Second class citizens

“The heavens might fall or, worse still, the company go bankrupt with a woman at the helm”

Speaker’s Corner

Denise Horan

A COUPLE of months ago, I walked into the canteen at work to find a female colleague with a freshly-poured cup of tea in her hand, about to bring it into my office. I was horrified. “Making tea for me is not part of your job,” I told her, feeling slightly bad for admonishing someone for being thoughtful, but believing strongly that the point needed to be made.

It’s the symbolism involved in tea-making that gets to me, you see. It’s considered a woman’s job and/or the job of a subordinate. And the thing that annoys me most of all – some men’s expectation of it as a natural part of working life coming in a close second – is that many women allow themselves to fall into the role of tea-maker in a particular office. It’s not set out anywhere in their job description, nor (as far as I know) is there any monetary incentive or promotional prospect attached to the performance of such a duty, yet hundreds (probably thousands) accept it as a daily chore at work.

Let’s dispel a few myths here. Making tea for the boss does not: (a) make him (usually) regard you any more highly as a person; (b) improve your chances of succeeding him as boss; (c) develop your skills at whatever job it is you are actually paid to do, or (d) make you indispensable to him. In fact, apart from the odd patronising pat on the back or sickening ‘what-would-I-do-without-you’ compliment, there is absolutely no reward for tea-making.

I have dwelt a little too long on the tea-making thing, but it is the most fundamental display of subordination by women at work. Other examples include laughing at the boss’s unfunny or even crude jokes, passing off with a giggle inappropriate sexual remarks and being available to run errands at a moment’s notice.

Yes, there is a hierarchy in almost every organisation and the people at the top, naturally, are not being paid higher salaries than everyone else so that they can spend their time tidying the office, posting letters and keeping the office stocked with stationery, but neither is everyone else being paid simply to make their lives more comfortable.

There are plenty of men out there who – without any encouragement – believe that women are second class citizens in the workplace. Their strengths in the home – cooking, cleaning and looking after the children – are undisputed, even mildly respected. Their aesthetically-pleasing qualities are also admired. But let them into the working world and their place is naturally at the bottom of the ladder. God forbid they would be given any responsibilities (tea-making and stationery stocking apart) or the power to make serious decisions. The heavens might fall or, worse still, the company go bankrupt with a woman at the helm or anywhere close to it.

Most men, in fairness to them, have been conditioned to believe this to be reality. They accept that the odd woman will advance to a senior role, they may even learn to tolerate a female boss somewhere along the way, but their fundamental belief that women are not fit for power doesn’t change. The ones that do make it are simply freaks of nature or aberrations or products of faulty thinking by management.

Most men, you see, are, at some level, misogynistic. Many of them don’t even know it.

But my major problem isn’t with them. My difficulty is with women feeding this misogyny by allowing themselves to be second class citizens. By accepting a subservient role and learning to be brilliant at it. By fluttering their eyelids, dressing revealingly and being generally happy to be viewed as pieces of meat rather than intelligent, capable human beings.

If men, by nature and by conditioning, believe women to be their subordinates, what hope is there of them ever changing their views as long as women go around acting like subordinates?

A feminist revolution isn’t needed, just some small changes. Challenge. Offer opinions. Don’t laugh on cue. And please, please, stop making tea.