Limited Aspirations
Jess Wingrad on ladies who lunch and women who work Returning home from the summer holidays this year, I was sitting on a plane feeling the obligatory ache to be home in an instant without having to suffer through the next twelve hours praying that the guy next to me was not a talker. The captain of the plane piped in with the monotonous announcement welcoming everyone on board. Nothing about this announcement was out of the ordinary yet my neighbour chimed in loudly that he felt uncomfortable with the flight and wanted to disembark from the plane. Why such concerns? Because the pilot was a woman. As a student I have been doing my research into the competitive world of internships, CVs, interviews and careers and although there are factors which will restrict my choice of industry, my sex will in no way be a hindrance. Pre-1900, the role of women in English society was to find a husband, pro-create and be faithful and obedient to their husbands thanks to the suffragette movement this role has been revised and women are no longer considered secondclass citizens. The examples of women such as Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the Burmese democracy movement in the late 80s, should be followed and admired by women universally. Yet, Aung San Suu Kyi herself said that “it cannot be doubted that in most countries today, women in comparison to men are still underprivileged”. Peo-
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ple today think that social stereotypes about women in certain jobs are non-existent, especially in the West, but the comments of that man on the plane suggest otherwise. Despite alterations in how women are regarded in legal terms, there is still evidence that the social consciousness influences women to choose certain jobs simply because they are traditionally dominated by women. These stereotypes rely on assigning certain characteristics to women, to name a few: women are naturally caring,gentle, calm, emotional and feeble. These gender essentialist comments are hurting men equally by suggesting that men do not possess these qualities. In the same way that women should not be assigned to certain jobs, so men should not be excluded from them. I completely understand that there are physical limits to what job a person may do ,however, these are not defined by gender. This should not mean that I cannot hope to become the next Angela Merkel or Condoleezza Rice. It should be matters of intellect and determination which decide people’s futures.
Jess Wingrad is an Ancient History student, who truly hopes that she’ll live to see sexism become an embarrassing memory.
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