Girl Power

image from here

We’ve been talking a lot in our management class about employment equality, and what this means to us as upcoming professionals. As a woman, the consensus is that we still have to struggle against unfair employment opportunities, and discrimination in the workplace. Sometimes I agree with the hardline stance (sexual harassment is never okay), and I don’t terribly mind getting a leg up by equality acts, but I’m not sure that the whole practice is fair. If girl power and feminism are meant to promote equality between the sexes, then why should women get this little bonus when it comes to employment?

Are women that unqualified that we can’t compete with the men in our fields? Assuming that women require help to get the same job as a man is frankly insulting, and promotes the negative stereotype that women can’t do what men can. Sometimes it’s inevitable that we require external help, but the same can be said of both sexes. Not everyone can do everything, but maybe it’s time that we should assume that everyone is capable of learning the same stuff if they apply an equal amount of effort.

Women of the world, if we want to be taken seriously then maybe we should consider stepping up and earning our place alongside men. We expect the same of them, so why aren’t we holding ourselves to the same standard? We can’t logically be expected to be treated with the same amount of respect as men if we don’t earn it. That’s why when my dad waxes eloquent about cars I pay attention. I may not be able to change a tire or my oil, but I know that you can filter the impurities from dirty diesel with a coffee filter, and that you can run a diesel engine on old french fry oil, leftover motor oil, and jet fuel. If you don’t believe me, go ask my dad, because that’s exactly what he did with our 1981 Mercedes-Benz 300D. Now, how many of you guys out there knew that!