AIBU to think lots of women are ridiculously sexist at work?

[missymayhemsmum]

For example, a display stand needed putting together.. the woman I spoke to immediately delegated the task to the young man beside her...
There's an IT problem and the solution requires diving under the desk with a screwdriver..How many of you would expect a man to do it?
Likewise anything anything remotely 'technical' or involving climbing a ladder, moving boxes etc?

Well no, I would do it myself in fact I carry a mini screwdriver kit with me [plus a pair of secateurs] most of the time.

But is it sexist because they were never taught because others were sexist towards them and they never learnt how to do these things? Or because they know how to do it but just can't be arsed as it is a man's job?

Display stand putting together I'd do myself. Something that involved diving under a desk I'd delegate to a person who was wearing trousers (not necessarily a man). Ditto ladder climbing.

I'd only expect a man to do it if he was employed to do maintenance in the workplace (which I am not), or if it involved something that I am not able to do because of my prolapse (and then I would turn to the nearest person with no health issues, regardless of sex).

Otoh I have on several occasions been requested by (different) male colleagues to remove the spider from the sink. Not sure if this counts as sexism, or if I just exude intrepidity in the face of Mother Nature.

It's probably laziness rather than sexism. They know whoever they're asking is unlikely to call them out on it.

Id do it myself but have seen alot of what your talking about. Plus the woman i work with is always saying how she cant do insert task or she doesnt understand things as shes "just a blonde woman

I've never met a women in IT who thought it was up to one of the men in their department to dive under the desk with a screwdriver, but (as a woman in IT) I've come across the expectation from men who aren't very technical that they can do my job better than me and that I shouldn't be crawling on the floor/lifting heavy equipment/being cleverer than them...

I think gender roles are alive and well in the work place, just as they are all over our society. And that is reflected in the conscious and unconscious expectations people have. It's way better than it used to be though.

I often ask men to carry things at work, but I don't want to put my back out again, still recovering! On Friday I asked the caretaker to climb a ladder for me to replace something that had fallen off the wall. Not sexist as it's his job to do that sort of thing.

I'll quite happily do what I'm capable of, but will ask someone with the right skill set if I can't manage myself.

I wouldn't do that. I haul around casks of ale and move furniture.

Then again I also flirt shamelessly with the customers to keep them coming back.

Well personally. No. I'm the go to tech person before they call Our actual IT support company and incur cost. I also just get on and fix things. The only time I've asked someone else to lift something at work was when I was heavily pregnant. It was a man then, but he was closest.

I do agree that it's everywhere though. It's so ingrained.

I work with some very clever women (engineers and scientists) and I despair at the tripe they come out with. They call other women lazy sexist names and display zero critical thinking skills about sexism in the world at large. I also have friends who are super bright but also prescribe to lazy gender stereotypes. The most astute person I know is my OH. He's really switched on about it all.

I don't lift and carry things anymore as my back is knackered and I don't think it would be appreciated if I proved myself and was then off work for ages.

Technically there us loads I can do and I often support colleagues both men and women, but I work with the geek team and will defer to them when they have the greater knowledge.

I no longer climb ladders etc due to back but often fixed things previously, I had a long discussion with a fellow staff member as to why we didn't need a man to fix the toilet seat the other week.

I have DDs and they know that if it's broke you fix it not call a man.

Same as all the men in the office take turns on the tea round, I do organise Friday lunches but then I am the team planner (job title) so it makes sense, they can do it.

YANBU. A woman I was casually chatting to the other day said she works in a male dominated area and the few women there aren't allowed to work shifts together because they'd just chat about hair and shoes and break the company

But were they 'delegating' those tasks not because of gender but because they were someone else's job? An IT support guy came and fixed the projector in my lecture theatre today, and two male caretakers came and replaced one of my bookcases with a filing cabinet, but that was because I was an academic doing my job while they did theirs. The IT teaching room support is just as likely to involve a woman arriving with a utility belt and a stepladder.

Chuck do you always carry secateurs on your person?! Or just in your car/keep them at your desk?

Big boss (man) sent in an email saying he couldn't come in as he had to stay at home with sick child. Colleague (female) made a comment along the lines of "why can't his wife do it?" Yes, I called her on it, but women don't make things easy for themselves!

Yes, unfortunately a lot of women tend to be sexist - often in a "putting themselves down" kind of way. The number of times I've heard people saying they were having a "blonde moment" is astronomical. Women are usually no better than men when it comes equality with gender roles.

On the plus side, that means we're equal there!

I don't think that's 'sexism', Pencil, it's internalised misogyny and stereotyping.

Women are usually no better than men when it comes equality with gender roles

Nonsense - this contradicts the rest of your post, which isn't demonstrating that women are sexist towards men, but that they have internalised misogyny and repeat it in relation to themselves. You don't for instance ever hear men generally putting themselves down in that way.

Please tell me what the secateurs are for or I won't sleep tonight

I think it's a fair comment , but, when their are boxes to be lifted I get one of the guys to do it ... but when they have a meeting and want a coffee they ask me to do it ... neither of us complain as I don't like lifting heavy boxes and they don't want to make tea

ha! You must be joking. You need 16 training sessions & health & safety certificates before you're allowed to move a box or climb a ladder at my workplace. Gender preferences don't come into getting it done.

We used to have a fantastic PA/dept organiser who managed a lot of that kind of stuff. Got her a cordless drill as a leaving present.

I would delegate spider catching and heavy lifting to anyone nearby who looked capable. I could manage a screwdriver etc myself.

I would do neither job.

Not because I'm a woman but because I'm shit and stuff like that and would rather ask someone to help me, man or woman.

Chuck do you always carry secateurs on your person?! Or just in your car/keep them at your desk?

I was an engineer who went on to be a head gardener. I have to stop myself when going on a place and make sure I have removed all implements from my bags or they will get confiscated from me.

Please tell me what the secateurs are for or I won't sleep tonight

Taking cuttings, trimming back random bits on hedges, cutting lavender to bung on the fire, splitting wood for kindling, cutting herbs for my cuppa or rosemary to go into roast potatoes, cutting kitchen scraps for the wormery...I use them every day even when not gardening [or not purposefully gardening].

going on a plane...

IME as soon as you so much as move in the direction of a box / lead / ladder 82million men come diving at you en masse and insist on doing it. And they don't like it if you won't let them. So there's that.

I prefer to try to do things myself TBH.

Yes women can be just as sexist as men I've recently had to tell some women off for talking about whether a new bloke was fit "you can't say that imagine if you heard the men doing it well it works both ways" and also wibbling on about blonde moments and what have you. Not all of them obviously, but some.