Why can’t girls play football according to the American standards?
Why can’t men be male cheerleaders in a typical Americans eyes?
What is it about our culture that expects us to conform to certain gender stereotypes?
Growing up and even to this day, I have never had a problem being a girl. I have never had a problem doing ballet or other feminine type things. In general I enjoy doing the things I am expected to do as a girl.
What does push some buttons for me is the lack of respect for the female in the work place. Of course the number of women holding more respectable jobs is up significantly these days (which can be tribute to the fact that there are a lot more women who go to college these days than there are men), the amount of pay in contrast to men holding identical positions of women is still unbalanced. Men are still higher paid. In different companies defense they often claim that the women is going to have to take time off for maternity leave or to take care of children. This may be true, but why should the female be punished with lower pay because Mother Nature blessed her with the ability to give birth? It seems like a cheap excuse to me.
In all these standards set for the different genders to abide by are fairly harmless, but what does seem unfair is the professional setting in which gender difference does play a role.
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Hey Elise. I just have a story that is pretty relevant to unequal pay in the workplace...
ReplyDeleteI worked at Office Max for like three years while I was in high school, and during that time I worked with a group of people right at my same age. all 5 of us were hired at the same time:[Me,Jawad,Ashley,Angela,Lindsey]....
well after like a year of working there, only me and Jawad had received pay raises. We really didn't know this until we talked about it with the other three, [who were all girls...] They were pretty pissed to say the least.
I would say that Ashley, Angela and Lindsey were all very attractive and when it comes to talking about electronics or how to build a chair or something, sometimes me and Jawad came across as a bit more knowledgeable...I don't know, I think they all did a great job and the establishment didn't really reward them for their input to the company.
We all ended up working there for about 3 or 4 years each before finally leaving for college and not coming back for summer shifts and things. Long before we left we actually complained to our supervisors about the unfair representation of pay between five associates that were all hired at the same time. They countered that the two guys [me and Jawad] had put up better sales numbers, but we talked to them about how they didn't allow Ashley, Angela, or Lindsey to get sales opportunities because they regulated them to cashier work rather than customer floor sales and things [where sales were easier to come by]
....when all was said and done the three of them did get pay raises, and we all received raises until our departure from the company. Angela ended up running the "copy and printing" place in the back of the store.
But kind of my whole point to this is that there is a misrepresentation. For some reason the managers thought it was fair to put the two guys on the floor to get floor sales rather than the girls, and consequently the guys were seen as more distinguished and better sales people...but it really would make no difference if it was me or Angela or anyone else out there selling, it mroe than likely would have reached the same outcome. I really think that the way we stood up for our friends and co-workers was a good way to make a point to our managers about loyalty to employees and more importantly considering that what they were doing was pretty unethical and plainly wrong. haha...this was a pretty long story...
I like what you had to say Elise. It’s an important issue and something that should be talked about more. It is unfair that women aren’t paid as much as men are. I hope that we are moving away from that. I think right now the generation ahead of us, the ones with the careers, are the ones still getting used to having a lot of women in the work place. I think this will change with our generation and men and women will be paid the same, or at least paid according to work output.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy being girlie. I love getting dolled up. However that not all I want to be known as. I want success in business world. I want to provide for my family. And I definitely don’t want to be punished for being a mother.
ReplyDeleteMy major is Public Relation, which is already a hard career to be successful in due to the economy. There is no reason why I shouldn’t make as much money as my male colleagues when doing the same amount of work. As professionals, I would expect a higher amount of equality even though in reality that isn’t the case.