Alive and Kicking

Old gender stereotypes, that is.

Last week, there was a guy doing some construction at my office, building a new conference room because we are getting too big for our britches, as it were. Construction guy is a former client, a generally decent blue collar dude, although spends a lot of time hanging around chatting rather than finishing the conference room. Anyway, I was finishing a meeting with a client and the client left happily. Then the following ensues:

Construction Guy: That guy seems so happy with his paralegal.

Me: I am an attorney.

Construction Guy: REALLY?! You're a lawyer?

Me: (silent fuming) Yes.


Ok, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a paralegal, if you ARE a paralegal. I wasn't mad that he thought I was a paralegal, but because he assumed I must be a paralegal and was shocked that I could be a lawyer. I was wearing a suit so it wasn't a casual v. formal distinction. And it wasn't an age thing. 3/5 of the lawyers in this office are under 35. It was a girl thing. Construction guy would never have presumed that I was a paralegal if I was a guy.

I know what he thinks doesn't matter. But sometimes I forget that people like this actually exist. I am surrounded mainly by folks who have largely abandoned such antiquated gender roles and stereotypes. My friends are successful women, many of whom have or are getting professional and post-graduate degrees. My family has always encouraged me to be and do whatever I wanted; no one ever suggested thinking smaller. As I am strategizing a client meeting or a court appearance, I am not thinking about how the fact that I am a woman is going to affect the outcome.

I know that I have talked to death the Democratic primary season, but I have to say something about it again. Somehow, this experience made me even angrier that Hillary is most likely not going to be the nominee. I know that my friends who are supporting Obama are not doing so because they have rejected having a woman president. Unfortunately, I am not so confident in the rest of America. My boss pointed out that a lot of America who would reject a woman president would also reject a black president. I digress.

Conclusion is this: No matter how many years we go to school and how hard we work to build our careers, it seems there is always going to be some asshole who can't see beyond the tits and thinks we are somebody's assistant.