4 ms·
As the woman, I've been the only person in the group asked to put together a pot luck (presumably, this work is beneath the males). I've been the only one asked
by ahoyhere 15y ago
As the woman, I've been the only person in the group asked to put together a pot luck (presumably, this work is beneath the males). I've been the only one asked to take notes in a meeting... even if I'm the one who's presenting (because my title really should be 'secretary who we let on the servers').
Not saying this is what's happening in these cases, but I've often seen this happen to women not because they're women, but because they create the situation by training people to rely on them to do these things. Women who will take on the tasks nobody else wants to do, who will always do whatever others leave undone, who offers to bring other people food when she goes out, etc. In the spirit of helpfulness or whatever.
This happens to men, too, but more women on the whole seem to be the "step in and get it done" type (for whatever reason). The kind you can rely on to bend over backwards to do something when asked, even if it's ridiculous. You see it in families and it's natural that people behave the same at work as they do at home, when it comes to this kind of behavior.
I'm not like this at all, though. Not at all. Nobody says "Oh, Amy will get it all done." And this never happens to me.
- ckpwong 15y agoWhen I was in my early 20's, I (the lone female developer) was once asked by my manager to put together a gift for the only other female team member, a tester, who had just given birth. I don't know why I was picked, because I was (1) very new to the team, (2) didn't knew the other person well, and (3) generally ill-equipped at that stage of my life (really, just entering the "adult world") to anticipate what was an appropriate gift for a new mother. There were other team members who were already parents (of multiple children, even), thus probably knew better. But I was picked. I think I just got a Toys'R'Us gift card as cop out.