I have recently taken up a new job in London. Working is London is just amazing , the environment here at the place I work is so different, fast paced , exciting and I am loving it.

I get really thrilled when I tell people, how much I love my new job …..well, if they ask me about it.

Yes , I said if they ask me about it…. !

I don’t get asked much about how my work is or even what I do.
Don’t get me wrong here , my usual conversations with most relatives and some friends cover questions relating to work ,  however , these are very different questions.

When people ask me about work , it is more like ” how far away is your office?” , “how long is your commute time?”, “are you allowed to work from home ?” ( I get asked this so very often) and “are you able to get back home on time?”. Oh yes and there is this “how long is your maternity leave for?” question

These are important questions too, I agree.But their questions for me end there.
I don’t get asked anything else about work beyond this. Of course, there are friends and a very few relatives who ask me about my work in the other sense, but exceptions are not examples.

My husband or say another male family member or male friend even , they get asked about their bosses, what their role is and if they are working on anything exciting.

Hey hello , I work on exciting stuff too !

But no , people don’t generally ask me about all that ( yes I am needy), or sometimes rudely even cut short when I involuntarily start talking about it.
You might think , I am not asking you these questions , so what???

It simply shows that you are not only assuming but also implicitly hinting that you think where I work and what I do doesn’t matter as long as I don’t spend much time at work , also , I lack any sort of passion but just work to support to pay the bills.

Well , that escalated quickly didn’t it ? I was trying to demonstrate the gravity of the situation here.

You may ask me , why does it matter if I ask you all these  questions , well it does not if you ask the same questions to my male counterpart as well.
What people don’t realise they are being very disrespectful by showing such a bias , this is an inherent bias in the society .

I thought I would pen this down , just to make people realize the chauvinism that is so subtly embedded.
So, next time when someone asks a professional woman about her work, they can ask her the right questions.

 

I live with my husband and kid in London.  I am originally from India, have been in the UK for five years now. I work in IT and love my job.   I love reading and learning languages. I also have other short lived hobbies like Zumba,watching American tele etc.  Now full time occupied with work and my son. https://shaaravi.wordpress.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/This_is_Shaa

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