There are plenty of plus sides to being a woman, like the fact that many of our bodies have the magical capability to grow new humans and then produce the milk to feed them. Or the way we unite as a gender to fight for what we believe in. But, as we well know, there are also plenty of downsides, too.
The gender pay gap is still 18.1%, which is a hell of a lot of money to lose out on simply because you identify as female. And, despite efforts to make progress, women are often still penalised in their career progression if they take time out to have children.
But it's not always the big things that can be frustrating; everyday interactions can be peppered with subtle (or not so subtle) misogyny, and it can get tiresome. So it's nice to have a vent every now and then, which is exactly what polling firm Ginger Research facilitated when they carried out a nationwide study of 2,000 millennial females to find out the daily annoyances that wind modern women up the most.
Prepare for your blood to boil...
- Being sent explicit pictures, when you didn’t ask for them
- Being charged VAT for sanitary products
- The notion that women are bad drivers
- Being asked if it’s your time of the month
- Not being paid as much as male colleagues
- Being approached by someone in a bar just because you are alone
- Being chatted up on LinkedIn direct message
- Being told to cheer up as "it might never happen"
- Being told to calm down
- When someone talks to your breasts rather than your face
- Airbrushed images of women
- Being wolf-whistled at
- Being told your biological clock is ticking
- Being asked if you plan to get pregnant
- Tradesmen insisting on talking to your partner rather than you
- Being asked why you do not have children yet
- Having your right to choose debated by male politicians
- Being mansplained to
- Being called "love"
- Being ghosted by someone you have been dating
- People assuming you’re not the main breadwinner
- Being bought household appliances for your birthday
- Being asked if your breasts are real
- The view that you should not have long hair over 50
- Being told you have childbearing hips
- Being described as a housewife
- Being told you look good for your age
- Being left with the wives of your partner’s friends at dinner
- Waiters assuming the healthy meal or salad is for you
- Anti-aging adverts
- When the barperson assumes you want a half pint, not a pint
- The waiter assuming your male companion is picking up the bill
- Being chatted up in the gym mid-workout
- The assumption that you’ll change your name after getting married
- The assumption that you look after the family calendar
Credit: Cosmopolitan