Will The World Ever Get The Working Woman?

FYI, there’s no such thing as a “working man.” Man is man. And he’s working. Dah! By default stoopid! But, females need to be clearly labelled “working woman” “SAHM” “DINK” or “housewife/homemaker” in the least; even though Milords have been hollering that every woman’s pretty much “working” (& working without a break if you ask her) so she actually deserves compensation “based on her life expectancy and a bare minimum notional income!”

Structural organisations by and large, have however, “proved more inflexible than women’s ovaries.” Otherwise, why would Drew G. Faust feel the need to clarify as soon as she took office that she was “not the woman president of Harvard. I’m the president of Harvard,” reflecting “her determination early on to make clear her presidency would be more than just a nod to gender equity.”

Read that again! And you’ll realise that reasons abound. Right now. This very instant. AI and Aai be damned! Talking solely of the so-called “working woman” whose struggle with established prejudices is nowhere near alleviated, one can’t ignore a whole new bunch of micro and not so micro misconceptions she continues to wrangle with daily masked as normalised gender challenges. Sweetie, you got to accept your given gender role lying down, seems to be the unsolicited sexist message here. 

There are research papers, HR documents and pie charts to back that up, clearly listing the top 15 challenges for which working women should kind of be prepared as they polish their Naukri profiles for their very first job interview, since psst: 2024 is just a circa, nothing major has changed girl!

The International Labour Organization has gone sore proclaiming that “there has been hardly any improvement in the labour income gap, working conditions, or access to employment for women,” due to which many women experience discrimination and microaggression “not only on the basis of their gender but also because of their sexual orientation, disability, or other parts of their identity.”

Add to that limited sponsorship and career growth opportunities; bro-dominated work cultures; pitifully few role models; lack of flexi work hours; poor family support; pregnancy, menopause, menstruation, child care issues and difficulties in overcoming career gap or rejoining work – and there you have the glaringly appalling current scenario shamelessly playing out right in front of you on loop.

Those BTW are broadly just your “usual” unresolved prejudices. What about the new environment, new additions? Starting with…

Couture: Society is high key salty about what she wears. Too short. Too tight. Too bright. Too bold. Too rich. Too boujee. Too girly. Too manly. Too dull! There’s no escaping the judgement this way or that. It’s always “too” much when the prevailing theory is the “grooming gap” and the woman is forever expected to fit in. 

Cash: You could be the main character in your office sis, but your cash isn’t your cash and your spending habits, they are under the microscope of every Tom, Dick and Cheri! Women are anyways “fickle with finances” and now this new lust for luxuries, desire to be drippy, fancy for fine dining! Why pay the pink tax? The moolah mantra’s -- save, sacrifice, suffocate sister; not spend, spoil and slay! 

Me Time: Did you say me time? Really? How selfish and self-centered can you be? Why ever would you want to be on your own, doing your thing, pursuing pleasures, working on your self-worth or just being? There are responsibilities, duties, schedules, to-do lists, multiple roles to play, alarms ringing, doorbells dinging, phones pinging… get busy babe you got to cosplay superwoman! Remember?

Bromance: Man and woman? Friends? N.O. in all caps! That doesn’t happen. It’s a myth. Socializing with male colleagues, friends, acquaintances – not done woman! There’s nothing like platonic, boundaries and open mind, it’s all only chemical and biological. Period. “Just friends” situation in the opposite sex is simply bad rap! 

WFH-life balance: This one’s a #iykyk kind of thing. If the woman’s home, she might as well be guilt-tripped and gaslighted into getting the domestic stuff done too. She’s right there, it’s not as if she has to “dress up” and go to the office meeting or something, so why can’t she cook, clean, care along the way. Oh and while she’s at it, could she get everyone another round of chai? Work From Home-Work From Kitchen potato pataato! Right?

Status Woe: Married? Unmarried? Single? The three main sub-varieties that a working woman can be classified in, with the “married-mother” variety being the favoured “overachiever” carrying the flaming torch to guide other woman down the path of patriarchal privilege. She “proves” her self-worth every day. Watch and learn all you unmarried and woebegone singles. Getting hitched is what you should be “working” on hrrummmp! 

Are you serious? Now that you’ve read all of this. Do you have something to say? Nevermind, keep it to yourself. No point being all outspoken and loud now. Why attract the negative spotlight hanh? Opinions that matter are already on the table, approved, analyzed and anointed! No need to get difficult. Everything’s sorted. Sush, nod along, let’s hear some mansplaining…

A social psychology study found that “men’s implicit self-esteem was negatively affected by their romantic partner’s success. Meanwhile, women remained unaffected by their partner’s performance.” 

That’s that then. 

Raised a lot of hackles I hope. Because it is the naked truth sisters. Of today. In the gaons and metros. Global reports show that four in 10 women echo such complaints even in some of the “developed” nations of the world. We know that. We’ve felt the passive aggression. We’ve endured it. BUT…. Here’s the difference -- We’ve also fought it. In our own ways, believing what Sheryl Sandberg empathetically asserted: “women need to shift from thinking ‘I’m not ready to do that’ to thinking ‘I want to do that – and I’ll learn by doing it” for “in the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.”  Yass!!

Views expressed by the author are their own