injustice in the workplace

Most of the injustices I have personally experienced have had to do with sexism. I have worked in many sexist environments. I have also experienced sexism growing up as an athlete, often times playing with or against male athletes.

While working at a Liquor Store for three years I experienced being treated differently because I am a female. Not only was I treated differently by the other staff, but the customers as well. The store only hires men to be managers and “stock boys”. Females are only hired there to be a cashier. As a cashier I was also responsible for stocking the shelves, and organizing the floor of the store. More times than not I was told not to lift heavy boxes, or someone offered to help me when I would be carrying a case to a customer. This made me so angry. The assumption that I wasn’t strong enough because I am female was so insulting.

One of my most prominent memories is when I was assisting a customer, and she actually asked for the male manager to bring the case to her car. She said it was too heavy for me to carry. I told her that I was more than capable, and it was actually part of my job. She insisted, and didn’t trust me carrying the case to her car. This happened all the time. Many times customers didn’t like seeing females lifting or carrying heavy boxes.

Now I am less polite when situations like this arise. I might even ask the customer why they feel like I am not able to carry of lift the box. Depending on their response I will either call them out on being sexist, or explain to them why I am more than capable of assisting them. Also, I would be a bit more outspoken with my boss and talk to him about why he only hires men for certain positions. Starting a dialogue is the first step to making someone aware of an injustice they might have inflicted upon you.