Creative Lynae Cook is one of the people whose tweets we included in the list. She does acting, photography, sings and plays drums in a band called breakfast tacos, and hosts a podcast. But even though Lynae has proved herself time and time again, she also needs an imaginary male to help her.
"I loop in my 'manager' every now and then, certainly a lot more frequently when there were live events going on, and especially when I've been reached out for influencer or brand partnership work," Cook told Bored Panda. "People are generally more respectful and less likely to ask for unpaid labor when a manager is involved."
By 'respectful' she doesn't just mean offering better compensation. "They will also send complete communications, rather than the piecemeal information often shared when they think are talking to 'just' an artist. For example, they might say, 'We're really interested in collaborating with you!' if it's just me, but when my 'manager' is looped in, they'll lay out the details surrounding the collaboration, what their ask is, deadlines, payment information, etc."
According to Dr. Susan R. Madsen, a professor of Leadership & Ethics in the Woodbury School of Business at Utah Valley University and the Founding Director of the Utah Women & Leadership Project, the underlying objective of sexism toward women — whether conscious or not — is to maintain the current system of men having more power than women.
"Of course, some women may respond more positively to benevolent sexism, as it is perceived as kinder and more thoughtful. Yet research continues to find that it undermines and threatens women's influence and impact by just being 'in the air,'" Maden says. "In fact, societies that have the lowest levels of gender equality and female empowerment have the highest levels of both hostile and benevolent sexism. I expect this is the same for companies and organizations of all kinds."
Lynae Cook hopes that sexism will (slightly) diminish as time goes on, though she believes it probably will survive in undertones and be less overt than it has been.
"I wish people strived to do better and be better," Cook added. "It's a bit obscene that people are more respectful when others are watching, which tells me that morality is often performative. It's also a bit depressing. But I suppose that is also how many people are raised and what society tells us."
Today's working women experience gender discrimination in many forms. The Pew Research Center reported that about four-in-ten working women (42%) in the United States say they have faced discrimination on the job because of their gender.
The women described a broad array of personal experiences, ranging from earning less than their male counterparts for doing the same job to being passed over for important assignments.
