It was once believed that women were frail, delicate creatures that should be expected to sit at home with the children taking care of the household duties. Men were expected to take on any task thought to be far too difficult for a woman to handle. However, times have changed and the roles of men and women have begun to merge. Many women fought for equal rights, equal pay and equal treatment to that of men. Now there are women out working and men are staying home as house husbands. This is not entirely the norm but it is not unusual either. Even though there have been so many changes over time there is still the belief that only men are capable of doing physical tasks.

There are many workplaces where men are expected to do any lifting of heavy objects and the women are instructed to call for a man when they need something moved or lifted. Currently, I work in retail. There have been many situations where I have been told to call for a male employee to come and perform a task that I knew I was perfectly capable of doing myself. I had to deal with several of these situations where not only the customer had to wait but I had to wait to make sure they were taken care of properly. Feeling that it was a waist of time, I stopped asking the men for help for the things I knew I could take care of on my own.

One evening I was helping a customer and soon after was approached by management who asked why I did not call for a male employee. I explained to them that I knew my limitations and would call for help if needed. It wasn’t long before they began to ask me to help with many similar tasks. Many of the other female employees have told me that they would not do something like that because it’s “Men’s work.”

“Not to me, it’s just work” was my usual answer.

It is amazing that there is still a line drawn between what is appropriate for each gender especially considering that I know of many men that would easily fall under the frail and delicate category and many women that would have no problems keeping pace with any man when it comes to their physical abilities. We should live beyond the expectations of the women who fought for our rights, we are feminine but we are also strong and need to break through the stereotypical image of frailty.