Let’s talk about what it’s like to be a woman. Sexism in the workplace is annoying, and I don’t understand why people think it’s OK to talk down to people in general, let alone talking down to someone for their gender. 

First of all, the fact that men and women formerly could not work together is absurd, as is the implication that women are incapable of performing as well as men. In films and books, there are tons of stories about a man working in the same place as a woman, bullying her, then becoming her love interest. This puts an idea in people’s heads that being rude to someone will win you their affection—an unhealthy concept. It is beyond frustrating for a male coworker to say rude, hurtful things to you all day, insult your intelligence, then ask for your number at the end of a shift. I don’t think so, Mister. 

The other day at work, a new employee kept saying over and over again that he was better at his job than me, simply because I’m a woman. He then proceeded to blame a mistake that he made on me in order to explain to a table why their drinks took so long to come out. What actually happened was that he forgot to place the order for their drinks, which I would say is not exactly indicative of him being a good worker. He told his table that the drinks were taking a long time because there was a woman behind the bar. Mind you, this is the same individual who told another female coworker, who is a smart and hard-working young woman might I add, that she had to be a housewife when she grew up because women can’t handle a family and a career. This mindset is antiquated and has no place in our world today. Put simply: Not cool.

Women are more than capable of handling both a job and their children. There are thousands of hardworking women who would be highly offended by the implication that they aren’t doing a stellar job. My mother has worked the entire time I’ve been alive and is a fantastic mom. More importantly, there is nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home mom. Being a stay-at-home mom is a full-time job that goes mostly unappreciated and has no monetary compensation. The expectations for stay-at-home moms are through the roof, with them being expected to have a perfectly clean house, perfectly behaved kids and a home-cooked meal every night—and the list goes on and on. People love to expect all of these things from stay-at-home moms because, “They don’t have anything else to do.” Ridiculous. A woman’s time is just as valuable as any man’s. Long story short: stop being rude and condescending to women. 

Women are just as talented and intelligent as men and should be treated as such. There is no place for this sort of misogyny today, as it has been proven time and again what women already know: We are just as capable as men. Now, all we need is for the rest of the world to realize it, too.