New Comic!
This is seriously irritating me right now. I'm not crazy about using infantalizing language to refer to women in the first place, but that's a colloquialism that isn't going anywhere anytime soon. But in the workplace I think it's absolutely unacceptable, and it keeps happening with colleagues and bosses who gender me as a woman. This is the kind of call-out conversation I have with them in my head all the time, but I'm pretty sure it would all end like the last panel anyways.
I'm aware that other people don't mind it and some women refer to themselves and the people around them as 'girls', that's fine for them. But it's not something that should happen by default, and certainly not in a tech environment where people still discount women as less competent, less knowledgable, and less skilled than their male colleagues.
Transcript below:
…and this is RH, she's the girl who will be working with you on the IA for this site.
Hey everyone, looking forward to working with you
Look. I really really need you to stop calling the women you work with 'girls'. I really need you to stop referring to me as a 'girl'. If you must refer to my gender as feminine, I really need you to refer to me and all the women you work with as 'women'.
Whatever colloquialisms you use for people outside the workplace is your own business, but here my job is to to present competence, maturity, professionalism, and expertise, and you undermine that every time you refer to me as a girl. This is especially important around other agencies and clients.
I'm asking that you keep this in mind as part of the mutual respect we have for each other as coworkers.
Jeez, girls can be so sensitive about the smallest things sometimes!
