For her latest album Lover, Taylor Swift released love songs about herself, her boyfriend, her parents, and even her masculine alter ego. In her song “The Man,” Swift goes through the emotions of being aware that if she were a man, she would be ‘the man’ – the one who everyone respects, the one who is allowed to get mad, the one who is the best in his line of work, etc. But she knows as a woman, she could never be seen as these things.
No matter what they do, women in all areas of business face the judgment of. Swift is acknowledging this but also swinging back at them.
In the song’s bridge, Swift really tells the world how she feels and reflects: “What’s it like to brag about raking in dollars / And getting bitches and models? / And it’s all good if you’re bad / And it’s okay if you’re mad / If I was out flashin’ my dollars / I’d be a bitch, not a baller / They’d paint me out to be bad / So it’s okay that I’m mad!”
That section is really where she seems to “come to terms” with her situation. It’s her way of finding closure with this inequality and understanding that all she can do is grow from this.
So to all the women out there struggling with men in and out of the business world, stay strong! We know how difficult it can be to constantly face these issues, so remember that you’re ‘the woman!’