Despite women flooding into the workforce over the last half of the century, a lot of places have remained stuck in the business-as-usual past, promoting the traditional bro culture, and not really adapting to the women joining their ranks.
So when Redditor u/newmama1991 recently made a post on the platform, asking its users to share the "female duties" they've been told to do at work, examples of rage-inducing sexism immediately came flying their way.
Luckily, at least some of these stories ended in refusals to put up with this crap. But we can (and need to) do better, folks!
#1
I was asked to clean the men's toilets, as they were a mess. I said loudly that the men could clean their own toilets, there's nothing about that job that requires a vagina. Total silence for a minute as everyone stared in disbelief at me, and the next week the boss hired a cleaner
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385points
#2
For potluck team lunch women were expected to cook something and get and men were excused to simply buy drinks, deserts etc. I said no f*****g way I am cooking for other men when they are excused. And I said this loudly infront of whole team when all of us were discussing. Immediately men in the team volunteered, simple easy salads, getting some snacks etc. Why was this not a norm before I joined team, no idea. But manager took notice of this and started getting other men to involve in arrangements and clean up etc. Work was not left for all women.
Fast forward I have my own company now. And still I have to fight off misogyny so many times. The suppliers, distributors, all talk to my husband as he is the man and many times dont even look at me when I am in same meeting. I dont react really. I let meeting happen and after an hour I simply get up and say thanks for coming but we wont be going ahead working with you. They look at my husband and he just shrugs and say well she is the boss. The look on their face is worth wasting an hour. And if they try to arm wrestle me then they get an earful of how awful they were at the meeting.
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332points
u/newmama1991 said that the idea for the post came when they noticed someone clean out the fridge at their job and wondered if she was asked to do so. "She wasn't," they told Bored Panda.
The Redditor is from the Netherlands, and they think that "we are really fortunate because women's rights are strongly secured in our laws and values. Despite that, there is still a considerable wage gap. Also, the gap between the rich and poor is increasing rapidly due to the housing and energy crisis here. Equal access to opportunities (in work or otherwise) is nowhere near what we strive for."
#3
Once in a male dominated office environment, I was asked by an older senior level manager to send a fax. I was in a higher level position myself, but I said “sure” and did it for him. The next time I needed a fax sent, I went over to him and asked if he would send it for me. He eyed me, then got up and sent it. We were great pals after that!
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291points
#4
I own a business and have two male employees and three female employees. I found out that one of the male employees was leaving his dishes in the sink, and the three female employees were doing them when they did their own. All of them are very young. I flat out told the girls to stop doing the dishes for anyone but themselves and during a staff meeting reminder everyone to wash and dry their own dishes and put them away. The next week my guy leaves dishes in the sink. He’s about to clock out, and I pull him aside and ask if those dishes in the sink are his. He says they are. I look him dead in the eye and ask who he expects is going to wash them if he clocks out and leaves them. He stared at me in silence for a full minute before the realization hits him that he doesn’t actually know. He went and did his dishes and I haven’t had a problem with it since.
But damn.
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279points
#5
unload the dishwasher. the company owner told me to, specifically cause i'm a woman.
a guy coworker was with me and instantly started doing it. i love him.
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218points
And u/newmama1991 has a point. While individual characteristics such as education, working time, occupational segregation, skills, or experience explain part of the gender pay gap, the International Labour Organization (ILO) says that a large part is due to discrimination based on one's gender or sex.
On average, women globally are paid about 20 percent less than men, and they have been among the worst affected by the pandemic, including in terms of income security, representation in sectors hardest hit, and gendered division of family responsibilities. This has negatively impacted their employment and threatened to reverse decades of progress made toward gender equality.
#6
Oh god. I used to work in out of home care; basically caring for kids who had been removed from their families.
One day a 15 year old asked the other (male) person on shift to bake him a frozen pizza. Now this kid was detoxing and easily heightened, so we were supposed to be doing everything possible to keep him calm.
My co-worker asks me to cook the pizza. I tell him the instructions are on the box. Dude keeps looking at the pizza, looking at me… I get up and leave the room.
A while later he calls me in to ask me whether the pizza’s done. I tell him to check. He says he doesn’t know whether it’s ready. I ask him why I would have any more of an idea and he says “because you’re a woman”.
I tell him in no uncertain terms “I am not your wife. It is not my job to tell you whether a pizza is ready. Figure it out yourself. It’s part if your job.” and go off to write a report to his manager.
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207points
#7
I was asked at an all-men workplace if I could possibly take some time off during my lunch break to clean the kitchen, because "we really don't know how to do it well". I remember I was so shocked I only responded with a gaping mouth and a "...no??", but I have a feeling I radiated rage because they just gave me a timid nod, left and did not ever ask again.
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198points
#8
I used to have a male boss who in meetings would always look at me and say, “you’re taking notes right?” I wasn’t in an admin role and he also never said the same to my male coworkers. I would then stop bringing any pens or paper with me other than meeting materials so I could say “no, but maybe [Joe] can”, and watch him wrestle with that for a minute in awkward silence.
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191points
Recent research suggests that, depending on how they are put into place, pay transparency measures can effectively identify compensation differences and reduce broader gender inequalities in the labor market.
"These are still early days for pay transparency," Manuela Tomei, Director of the ILO Conditions of Work and Equality Department, said, noting that countries are pursuing different approaches to advance it.
She highlighted that "there is no 'one-size fits all' solution.'"
"While more time is needed to assess the effectiveness of the different measures and practices, it is encouraging that governments, workers' and employers' organizations seek to devise innovative solutions, such as pay transparency, to tackle a stubborn problem."
#9
I started a new job, desk job in an otherwise all male office, and the boss had the audacity to imply that I'm welcome to use the inhouse kitchen to make food for the staff, and how nice it is to have a woman on the team. I walked out.
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188points
#10
My boss started buying all sorts of kitchen tools (e.g., pots and pans, rice cooker, portable burner, etc.). I thought it was for the annual Christmas raffle he hosts for his employees.
Until one day at lunch, he turns to me and says, "once the burner arrives, be sure to make a list of groceries you will need to start making lunch for the office. I assume you know how to cook since you are a woman."
We work in a small office and I'm in HR...
Until one day at lunch, he turns to me and says, "once the burner arrives, be sure to make a list of groceries you will need to start making lunch for the office. I assume you know how to cook since you are a woman."
We work in a small office and I'm in HR...
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184points
#11
Once I was eating sliced radishes at my desk. My male coworker saw that, said he loved radishes, and asked if I could get some for him and throw on some salt. When I suggested he slice his own, he literally said it was too much work. Same coworker suggested to a room full of male students that I should provide them all with snacks. When I laughed thinking it was a joke, he looked at me dead serious and told me it was MY JOB because I’m a woman and then accused me of wanting them to go hungry. F that noise.
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183points
All in all, u/newmama1991 is optimistic about the future, both locally and abroad. "Recently there has been a revival of the Me Too movement [here] due to a scandal on the TV show The Voice of Holland and women have been given a renewed platform to speak up against abuse of power and sexual misconduct. Women are taking a stand!"
#12
A man in my office asked me to print and bind a document for him. I said I didn’t know how, he said it’s easy and he can talk me through it, and I said well then it sounds like you don’t need me, does it.
I was 24 at the time I’d never even seen a document binder before then, let alone used one. I didn’t work for him and it wasn’t part of my role. He had a meeting and he wanted binded copies for his team and made a beeline for the only vagina in the office.
180points
#13
I wasn't exactly asked but someone mentioned that "we could have some coffee" and stared at me (like an unspoken request) and I stared right back
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170points
#14
I was hired as an office manager at a small firm. They placed me in the front while they "cleaned my office out" that was being used as storage. I kept pressing to try and do office management tasks, payroll, AR/AP, office organization, etc.
I have a business degree with a lot of certifications.
After a few months (I was young), I asked about the tasks I should be doing and my office. I was told that I was to be a receptionist because they "needed a pretty face to greet clients." Then they hired a person who was quite possibly the dumbest person I've ever met, cleaned out the storage office for him, and gave him the job I was hired for.
I quit.
I have a business degree with a lot of certifications.
After a few months (I was young), I asked about the tasks I should be doing and my office. I was told that I was to be a receptionist because they "needed a pretty face to greet clients." Then they hired a person who was quite possibly the dumbest person I've ever met, cleaned out the storage office for him, and gave him the job I was hired for.
I quit.
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160points
#15
Not a female duty but I was specifically excluded from a sports event that was fully catered and paid for by a client because we did a great job on their account. It was my account and I did the entire job but all the men got the reward for it.
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152points
#16
One of the managers (not MY manager) passed 3-4 men to interrupt my work and try to hand me some cash to go get a card for someone's upcoming event party. I frowned like he was a particularly dim bulb and told him to go talk to the GUY who was organizing that party since he knew what was actually going on. Not-my-manager scuttled away.
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139points
#17
I do the accounting & payroll and they asked me to take over the task of cleaning of the offices; vacuuming, bathrooms, and trash cans.. I did agree to it for an extra $500 a month lmao and honestly it takes like 30-45 min a week to do and the bathrooms are much less scary than they used to be so its a win-win for me
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138points
#18
Ex-military. I had a supervisor that I’m pretty sure hated women. He stopped one of the guys (same rank as me) from cleaning the office and told him he wanted me to do it. He would bring me a notepad and tell me to “jot down his thoughts throughout the day.” He would offer to write packages for any of the guys in the office, but never me (even though I was one of the highest performers.) If I disagreed with anything, I was told by him to just do it because he ranked higher. If any men disagreed, he would hear them out. I hated that guy and his stupid pube face of a beard
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137points
#19
I’ve been asked at multiple jobs to “decorate the office” because I’m “probably good at that kind of thing.” The first few I declined, but then I got wise and said I’d do it for a budget plus designer pay. Last two times it worked and I made a pretty good chunk of change making the office not look like something straight out of Dilbert.
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136points
#20
I was a teamlead and one of my laywer-teammembers asked a woman if she was the make up lady on picture day. This woman was the CTO of the company (1000+ employees)
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132points