I was nervous as I walked into my first job interview, as everyone is.
‘You’ve got this,’ I told myself. ‘You prepared, you have experience, and you make business professional look cute.’
For some reason, I couldn’t reassure myself enough. I knew I was prepared, and I knew I was qualified, but I was afraid of the room of preconceived bias I was walking into.
On the surface, 2016 may look like a great year for women, especially in the political system. However, that is not the perfect world we live in. As women, we have been told for years that we receive jobs and promotions based on skill, but it doesn’t seem that being the best is good enough anymore.
Women are promoted based on past performance whereas men are promoted based on future expectation, according to a 2001 Mckinsey report. Time and time again women are passed over for raises and promotions, just as Heidy Rehman was.
Rehman’s boss told her that she was the top-performing analyst, yet she was being paid less than her male peers and was overlooked every time a promotion came up. After dealing with years of sexism, Rehman quit the large American investment bank and started Rose&Willard, a feminist British womenswear brand.
No wonder women account for only 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEO’s. And the United States ranks 60th in women’s political empowerment. That’s below Uganda, China and India.
Women have to do more than men to prove themselves. We must go beyond the standards set for men, and even when we do, we are not likely to be rewarded for it. In her book, Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg states that when male executives speak up, they receive 10 percent higher competence ratings. When females do the same, their ratings are 14 percent lower.
In April, San Francisco became the first city to pass a law mandating that employees be provided with six weeks of paid parental leave. This pertains to both women, and men. By breaking the barrier, the conversation is now open to discuss paternal leave, a step toward equality in the office and at home.
I am fortunate to be raised by a feminist mother who taught me, and my brothers, to accept feminist values. We should not be afraid of the word feminism. Feminism shouldn’t be defined by lifestyle choices, culture or political agenda. It should simply mean allowing everyone, regardless of gender, to have the same opportunities without fear of discrimination.
We, as a culture, have made men the norm. We have made it so easy for women to see themselves as the minority, as less than. A man going into an interview doesn’t have to worry about being taken seriously based on his suit or leadership potential — a woman does. I did.
We are teaching girls to adhere to the status quo when we should be encouraging them break it. We are accepting the gender pay gap when we should be fighting it. And we are teaching women to step back when they should be leaning in.
Sarah Rumfelt is a senior majoring in journalism.
