Just a rant, I am at work and need to vent.

I'm with you OP. I'm about to hand in my notice after only a month because I'm pregnant, commuting anything up to 1.5 hours each way (with 3 changes, so having to fight for a seat on 4 different trains at rush hour) and I have to take my laptop wherever I go. It's only a macbook air so not heavy, but with my packed lunch on top my backpack in the morning is bulky and weighs an absolute ton.

I'm KNACKERED and my boss clearly doesn't get it. Then again he's childless and married to his job, so no idea and even less sympathy. Also he's built like a tank, so carrying a laptop for him is easy. I'm 5'2 and not afraid to lug heavy equipment around but this is beyond a joke. Can't wait to tell him I'm off.

I'm the size of the average British man - I had no idea until very recently how EVERYTHING is designed from and for that default setting. I'm now trying to be more aware and on alert for this fact.

I highly recommend getting a second power brick for home. Those can weigh as much as the laptop itself.

I ended up buying a lightweight backpack with built in sleeve specifically built for women. Even if having back and shoulder problems, at least for me, the backpack is what provides the least strain on my body

My laptop rucksack, the best I could find without remortgaging the house, is clearly designed for a man - the shoulder straps don't sit brilliantly on a female frame. It's the best I've found of a really bad bunch and I'm one of those people that a previous poster sees on her commute with stupidly large rucksacks.

Mine's a DSA provided housebrick of a thing.

My personal invisible woman pet hate is the old style slam door intercity trains - my arms, and I'm an average height woman, don't reach far enough down through the open window to fully pull the door handle down to leave the train.

I know it's a double edged sword, but given that women twist themselves into pretzels to keep all the place spinning,
the reality is that it feels like a massive benefit to me and my colleagues, who can work at home almost any time it feels necessary for our work-life balance.

I have hypermobility and hypothyroidism and can loose muscle mass quickly if my levels aren't great. I have a very slight and narrow frame.

I've been through phases of really struggling to lift and carry light weight bags etc as I loose strength very quickly. I've had to throw my weight at heavy doors in buildings to open them my whole life. I'm doing well at the moment as lifting a heavy toddler daily has helped me maintain a good upper body strength but my lower back is starting to go again.

I'd suggest this is an OC health issue. As per usual men making decisions without really thinking about the impact.

Laptops allowing flexibility so that women can do umpteen things at once eg take child to dentist and do some work is a somewhat double-edged sword.

Strange how men tend not to maximise the flexibility their laptops afford them and take time out of the office to take their children to the dentist, or do an online grocery shop during their lunch break or take the car in for a service (they can get some work done while they're waiting).

I do think we are storing up problems for the future. A nation of people ( men and women but mostly women) with back and shoulder problems and draining the NHS. I see loads of people on commute with heavy looking bags. I am probably more alert to this given I have back problems.

I have two or three bags I can fit my laptop into, in it's soft case. From Primark I think! It peeps out the top but that's ok.

I don't think it's OK; it makes you more of a target for a mugging if it's on display and can't be secured in your bag. Again, this is worse if you're a woman, because you're an easier target than a man anyway.

My laptop is 13.5 inches, so it would take a pretty big bag to fit it inside.

Also, it's heavy, so carrying it on one shoulder would cause musculoskeletal problems.

I made a fuss about this when my place switched to laptops. I wasn’t having my team (including several small women, one of whom was pregnant at the time of the switch) being forced to carry laptops to and fro every day. I may have made concerned noises about liability for musculoskeletal problems from carrying our public sector bricks. Not to mention the security risk of having one stolen on the commute, or left in a theatre cloakroom.

We all got two devices in the end - one for home and one for work.

I have two or three bags I can fit my laptop into, in it's soft case. From Primark I think! It peeps out the top but that's ok.

TomeOfSomething When I’m out and about I can’t always get to a shop; likewise at work I can’t always nip out to get what I need. I’d rather pop some paracetamol etc as soon as I get a headache then have to stop what I’m doing or detour via a shop.

Likewise if kids smear food all over themselves I want to clear their faces then and there, rather than having to trek to a bathroom or a shop.

Also CatalogueUniverse makes a brilliant point about how my smarter work clothes don’t even fit my phone, wallet and keys in, so I need a bag for at least those things anyway.

I get it OP. I brought this problem up when my employer was planning the switch from desktops to laptops. Mind you I also had pocket rage this week. Due to job and complex structure we have a lot of keys to get in places to do stuff. My male colleagues always have theirs with them in their capacious pockets. My clothes, normal, smart type clothes do not have room in the pockets and in fact the trousers I was wearing emptied heavy things out every time I sat down because hips. So I have to think about keys all the time to make sure I’ve got the right ones with me. The weight of they keys actually pulls my clothes down. If you look at a man and a woman carrying a shopping bag the man due to shoulder hip ratio can comfortably have his arm straight down. A woman carrying the same weight has to also hold her arm out from her body to allow for hips and narrower shoulders. Effectively makes the weight harder to carry due to extra strain for someone who has lower muscle ratio and is often shorter so sometimes has to hold bag out and up to avoid tripping over it.

I’ve got an extra power supply for mine - not a lot of money to supply so I don’t have to carry one back and forward. I’ve got a decent bag so I only need one bag because POCKETS to carry the same equipment as a man I need more bag space. Even if I don’t need the laptop I have to carry a bag to put the keys etc in because female clothes that are equivalent of smart trousers and skirts don’t accommodate the stuff.

We were issued an emergency contact plastic card we had to carry at all times. I stared at it and asked where I was meant to put it. In your wallet. I pointed out my and every other woman did not have a wallet in their suit jacket/trousers/dress/skirt because THEY DONT FIT. tumbleweed. It’s systemic lack of thought.

tissues, wipes, plasters, water, painkillers etc

Well why carry all that? I carry tissues, because I'm snotty a lot, and I might have a single plaster in my wallet, but if I need more than that then I'll go and get some or a first aider.

I mean, if women have to carry the main caring burden, and they do, then things like having laptops instead of desktop computers make things that bit easier.

Only if they are actually light enough to be comfortably portable, and not cause injury. I can't fit my huge laptop into any decent sized handbag either.

Could you suggest that you have a tablet & keyboard instead of a laptop?

On the flip side, laptops are really good for women in that they allow for more flexibility. For example, it means I can work at home when I want or need to, I can take the car to the garage or a child to the dentist and do some work while I wait.

I mean, if women have to carry the main caring burden, and they do, then things like having laptops instead of desktop computers make things that bit easier.

thehorseandhisboy oh god don’t get me bloody started on women and bags - DP used to take the piss out of me for always “lugging a massive bag around” everywhere we went; until I snapped and asked him who the fuck else would provide tissues, wipes, plasters, water, painkillers etc when needed out and about? Fucker would waltz out of the house with his wallet, phone and keys thinking I was being frivolous when actually it was that I had taken on that responsibility for providing everything else!

My company did this some years ago & it caused real problems for colleagues (women!) in later stages of pregnancy, because laptops were heavy and bulky. They hadn’t thought of that ....classic invisible woman territory.

The evolution of laptops hasn't been a linear path of miniaturisation though.

I was very happy with my teeny tiny netbook until the rest of the world became HDMI/wifi crazy (what's happened to all the VGA cables, I wonder?) and had to buy a bigger one.

Women tend to carry more around with them than men. I don't think I've ever seen a man carrying a bag to work unless it's directly related to work ie a laptop or papers. Women tend to carry a bag regardless of whether they're going to work or not (our purses are heavier and bigger than wallets, most women carry sanitary protection etc) and are more likely to pick up children or go to the supermarket immediately from work (statistically speaking, women do the bulk of childcare/food shopping).

The whole concept of it being easier to be lugging a laptop around rather than having a separate device at home is based on male behaviour norms ie nothing much else to carry. It's generally much more suitable for women to have a device at work and a separate one at home as OP previously did.

Its shit he minimized your issue

but have you thought of a kanken, i have one, it's so light, and good for commuting. A bag for life will make you off balance and worse I would have thought

I had this with DH. I had complained that I was struggling to carry my laptop and he made fun of me as he had no problem carrying his.

DH is private sector with wildly expensive, very thin MacBook thing. I am public sector, ancient brick laptop.

He carried my bag for me once and was horrified by how heavy it was. Somehow me saying it was heavy wasn't enough, it was only when he carried it that he would believe me.

I now have a smaller, lighter laptop but don't carry the charger with me due to the weight, which means I sometimes have to borrow one at work. The men in my team seem to think I'm horribly lazy but again, they have no problem carrying a heavy bag as they are both a foot taller than I am and much younger.

I had similar. Fit able bodied men not getting carrying a laptop can be hard. I got 2, one to leave at home and one for work as a reasonable adjustment.

OP

I totally got the point of the thread.

It's not that the laptop and bag are heavy.
It's that a man who is bigger and stronger than you has no issues so he assumes you who is smaller and does not have the same natural strength shouldn't have issues either.

Its is lack of insight. It's his I'm alright Jack male attitude that's bloody annoying.

I find it interesting that, even on this board, some people have problems thinking analytically.

It’s just “ well doh your employer does not make laptops so its not their fault so quit moaning “. .

And unless a policy has the word “woman “ in it, it must be “ gender neutral “ ( by which of course they mean sex neutral) .