violate a basic maxim of modern legal jurisprudence, that all parties should stand equal before the law.