BECAUSE SHE WEARS A SKIRT

‘You look tired. Go rest. The guys and I can finish up without you. Hopefully tomorrow you’ll look like a woman should, fresh and pretty’, my boss told me. Though he may have said it with good intentions, that statement made me angry. It been a hard couple of weeks for all of us in the department. We all looked haggard and beaten up, so I wondered why I was pushed aside based on my gender.
I look around my workspace and shake my head noting that in a team of ten, I was the only female. I had clawed and fought my way up to where I am and I had to work harder and longer than my male teammates just to be taken seriously. I was just as smart, just as committed as they were if not more… Yet I was belittled because I wear a skirt.
Why? Why must I go beyond the distance? Why must I always be compared to the men around me and judged by their views and opinions? Why can’t I just be judged on who I am and what I bring to the table?
It’s an unfortunate reality that our society values men on their personal achievements and women on how well they can raise a family, keep a home and a husband. These is how culture sees women, culture that is written and enforced from a male point of view. Yet that is not all that women are. They are smart and capable just like any man. They can do great things if given equal opportunity as their male counterparts.
As the saying goes, what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. What he can do, she can also do. Even though society has cast women into certain roles, it’s time to break those molds. There’s nothing wrong with being a stay at home dad with a working mum. Nothing wrong with with a female CEO and a female president with her first gentleman supporting her. There’s nothing wrong with women in power, nothing wrong with a woman being defined for who she is not because of the man she is attached to.
There needs to be changes made. To the ladies, step out. Don’t be afraid to ask, demand and if it comes to it, fight for your rights and what you believe in. You are more than the labels society has branded you with. Chase your hopes and dreams. Don’t let them go just so that you can fit into a cast role or just because society frowns on you for wanting what you want. It’s OK not to be what society wants you to be, the wife, the mother, the home maker. Teach the young girls out there that they are the most powerful beings in the universe and that they should never be afraid to take up space and be who they want to be.
To the gents out there, support them ladies. Don’t be scared that in doing so you will be less of a man; you won’t. If you can’t do that, then don’t push them down and make them doubt their worth just to protect your ego, pride and musculinity. Don’t dismiss her just because she wears a skirt.

Gihihi ?