Being a girl is hard.
Being girl in a male dominated society is even harder.
In a New York Post article from Oct. 25, a Manhattan law firm gave tips to their female employees about how to act in the office.
Some tips that were sent out to the firm’s female employees all across the country included lowering the pitch of their voice, not to giggle or squirm and to stop saying words such as “like,” “uh” and “you know.”
Oh and the kicker to all of this? They encouraged women to cover up, because “No one heard Hillary the day she showed cleavage.”
Seriously?
While these tips could be helpful to anyone in a business or professional setting, the fact that it was specifically sent out to female employees shows that sexism is alive and well.
Women are more than these balmy creatures with boobs. The idea that we have to either tone down or defeat these stereotypes in 2013 is ridiculous and frustrating.
The inequality within genders can be degrading in both the personal and professional life.
According to a Psychology Today article by Dr. Ronald E. Riggio from Nov. 4, few women hold top-level positions of leadership in business and government. When women want to be in power, they have to change their mentality, while also beating stereotypes and discrimination.
We have to be the best of both worlds. We need the ability to be tough and nice, while still getting the job done.
This is a tall order.
Women who are too nice may be seen as incapable of the position, while women who may be deemed too aggressive can be perceived as a being a flat out “bitch.”
Why can’t women have it all? I just want my cupcake and I want to eat it too. Why should that be a problem in the real world?
By no means is a new topic. But as a young woman in college, I want to graduate into a society that views me as an equal and not a subordinate. I want to be respected for my work and ideally, liked for the person I am.
Ladies,
there will be a day where we won’t have to worry about these gender inequalities anymore.
But I guess for now: men, enjoy the top spot while you have it because change
will happen.
