“Equality for Women in the Workplace is Still a Far Cry”
It seems like this topic has been written about countless times, so what’s so different about this article? Maybe this will just get lost in the mix, or maybe this will be the one of thousands that actually helps us as women move forward, if even a centimeter, towards reaching equality in the workplace. Now, I could throw statistics at you, the likes of which I’m sure you’ve heard hundreds of times, or I could try to have you see what I have personally experienced through my eyes. I would love to say that this is stuff that I have made up, or stuff that happened decades ago to some woman working in the 1950’s when it was so much more apparent at how disrespected women in the workplace were. But it is not, this happened to me over the past few months, in the “modern” and “progressive” year of 2015.
I have always been the type of person to not ever want pity or special treatment because I was a “girl.” Who wants that. You want to be liked by by your peers, guys and girls alike. My story is a little different and, from my point of view, perhaps more interesting in that I work in a place where I am the ONLY female among upwards of 8 gentleman. Every girl’s dream right? Wrong. At first it’s fun and there’s no awkward sizing up of other girl employees, but after a while, it can get to be a little lonely. Let me explain why. I am not a girl who cannot make nice with guys, I have plenty of guy friends that I love hanging out with. I am also not a girl who gets easily offended by somewhat crude jokes. This may be where the slippery slope began. A few weeks after I was hired, a few of the gentlemen started making some comments about how “women tend to cry ‘blackout'” when they wake up the next day realizing they perhaps cheated or didn’t want to hook up with that guy. At this joke, the first of unknowingly many, I chuckled and said I supposed that could be true. That was my first mistake. I should have never opened the door to allow them to think that degrading women that way was acceptable. I let women everywhere down. Dramatic? Perhaps, but that’s how I felt. Over the next few months, it turned into cruder and more sexually explicit jokes (never aimed towards me mind you!) that they would justify by saying “haha oh boy here comes the sexual harassment case from ….. (let’s call me Sarah).” I clearly did not want them to think I was cooking something up against them! So once again, I laughed it off and said “Oh not me! Haha you guys don’t have to filter yourselves! Whatever, we’re all friends!”
Then came the day that I truly realized just how prominent inequality in the workplace was. (I am switching up the story a little bit, but if anything I am toning it down). One of the employee’s wives was pregnant, and when asked what his plan was by another employee he responded “She’s only a (let’s say) teacher, she’s going to stay home with the kids and raise them since she doesn’t make that much money anyways. It wasn’t a great time to get pregnant.” I CANNOT MAKE THIS STUFF UP PEOPLE. Those words actually came out of his mouth, as if it takes ONE person to get pregnant, and it wasn’t even a thought that his job was more important, it just was. How disgusting. And what was more disgusting is that not one of the gentlemen spoke against it, though I could tell a few were visibly uncomfortable. I literally, LITERALLY stood there with my mouth open wide open and said “I cannot tell if you’re kidding or not.” I immediately regretted my decision because I didn’t know if I would get in trouble for my comment, but then I thought you know what? No. I don’t regret it, I grabbed my notes and walked out of the room. I thought I had made enough of a somewhat respectful scene, but apparently I hadn’t. How do I know that I didn’t? Well because not two days later the same gentlemen and a few others were joking with me about how college girls “get shwastey” after a beer and need to learn how to control themselves better. HAHA! Right, because we have never seen a drunk guy at parties making a fool of himself right ladies?! Those innocent little creatures :). I don’t want them to feel they can’t trust me with certain work tasks, and I am afraid that if they feel I’m not longer “one of the guys” I will start to lose my high standing with them. This is the inequality we must fight to fix. Not just the monetary inequality, which is tragic in itself, but also the inequality of not being able to freely speak our mind for fear from the “man with power.” One day, unfortunately one that is not fully here yet, WOmen will have just as much power, and not just the appearance of power. I am alright with saying we have not reached full equality because that makes the day that we do reach it that much sweeter. I will continue to dream and fight to see that day in my lifetime, but until then, we must all come together and fight for one another. We must be prepared to take what we rightfully deserve. We must be ready to fight for what men were simply handed. Fight on ladies, stand up and fight for those that came before you, and for those that have yet to come after you. Stand tall and strut on.
-Ms. Anonymous