This ultimately stems from misogyny, or the idea that the notion that a woman can be powerful, and commanding, usually implies that they have dominated over their male counterparts. This is not the case. Maybe, just maybe, a woman is your manager because she worked hard, and was the most deserving person for the job, Gary!
I feel like Boomers remain hard to convince on this idea as gendered language is one of the only parts of their culture that they have left. All this new-fangled complexity around gender, and employment must be really hard to comprehend. Surely, in 2020, we can see how calling a woman “bossy”, for example, is detrimental to discourse, and ultimately diminishes the achievements of that woman into only being accomplished due to her intimidation and aggression.
We should move past antiquated notions of gender and distance ourselves from the sexism and misogyny of the past.
The end of gendered language may be where this revolution can start, because who cares if small-minded people view their female bosses as “bossy” or young adult women as “sweet” and “cute”, because this focus on femininity is prehistoric.
What is femininity? Why are people so obsessed with making sure that these double standards continue into contemporary discourse? The 20th century view of women is limiting, not all women like to be “sweet” or innocent. So why should all women be forced into small boxes?
People need to just understand that times change, and our language needs to catch up.
