Women could rule the world. Women should rule the world. Women will hopefully rule the world before the end of my lifetime, but maybe not. Even an equal share in the leadership and the same pay would be a start.
The last few weeks I’ve been a little despondent about whether a change will actually occur, whether the glass ceiling is actually made of glass or whether it’s made of boiling hot lava. There is no doubt that women have come a long way, but it is no longer about just having rights and it’s now about being treated with respect as a fellow human being. This doesn’t seem to be happening in our country and it is demoralising to see that even our own government doesn’t care about it.
I thought today I would share some stories from my own career, a career that until the last few years has been in male-dominated industries, and you would like to think this kind of thing doesn’t happen but it did, up until recently, to me. I am so lucky that I get to work where I work now, where nothing even remotely like this has happened.
- I was told to keep my legs together and not get pregnant as my boss didn’t want to pay for me to sit at home doing ‘nothing’.
- I was made to work more hours/days per week than my male counterparts to ‘prove my worth’.
- When I didn’t agree with a course of action, I was asked if it was because I had my period. Stating, “my wife gets cranky when she has hers, so I thought you had yours as well”.
- I bent down to tie my shoelace and when I looked up the person I was walking with had taken out his penis and was dangling it in front of my face, with a lovely “while you’re down there…..” comment.
- I was called a ‘skinny cow’ in front of a room full of men who all laughed at the joke and when I got upset told me to ‘lighten up’.
- I was harassed relentlessly to tell the details to a group of much older men on how I lost my virginity.
- I was told to “wear a short skirt and heels” to a job interview.
- A colleague who I was asking to help me with something told me I could pay with my “hairy cheque book”.
- I got offered money for sex. “Can’t you just pretend you don’t know me and I could pay you”.
- I got called a “stupid fucking bitch” by a male supervisor in front of the site manager by a colleague, my HR complaint was dismissed.
Australia has a long way to go. Especially if you are a woman.
