Navigating a world often dominated by men can be challenging for women, regardless of their footwear. My recent experience at the American Airlines Admirals Club is a small but telling example of the daily frustrations that even the most resilient feminists face. This afternoon, while waiting for my flight back to DC, I decided to enjoy an alcoholic beverage. However, the female bartender informed me that she didn't have the ingredients for the amaretto sour I had ordered. No problem, I thought, I'll just order something else. "What can you make that's fruity?" I asked. "Nothing really," she replied, "just the hard stuff."
Did she have a Bacardi O or a Smirnoff Ice? Nope. She pointed me to the long line of beer bottles from which I could choose. I told her I'm not a beer drinker and must have looked quite confused since I've never had such a difficult time ordering a drink. She then suggested a martini. Great! I told her an apple martini would be fantastic. Oh, but she didn't have the ingredients to make an apple martini, just the regular one. That's when it hit me—this bar was stocked for men. The hard liquor, the beer selection, and the lack of fruity drinks made it abundantly clear that American Airlines felt only men should be gracing their privileged club. Of course, that makes sense, since only men could possibly be successful enough to afford the pricey club fees, right?
I took a quick glance around to see how many other women were in the club. There were quite a few. A mom with her kids, a few businesswomen pounding away at their computers, and headphones connecting them to their cell phones. After this lengthy ordeal with the bartender, I settled for a Coke, sauntered off to rejoin my carry-ons, and opened my computer to type this piece. Behind my leather armchair sat a businesswoman eating a quick lunch. To my right was another businesswoman with her high-tech gadgets strung across a table while she worked from the airport between flights. She was dressed a bit more "butch" than the rest of the women here, a step many women had to take just to make it in the business world. I refuse to conform, though. I'm wearing my favorite beaded sandals, my turquoise bracelet is dangling from my wrist just below my manicured hand, and my hair is long and flowing—not pulled back in a bun or business do. I look professional, but I don't look manly.
Whether in business, politics, or society at large, women are more than capable of integrating with feminine grace into areas previously restricted to men only. According to a 2020 report by McKinsey & Company, companies with more than 30% women executives were more likely to outperform companies where this percentage ranged from 10 to 30% (source). Women have been putting up with the same kind of challenges for a long time inside the house, so we have no problem dealing with them outside of the house as well. Women do not want, nor do we need, to be protected from the mean world. It infuriates me to hear patronizing excuses from men for hiring a woman to do a job they cannot do themselves instead of just resigning to the fact that they hired the best person for the job, and she happens to be a woman.
I will continue to frequent American Airlines Admirals Club and other such places just to let the boys' club know it’s time to take the "Girls Not Allowed" sign off the door. It’s also time to get some feminine drinks in the bar. This is not a man’s world anymore; it is a human world now. Women are not invading a men's space—we are simply occupying space that rightfully belonged to us all along. In a few minutes, I’ll board my plane and sit in first class, where I can at least get an amaretto and Sprite. It seems women are expected to travel first class, but not as businesswomen. During my flight, I will start an article I was hired to write for a businessman who has good ideas but doesn’t have a strong writing ability. How ironic that I am not expected to function in the business world, yet the business world needs me (and women like me) in order to function. I refuse to back down one inch on my assertion that equality for women should flow into every aspect of life. However, I also refuse to relinquish even one of my feminine traits in my quest for equality. Inequality is the first injustice imposed on women, and the expectation of masculine conformity is the second injustice. The small things like my experience today will change one by one as more and more women take their rightful place in the world. Until then, I will politely request that American Airlines start stocking their bars to accommodate the tastes of both men and women. After all, a woman needs a good stiff (fruity) drink sometimes too.
By addressing these disparities and making small changes, like offering a more inclusive drink menu, we can create a more equitable environment for everyone.
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