Yes, but that was a long time ago - women haven't really been discriminated against in any serious, society wide way for a very long time.
Wow, really? Upvotes even? I'm honestly surprised no one has pushed back on that statement yet.
Not to be condescending, but I'll guess that you are a man, and a young one at that.
In the west, there is certainly less officially sanctioned discrimination, although that is a relatively new phenomenon. (Some examples from the US: The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was passed in 2009. The FMLA was passed in 1993. The Tailhook Scandal was 1991. Roberts v. United States Jaycees was 1984. Chrapliwy v. Uniroyal was 1982. Title IX was 1972. The EEOC and The Equal Pay act were 1963. Even 1920 isn't really that long ago.)
But if you honestly believe there is no "serious" or widespread gender based discrimination, you must either be very young, very privileged, or not paying attention. That statement just doesn't reflect the experience of people in the working world, whether white collar or blue. Google "gender discrimination study". Ask some professional women you know. Ask your significant other or women in your family. Look around your workplace and witness how people act toward and talk about women versus the way they act toward and talk about men.
It is getting better, but this isn't controversial: Gender discrimination exists.
There's no conspiracy or collusion (well, rarely, see Tailhook for example, or the wall street folks taking a business lunch at Hooters or taking a client to a strip club). It often isn't even malicious or intentional (I'm thinking of that study that showed people are more comfortable with and most likely to hire people like themselves, but my google fu fails me). But it certainly happens, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, and this certainly has a "serious" impact on women's work life and careers.
(By the way there's also gender discrimination that happens in the other direction: try to become a nanny, day care worker or pre-school teacher as a man, or sue for custody of the children during a divorce.)
You could argue that "they don't need to" and I call bullshit. Go down to the nearest college and pay attention to the comments made about the female grad students who do eschew the preening hour vs the comments about those who don't. It is absurd. A man who doesn't bother to do his hair right is "eccentric" or "a bit of a slob" but this trangression is quickly overlooked (a fact many geeks take great advantage of). A woman doing the same will forever be looked down on as 'that frumpy chick' or 'she could really be something if she took care of herself'. Do you see the difference in how the value judgement plays out?
True story, a few years ago I was working for a very traditional financial services firm, and the word came down from On High, people were to wear shirts or polo shirts, not t-shirts, in the office (as opposed to, out visiting clients, which you'd wear a suit for). The girls kept on wearing t-shirts. Someone mentioned it and was informed that they weren't t-shirts, they were "women's tops".
Incidentally, women dress up to impress other women. Men simply don't notice eyelashes or nail varnish or whatever.
I'm not sure that's true. There's a lot more diversity in women's clothing. I think that probably makes it more difficult to dress for the occasion as opposed to less. For instance, a man can wear slacks and a dress shirt to work and then throw on a tie and jacket for a formal dinner. Most any single woman's outfit would be out of place in one environment or the other.
(In fact, men can get by in almost any situation with a pair of dress pants and a button down shirt.)
> Incidentally, women dress up to impress other women. Men simply don't notice eyelashes or nail varnish or whatever.
Agreed. That has been my observation as well. I think there may have even been scientific studies on this point.
- More likely to be the victim of a rape. - Representation in the media. http://bechdeltest.com/
I'm sure there are more that a better feminist than myself could share with you.