Why Do Women Face The Brunt Of Any Crisis At Home Or At Workplace?

Two photos of Twitter staff before and after Elon Musk's takeover is doing rounds on social media. The gender disparity in the photos implies that the women employees at Twitter had to face the brunt of mass lay-off which happened a couple of weeks back. It raises the question, why are women so easily undermined and taken for granted?

Various organisations across the world are yet to pay the genders equally. It is still a topic of discussion in the family if their daughter or daughter-in-law will choose family or career. Women still have to work way harder than their male counterparts to be taken seriously by their supervisors. Women employees are often looked at as liabilities to the company due to biological reasons. Why are we not progressing enough to catch up with the times?

Twitter Staff Before And After Elon Musk

Elon Musk shared a photo of a group of employees where it was filled with men and hardly a few women could be seen. Following that, an American YouTuber shared an old photo of the Twitter employees which was filled with women and she held it as a comparison between the two following the change in leadership and the structural changes that came along. Some netizens have questioned if the context of the two images were correct for everyone to come to such a conclusion.

Suggested Reading: Why Are The Women Employees At Twitter Missing After Elon Musk?

But the assumption is not very hard to believe either. The Covid-19-induced lockdown had seen massive layoffs and how women were affected more than their male colleagues or husbands. Be it women being fired or leaving out of pressure, studies have proved with data that in a pandemic it was women who were facing financial and major other crises due to gender disparity.

When a woman decides to pursue her career, she tends to be unsure about her abilities and mostly looks at it as an escape from other duties she is expected to do. A man with the exact same qualifications and talent would be looking at a career as a part of life just like a family but women always have to choose one between the two. And when they are doing both, the pressure to excel equally on the two fronts becomes another challenge. A good employee and a good wife or mother are the basic requirements laid in front of her as she rides along.

Why Are Women Facing The Discrimination?

At a workplace, if a woman has to put in extra effort to make her superiors believe that she's worth the job and then in crisis if she is the one fired, how will it inspire younger women to join the workforce? Building a career, having authority over one's own life and earning respect should not be far-fetched dreams for women. If these are basic components of a man's life then why are women told that they are asking for too much?

A woman, especially a married woman when hired is often looked at as a liability for the company as they think that she will soon be taking maternity leave and her job will be affected. No men get asked questions if their children will affect their work because it is assumed they wouldn't have to contribute much there. Most of the offices still don't provide period leaves to female employees and consider it as an excuse to not work. It's bizarre how most workplaces fail to make it safe and flexible for everyone and blame it on women for not adapting to the culture without complaints.

Not just workplace, but even at home when a marriage breaks or any other crisis occurs, people immediately question the woman and her faults that might have led up to it. Women are forced to get married in their 20s, have children soon after and treat their careers as hobbies. Many women are forced to give up on their dreams to become a mother and are expected to glorify the sacrifice. But for how long will women keep living on eggshells? Can they just be treated fairly based on their performance and experience at the workplace? And just let them decide how they want to plan their life while preparing men to contribute equally on the two fronts?

Views expressed are author's own.