(no subject)
It's interesting how gender bias manifests in different settings.
Take Sweden.
Sweden by far has done the best job in gender equality in my opinion. It might be still a long way to go, but it's already a topic on an everyday agenda and people are working on it constantly. I admire this.
Let's look at the situation that made me wonder.
The setting: an improv scene with two girls in it, waiting for the suggestions of the audience (three guys) for the scene.
Someone comes up with an idea: okay, you're cleaning up after the party.
Another person says without even thinking: "Wait! Are you suggesting cleaning just because they are girls? This is gender bias!"
I feel like the most gender-biased person in this situation is the one who asks the question.
Why?
Maybe because cleaning after the party does not necessarily mean that it's a girl's job, maybe we just had a girls party; and everyone left; and it's our apartment?
Maybe because it's improv and nobody said that we are supposed to be girls?
I am risking offending a lot of people, but I feel like assuming that everything is gender-biased is just as bad as ignoring gender bias and acting on that ignorance.
Let's consider another situation.
When I was interviewing for a job, the interviewer said to me: "We have too many guys in the company right now. We need more girls."
This is gender bias. This is actually very offending: a person suggests that I am going to be hired not because of how good I am but because I am a woman.
In any way, these subtleties are noticeable only when you already have a good base for equality.
And when I say equality, I don't mean equality of the people. We're obviously different, we're all our own little snowflakes. I mean equality of the opportunities, expectations.
We need to open doors, not close them.
Take Sweden.
Sweden by far has done the best job in gender equality in my opinion. It might be still a long way to go, but it's already a topic on an everyday agenda and people are working on it constantly. I admire this.
Let's look at the situation that made me wonder.
The setting: an improv scene with two girls in it, waiting for the suggestions of the audience (three guys) for the scene.
Someone comes up with an idea: okay, you're cleaning up after the party.
Another person says without even thinking: "Wait! Are you suggesting cleaning just because they are girls? This is gender bias!"
I feel like the most gender-biased person in this situation is the one who asks the question.
Why?
Maybe because cleaning after the party does not necessarily mean that it's a girl's job, maybe we just had a girls party; and everyone left; and it's our apartment?
Maybe because it's improv and nobody said that we are supposed to be girls?
I am risking offending a lot of people, but I feel like assuming that everything is gender-biased is just as bad as ignoring gender bias and acting on that ignorance.
Let's consider another situation.
When I was interviewing for a job, the interviewer said to me: "We have too many guys in the company right now. We need more girls."
This is gender bias. This is actually very offending: a person suggests that I am going to be hired not because of how good I am but because I am a woman.
In any way, these subtleties are noticeable only when you already have a good base for equality.
And when I say equality, I don't mean equality of the people. We're obviously different, we're all our own little snowflakes. I mean equality of the opportunities, expectations.
We need to open doors, not close them.