Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism: chat

Original poster

Would you like to play "It's like Feminisim never happened" with me?

472 replies

Marchpane · 03/09/2010 14:40

I have a gem: I'm sorting out the home insurance renewal but since the last policy I have taken redundancy and I'm going back to do a postgraduate course. Which I told them.

They now have my occupation listed as "housewife" which is pretty yuk, but under employer's business it say "domestic service".

Presumably my husband is my employer and I spend my time in servitude to him? Hmm

Any one more?

OP posts:
Bue · 20/09/2010 12:27

Until recently I worked in a large organisation in central London, which you would think would be full of fairly progressive types. But several of my youngish colleagues had their email signatures set up like this:

Jane Doe (Miss)
Josephine Bloggs (Mrs)

and my favourite:

Mary Smith (nee Brown)

Because marital status is surely the first thing work associates should know about you... Confused

wastingaway · 20/09/2010 13:41

Bue, I would include 'nee maidenname' on things like CVs as quals are in different names, media refs etc. or just for older contacts.

Why one wouldn't just write Mrs. Josephine Bloggs is a bit odd though, rather than after the name. Hmm

Malificence · 20/09/2010 15:33

Trudging off the plane in New York, the old(er) couple behind us were amazed by the fact that our pilot was a woman - I heard her say "oh my god, the pilot's a woman!" in quite a horrified tone, her prat of a husband then said "are you sure we're at the right airport" - when I turned with a wtf look on my face he just mumbled "you know, women drivers".
I fought the urge to say well she must be a lesbian then. Hmm

cece · 29/10/2011 21:42

My parents and sister live about 200 miles away from me. I was visiting them last year. Dsis had spent the day with us all at my DM and DF house. At 6pm she got a phone call and then made a hasty exit...

Turns out her DH had phoned her to come home and make his dinner Shock

My mum did not think it was strange at all.

However just after I started living with DP (DH now) I visited them without him. My mum asked me what food/meals I had left for him...

I told her he knew where the supermarket was and the oven!

messyisthenewtidy · 29/10/2011 22:26

LOL... I was having a moment the other day listening to a CD of Stephanie Koontz's study of the The Feminine Mystique and the secret misery that housewives of the 50s felt .... I was doing the washing up! Had to laugh at the irony.....

joanofarchitrave · 29/10/2011 23:24

Have to out myself on this.

I make a phone call. Female voice answers. I say 'Hello, I'd like to speak to the rabbi please.'

Then want to impale myself on the handset, because I am calling a household which consists of male and female rabbi married to each other. Unfortunately my 70s CofE upbringing did not prepare me for this.

SmellslikeDEMONcatspee · 29/10/2011 23:38

Nice comment here [hgrin]

If you want to see BIL's head explode ask him if he's babysitting his children
(he works shifts does a lot of the school runs etc, as Sis works 9-5)

He gets asked regularly if he's babysitting, [ie: hes doing sis a fav by picking up the kids]

His now standard reply is (deep breath first) no they are my children, I am parenting them'

wicketkeeper · 29/10/2011 23:47

DH and I are both directors of our business. I also do some other part-time work (I have 4 jobs in total). Out with a colleague who DH had been working with for a couple of days - first time I have met her. I mention that I have four jobs, and she says - 5, you have to look after DH. Erm, what? DH and I look at each other and I cover the situation by saying "oh no, looking after DH is just a hobby'. This is from one highly qualified professional woman to another. I sometimes think there's no hope.

SmellslikeDEMONcatspee · 30/10/2011 00:16

'You have to look after DH' snort..........

OH is a contractor in the IT side of things. It is easier from a tax point of view for him to work for SmellslikeDEMONcatspee.ltd and the companies he works for to pay our company
Does that make sense?

Except it?s not ?our? company it?s MINE, OH was out of the country when it was all been set up so everything is in my name.
I am the big Wahoonie, the Boss, She who must be obeyed etc etc etc.

I have all the legal responsibility

The amount of post we get that is addressed to MR SmellslikeDEMONcatspee MD SmellslikeDEMONcatspee.ltd. Pshaw

I make a point of putting it to the bottom of the pile, ?cause if they don?t know that SmellslikeDEMONcatspee is female we?ve not dealt with them before or we have, they?re thick and I don?t want to deal with them.
I don?t dump them as I said before I have a unisex first name but to my mind if you don?t know for sure the gender of the person don?t put in a gender specific title.

Am just following family tradition here as Dad worked for Mum too [hgrin]

AnnieLobeseder · 30/10/2011 00:18

Joan - could well be you were calling my rabbi! Were you after the male or female one?

MountainDew · 30/10/2011 00:28

I know its going a month back now...

But re the surname thing, do what I did - make up a new name!

My surname was originally my dads, it changed to my mums when my parents divorced in my teens, and so neither name really felt like 'mine'. DH is game for a laugh :o so was well up for making up our own surname. Which we did. And changed by deedpoll. So now we are Ms and Mr Madeupname!

His family were a bit offended. They got over it.

MountainDew · 30/10/2011 00:31

Our children are Miss and Master Madeupname too. Its a whole new level of fun, choosing a name from scratch! We still giggle about it sometimes. :)

MrsJasonBourne · 30/10/2011 00:45

I know a lady who used to have to make a round trip of about six miles to go home in her break to make her husband his afternoon cup of coffee.

I absolutely shit you not, I swear.

I also love my mil who moans at my pil for not lifting a finger around the house. Well why would he? You've been the stereotypical doormat housewife for forty years. Why would he think otherwise?

threefeethighandrising · 30/10/2011 01:05

I'm at uni and have the opportunity of going on a placement year with an employer after the 2nd year. I mentioned to the placement adviser that I was considering having a baby next year and now she wants to ban me from the placement program!

(We're away from uni for a year and a half and I wanted to know what the minimum number of weeks at the placement was in case there was time to do both Grin )

Now I'm not even pregnant and the only way it would work is if we were very lucky with dates! But just inquiring about this led her to try to ban me from the whole program!

This is illegal, no? I mean, why not simply ban all women of childbearing age, just in case they get pregnant while at a placement? Hmm

threefeethighandrising · 30/10/2011 01:30

Here's another one for you

While I was looking for a summer job I came across this application form for an agency (temping jobs) which asks:

  • marital status
  • number of dependants
  • no of children
  • ages
  • do you have childminding facilities available if required?

I thought they weren't allowed to ask this, are they?

What business is it of theirs if I'm married or how old my children are when assessing my suitability for a temp job?!

SevenOfNine · 30/10/2011 07:19

I went to a college to do my A-Levels in 2007. Did English, Drama and gasp Physics. I was one of only two girls in the class, and on the first day the teacher asked me if I was lost...

DamselInDisarray · 30/10/2011 07:25

I was the only girl in my higher physics class in 1996/7 (and the only one to get an A, despite my teacher's best attempts not to teach me). The teacher used to speak to me in a patronising tone he didn't use for the boys and would insist that I acted as 'his lovely assistant' for experiments. This meant that I got to hold or fetch stuff while he demonstrated whatever we were supposed to be learning to the rest of the class. I hated him.

jumpyjack · 30/10/2011 07:31

My son's preschool celebrates both Mothers' and Fathers' Day.
Mothers' Day celebrations consist of an afternoon tea at 2pm - an hour and and a half before preschool finishes, and obviously right in the middle of the working day.
Fathers' Day celebrations consist of a breakfast at 7.30am, an hour before preschool opens so they can enjoy the celebrations without interrupting their important, working day.

seeker · 30/10/2011 07:42

Spend a day on mumsnet and you'll be convinced Feminism never happened!

Himalaya · 30/10/2011 11:07

DH's favourites are his conversations with the other stay at home parents (mothers) where they ask him "what do you do all day?" ....answer: much the same as you. They see him pick up and drop off the kids, and go to the park etc... but can't imagine that he can really be the one doing the lion's share of shopping, cooking, laundry etc...

He bumped into someone in the supermarket the other day who said "oh I suppose you have to do the shopping because Himalaya doesn't drive." Hmm er no he does the shopping because he's perfectly capable of meal planning and I am working.

ConstantCraving · 30/10/2011 13:22

Seeker - totally agree, just stumbled on the 'Princessing' thread in Style&Beauty....

idrilis · 30/10/2011 13:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

lisianthus · 30/10/2011 17:10

During one interview for articled clerkship after graduation, I was asked by the interviewer (in a top five firm!) "so will you be aiming for partnership, or do you believe in the "glass ceiling"?"

Hmm Given that at the time in the city in which I lived only ONE of the top five firms had ANY female partners, it is amazing he'd been able to convince himself that the glass ceiling was somehow imaginary.

And a few years back, I was in a meeting in which two female partners from different firms discussed the matter and found that they firmly agreed that any woman who took the full 12 months statutory maternity leave was taking the piss and "clearly didn't take her career seriously" and should be treated as such- i.e. that such women would never be considered for partnership or the sort of deals that would get them to partnership. Both women had husbands who were SAHDs. Lucky them.

PorkChopSter · 30/10/2011 17:46

I was in the pub last week and there was a male customer, late 50s? explaining very carefully to the barmaid that she'd put a lemonade in the wrong glass - a half pint glass. She was finding it difficult to see the issue ... so he leaned over and said "it's for a lady, that glass just won't do"

Oh how she rolled her eyes and the "lady" ended up with half a drink in what looked like a kid's glass.

MsScarlettInTheLibrary · 30/10/2011 18:08

When I worked in pubs we had to ask if they would like the half in a ladies' glass. They have a short stem and tulip shape. When we did pint deals there was a lot of paying for a pint every second trip to the bar and being served in two halves. This is still going on in my local.