It’s awesome to be a woman. As a female, you get to experience a lot of amazing things that nature has allowed you to. Even if those things do come with their down sides. And although women have come a long way in the workplace as far as pay, discrimination, and non-threatening work environments, there are still some more than annoying occurrences that women who work experience daily.
1. When your interviewer asks you about kids
There’s nothing like getting almost the whole way through your interview and then having the whole thing ruined when your interviewer asks whether you have any kids. Sometimes, they skip that question and go straight to the “So, what are you going to do with your kids when you’re at work?” inquiry. If you have no children, the interviewer may ask you if you are planning to have children. You can’t win this fight. The fact that you have the ability to have kids, means that you are a liability to a company who is looking for a long-term employee.
2. Wearing your engagement/ wedding ring is a no no.
Yeah, men wear wedding rings too, but the difference between women and men is that all men get married for the tax write off and all women get married so they can stay at home for the rest of their lives and raise seven children. One of the first things potential employers look at when you sit down across the table from them is your left hand. You and your significant other made a promise to each other to always wear your rings as a symbol of unity, but not when you’re working okay? A ring on your finger means a husband or wife, which means potential for children, which means, possible problems for that company in the future. So they’ll decide they’d rather have someone who has no ring and therefore has nothing else to care about but their job.
3. You have to have a pretty good sense of humor
Interviewers, employers, and fellow employees may say offensive things to you or in front of you and then tell you to work on your sense of humor when you get upset. If you think a joke is funny, laugh. But don’t feel like you have to sacrifice your self-respect to be seen as a valued employee who can take a joke. We call that hostile environment. Besides, there’s only so many good vagina jokes out there.
4. If you’re a Mom, you can’t go out of town
It’s literally impossible. As soon as you step over that town line, your kids’ mommy senses start tingling and they telepathically pull you back to them even if they’re with their other parent, nanny, grandparent, day care, school, or even if they’re 33 years old and living at home. Oh, and you can forget about bringing your kids with you. As if you weren’t distracted enough at the office without them there. You can’t get any work done if you bring them with you.
5. Secretarial work
There’s nothing wrong with being a secretary. If that’s what you want to do then you do it. There is something wrong with going to college for four plus years, going in debt, and agonizing over job applications all to get a job as a secretary where you’re qualified to be a manager, supervisor, tech advisor, etc. IT’s probably because women are so great at multi-tasking. That just wouldn’t be a helpful skill anywhere else in the company.
6. No heavy Lifting
You are a delicate flower. Your employer does not want you to hurt yourself. It’s a known fact that women are much much weaker than men. You were hired in this factory so you could do the busy work, not hard manual labor. I mean, if Ronda Rousey was lifting a box of product over her head and Michael Cera was standing right there doing inventory, it just makes sense to have Michael stop what he’s doing and take over for Ronda, we wouldn’t want anyone to hurt themselves.
7. The stupid remarks
At some point in your work experience you may think to yourself: “If I have to hear another ‘How many women’ joke, I’m going to lose it”. But you won’t. You’ll pretend that it’s funny and move on. It will surprise you that some of the people you’re working with have daughters and think that little about women. It will surprise you that some people literally cannot see the stupidity of their comments.
8. Your pay
It’s no secret that women make less on average than men. Did you know that’s for the same job? Yes, women get paid less than men who are doing the same job they are. Not only that, but women have less advancement opportunities than men and therefore less opportunities for a raise. It’s not enough that you have to deal with all of these other points. You’re also getting paid less because of it.
9. You can’t help but overthink everything
You can never be sure how to dress for work. You don’t want to look like a bundled up raggedy Ann doll, but you don’t want to be labeled as the office tramp either. Let’s say you’re thinking about having a baby, and it’s what you’ve always wanted. Do you tell the people at work, or do you act like it’s no big deal because you don’t want to be seen as one of those women who loves her family more than her job? I’m sorry to say for dilemmas like these and others, there’s no right answer.
10. Dealing with HR
HR is there to help you. You are using your skills and your time to work for a company and with other people and you should be valued as such. But you can’t help thinking maybe you should let it go. Whatever someone else did to send you to this office may be just the type of thing your coworkers are always complaining about. Where does that leave you? You have to choose between being liked and being respected.
11. Planning your future
What are you going to do? If you want a family, you need to take into consideration all of the ways your job will allow that. Maybe you will have to choose between a family and a job. Maybe you should look at jobs that offer daycare and family assistance? However, that might seem like you’ve already made your mind up about what’s important to you.
When it comes down to it, you have your work cut out for you if you’re a female who wants to work. That doesn’t mean you don’t do it. All of these things listed that employers see as liabilities are things that could just as easily be a man’s problem. Sometimes, you’ll have to make sacrifices, and sometimes things will turn out better than you might expect. Just because you are a woman, doesn’t mean you are less than a man.
