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Sexist
Stereotypes
Girls
Don't Like Boys, Girls Like Cars & Money
| 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. |
Lisa
S. Lawless, Ph.D., CEO |
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.
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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.
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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.
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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. |
