The note said no place for a woman.
Scribbled on a napkin, it was stuck to the back of a passenger's seat on a WestJet plane. Its intended target seasoned pilot Carey Steacy.
While this blatant spew of sexism hit mainstream media, smaller remarks go unnoticed. Stereotypical advertising and entertainment continually eat away at women's equality. On the outside they seem harmless but they perpetuate an image women have fought to change. In just over a minute, Google's 2013 ad Meet Gmail's New Inbox shows a woman using the email's new services to plan a date, chat with her knitting friends, get a coupon for a mani-pedi and then, in Bradshaw form, buy shoes.
The corrosion on equality starts at an early age, with pink clothing and an onslaught of princess accessories. It moves on with Barbie and Ken and her pink convertible. In adolescence there's the jump to MTV and its endless array of reality shows featuring girls fighting over boys who are less reliable than unneutered dogs.
It can be felt at schools girl's sports games relegated to the smaller gyms while the boys use the main facilities. Or in the workplace as pretty, smiling faces filling reception desks. And it's easy to spot in last year's Fortune 500 list of the world's top earners. Women make up 14.6 per cent of it only a 1.1 per cent jump since 2009.
In Canada, more women have post-secondary degrees than men. According to Statistics Canada's National Household Survey, 64.8 per cent of women hold some form of postsecondary education, compared to 63.4 per cent of men. But their wages still trail men's, with women earning approximately 85 per cent as much per hour as their male counterparts.
March 8 is International Women's Day. While we haven't hit the temple of equality, we're seeing progress. Last December, General Motors named Mary Barra as its senior vice president, making her the first woman to lead a U.S. car company. While women are poking holes in the glass ceiling, they're also looking to make a living in the sports arena. In 2011, athletes in tennis, motorsports, golf and figure skating made up Forbes Magazine's the Top 10 earning female list. This year I expect to see mixed martial arts in the pack.
The final frontier may end where it all started in the household. A European survey asked 1,800 men and women about everyday chores such as house cleaning, cooking, food shopping, laundry, looking after sick relatives and carrying out repairs. On average, women did 17 hours of housework a week and men did just under six hours. Yet there's a rapidly growing number of women in the workforce.
I look forward to the day when cleaning products target male buyers as well as female customers. It all starts with awareness and getting there is going to be a bumpy ride. So buckle up.
