As a woman, I constantly feel like I have to try ten times harder than my male counterparts just to achieve the same goals.
In the wise words of Taylor Swift “I’m so sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man.”
I’m sick of walking into a room and having to demand respect when a man can walk in and is instantly given it. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been somewhere and been ignored while my male friend is spoken to, usually about things that concern me or only I know about.
I can recall a time I was at the bar with a friend. He was sitting across from me at the table. A man came up and tried to talk to me. When I refused, he assumed I was with my friend and instantly turned to him. I remember hearing him say “Come on, let your girl sing one song with me.”
Now I’m not exactly the kind of girl that keeps quiet in situations like this, but this time I did. I wanted to see how my friend would handle this. Would he treat me like property and say yes? Would he see me as someone who needed to be protected and say no on my behalf?
What he did say didn’t really surprise me because of the kind of guy he is, but if any other man had answered the way he had I probably would have been shocked. I heard him say, not in exact words, that I’m capable of answering for myself so he’d have to ask me. I said no.
Men often view woman as objects. They’re not a someone. They’re a something. Something they want. They can be passed back and forth and don’t really have any autonomy of their own. They belong to whoever they’re dating at the time. Men can use women for whatever they want, whenever they want.
This is such a toxic mindset that so many men, and even some women, have. How are women supposed to move forward in life when they’re barely even viewed as a person by men? The mindset is even worse for women of color. Women of color are, on average, treated even worse by men.
It also makes having a career for all women so much harder. Women have to fight to prove that they belong in a professional setting. They have to prove that they’re smart enough and equipped enough to do the same jobs. They make 70 cents to a man’s dollar for absolutely no reason.
Maybe it’s because men often don’t view women as anything more than secretaries and assistants. However, women are arguably better at higher stress jobs.
The book “Invisible Women” by Caroline Criado Perez shows just some of the inequalities women face. In the book, Perez discusses how women are proven to be better at handling high stress jobs. They can handle the stress of the job better and therefore are more efficient. So why aren’t there more women CEO’s?
Another concept she points out is that most medical testing isn’t done for women. On average, women are 41 percent more likely to be injured in a car accident. This is because all crash test dummies are male. Therefore, seatbelts and air bags aren’t made to protect women.
If women were truly viewed as equal these things wouldn’t be happening. More women would be in positions of leadership and testing would be done for both men and women. But since men often don’t view women as equal, these things don’t happen.
If men can’t even handle the stress of a job as well as women, how would they ever manage everything else? How would they ever be able to balance a job, a family, and a social life on their own?
How many women have to die before men decide women deserve basic things like testing for medications and safety? What has to happen for men to see women as people and not property? Until men stop acting entitled, society can’t move forward.
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