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“Although a majority of women make less than men on the job; men are expected to relocate more often, work longer hours, and to keep a smaller cut of their paychecks for themselves than women, due to socially decided portions of obligations such as mortgages, romantic outings, and such.”(The Huffington Post)

The above quote was taken from an article in The Huffington Post written on December 2013. Although we as a society have come a long way in women’s rights, gender roles are still present. When I read this quote I could relate to a lot of what it was saying. For example growing up my father worked long hours, used his paycheck to pay the bills and usually paid for dinner. However, every Friday night, growing up, my mom, my two other sisters and I would have TGIF. TGIF was where we would rent movies and pizza and have a little slumber party all together. Saturdays we would spend together as a family and would go to Dean’s bookstore downtown and get a book and my dad would pay.

Now my story may sound like I grew up in a house where my dad ran things and my mom just took care of us kids. However, my dad had to go out of town a lot for work and would sometimes be gone for long periods of time, so we did what we could to make the best of it. However, when my dad was home he would cook and do yard work. There were three girls in my family and we all learned how to do everything inside the house and out. My father never told us we could not do something because we were girls and encouraged us to be in sports. Both of my parents worked for the government and prior to getting married my mom was actually higher ranked then my dad. However, when they started having kids, they decided together someone needed to work closer to home in case of an emergency. Therefore, my mom, since she never had the chance to go to college decided to quit her government job and take night classes to get her degree.

The reason I have a problem with that quote is because when two people are married they usually have the same bank account. I know my fiancé and I do. Therefore, when it comes to paying the bills and for outings, who is really paying for it? In my eyes both people are equally contributing. They may not be contributing equally finically, but the one who makes less money may be making up for it in others ways. Maybe the one who brings home more income works longer hours, therefore the other partner cooks dinner and cleans in addition to their job. I currently make less then my fiancé, but I go to school, clean most of the house and take care of the animals. Therefore, we both are contributing different things.

One way having an attitude that looks like women being less than men could influence behaviors is when someone has a woman as a boss. Forbes magazine states that in a survey taken by 2000 people 35% said that they would rather work for a man than a woman (Forbes). This was even if the male was not as qualified as the women. Thankfully 41% said that they would prefer the smarter, kinder and better manager no matter what gender they were. When a women is in a position of power someone who is sexist may have a very hard time adjusting to taking orders from a women.

In conclusion, no matter how far we get with equality of men and women some people are just going to have a different view and think of women as the lesser sex. However, as the study in Forbes showed people are gradually starting to realize that gender does not play a role in a person’s ability to perform their job.

References

Adam, S. (November 14, 2013). Americans Still Prefer A Male Boss -- But Far Less Than They Used To. Forbes, Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/11/14/americans-still-prefer-a-male-boss-b ut-far-less-than-they-used-to/

Juner, J. (December 19, 2013). What Are Some Common Forms of Sexism That Men Face. The Huffington Port. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/quora/what-are-some-common-form_b_4473062.html

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