The Sexist Factor

Yes, I know. It has been a long, long, long, long... well, you get the point.

I haven't really wanted to write anything lately. I know this is my bitching blog and I know that the country doesn't need another whiner at this point. But here I am. And I'm not going to tell you about how I'm fat and I'm not going to tell you about how I'm poor. I've written about these things already and I am but one small voice in a crowd on those subjects.

Here's my rant and I'll make it short and sweet. Yesterday I heard something twice in one day and it struck me that what I thought was a figment of my imagination, something that I thought had happened twenty plus years ago, but doesn't happen anymore, happened.

Where: Conference Room
When: 11:00 AM or so
Subject: How to be a better salesman (yes, man)
Audience: Most of the company
Quote 1: "We need to stop ignoring the women when we meet with our clients. It has become apparent that they are the key decision makers in the household and that if they aren't speaking out in the initial meeting they are definitely speaking out at some point. We need to stop ignoring them and start speaking to them"

Where: Hallway
When: 1:30 PM or so
Subject: Convention sign for a booth and potential issues if it breaks
Audience: Me
Quote 2: "... and I don't want to leave those women on Sunday not knowing how to fix it. Well, I mean... you know what I mean. I don't mean those women. I just mean... what if they can't fix it? They're stranded there, right?"

I thought we had evolved past this, but I guess not.

I had a meeting today where I discussed with my associate a game plan for working better as a team in the coming year. He is a man, I am a woman. During this meeting his suggestions were that I print out his calendar and his list of customers for him on a weekly basis. I was asked to remind him if he forgot to update his task list. I asked nothing of him because I am capable of doing my own job and then regretted every second of it because I felt "put in my place".