You keep walking, past the homeless and suddenly realise you are hungry, so you walk into a restaurant. You are greeted by a person on the counter. Of course, you pictured a well dressed lady, way more fixed up than any of the waitresses. Or waiters? Restaurants happen to be more flexible to who you may find. There are both many waiters and waitresses, which is great. Now, as you wait for your food, let's sit back, relax and reflect. Yes, I know this may not be fun, but it is important. Why? Because it is the twenty first century and there is still a lot of stereotypes in gender that have not been broken yet. Yes, we have more equality than a few years ago, but there is still work to be done.
How did you feel when you realised that you pictured a woman as a secretary instead of a man? Or when you pictured the homeless as a man instead of a woman? Do you feel guilt? Shame? Hopefully these feelings lead to a desire to change your perception of stereotypes and later on other’s. To break from this rigid society that has a very close mind to who can do what. Women, like me, need help to be seen as equals to men. It is embarrassing to say that I need other people’s help to be recognized as an equally capable person as a man, but it is true. If you agree that men and women are equally smart, intelligent, capable and powerful people, then keep spreading the word. But, if you are a person that believes that men are mentally stronger than women or vise versa I want you to rethink your opinion. Think of the gender that you see as weaker and why? There is plenty of evidence showing men and women in high powerful posts and in weak ones all throughout history up till today. For example, Hatshepsut in 1500 bce or
So, I encourage you to go back into my story, stand up from the restaurant’s chair and walk out the door. Retrace our path back to the first secretary on the lobby and walk through it again, only this time visualizing exactly the opposite gender that you had pictured the first time. Be sure to taste the slight flavour of change and difference, a flavour that may hopefully be so appetizing that you will want to savor it again.
41