Girls
Don't Like Boys,
Girls Like Cars
& Money
Women
& Equality
Lisa
S. Lawless, Ph.D., CEO
|
I
was driving down the road the other day listening to tunes on
the radio, when a song by Good
Charlotte called Boys
& Girls came on. The chorus, "Girls Don't
Like Boys, Girls Like Cars And Money" is a catchy tune
and I started humming along until I thought about what I was
singing... women are really gold diggers whom aren't competent
enough to earn their own money and buy their own cars so they
have to use men in order to get them.
I
began to think of the many eMails that I get to my company with
the salutation saying "Dear
Sir," or the people who write or call assuming that I am
some ditsy blonde model who is only a mere "image"
for the corporation which must really be owned by men. I began
to get frustrated thinking about how even today women are still
being discriminated against in the work place and in social
situations.
I
know that sometimes when I speak with other businesses on the
phone or even customers they are often shocked that I am a real
person and highly knowledgeable about everything that my corporation
sells, how to run it and the topics that we address through
it. I have to laugh a bit considering that as I run everything...
I should know about it!
Being
the breadwinner as the owner and C.E.O. of my corporation, a
mom and wife my life is pretty busy and fulfilling. As a woman
who was a teen in the 80's, I can say that I was lucky to be
brought up thinking that a woman could be and do anything she
put her mind to.
Still,
I can catch my Mother's old fashioned upbringing come in to
play when she thinks that it is more appropriate for my husband
to fix our son's bike or hook up a DVD player when I have done
those things myself many times.
|
From
the first women's rights convention to the historic formation
of the American Equal Rights Association women have and
continue to fight for their equality.
In
1923, the National Woman's Party first proposed the Equal
Rights Amendment to eliminate discrimination on the basis
of gender. It has never been ratified.
To
get active for women's
rights visit the site-
Votes For Women 2004
|
There
seems to be a lingering of role stereotyping and I have to say
sometimes it makes me feel frustrated that we have not fully
come to a place where we see women as perfectly capable of running
a company or fixing a bike, or anything else for that matter.
Women
and men are different, we have different strengths and weaknesses.
My husband is not nearly as talented as I am at decorating our
home and I have a much harder time lifting heavy furniture which
he picks up with ease. I recognize that we must work with our
strengths and weaknesses and honor them... but I think it good
to recognize that many stereotypes are based on illogical thought.
Women are just as capable of intellectual thought as men and
we certainly deserve to be treated with equal respect.
There
are many ways we can change the way our perception creates our
reality. I hope that we will all act in ways that will provide
respect for both sexes and allow for sexist stereotypes to be
broken.
