Breathe
By Aideé Zamorano
A professor qualified my master's delivery (the second one I am taking) with the phrase:
- "You were left with just doing the bare minimum. You have to put heart into your tasks."
Fuck! That expression has already become my favorite and I have appropriated it with my own Mexican tone.
This goes beyond a grade. My life story, my professional experience and the contributions I have made to labor policy in my country do not need validation from a heteronormative white male who got upset because I questioned him in a class.
I am in the role in my life that I enjoy the most: being a student. And that's why I don't tolerate people who don't take the role of a teacher seriously. I escalated the lack of academic judgment to the school liaison and took the opportunity to ask my female and male classmates if anyone else (especially men) had received similar feedback. Of course they hadn't. No one else was given a gender-linked value judgment.
Gé ne ro, gé ne ro.
What a level of distaste that word arouses in any context I use it!
- "I don't think it's all gender, Aideé," exclaimed one of my colleagues in the chat.
A heated conversation ensued in which they expressed repressed comments and thoughts about me. What a level of vulnerability that awakens a 41 year old, intelligent and self-confident woman. Suddenly, the "onvres" felt the need to do violence to me via WhatsApp; one appealed to my status as a mom and another wrote: "No crying."
I am not surprised. The Global Risks 2025 Report, published this week by the World Economic Forum, lists social polarization in fourth place among the short-term risks (2 years). By the way, I was once a spokesperson for that report in Mexico, until a European man was annoyed by my intelligence.
Greg and Juan, a Mexican and a Frenchman, asked me for silence in different spaces. They are separated by at least three decades of life, but their action stems from the same sexist intention: to silence a woman's voice that makes her uncomfortable. Juan even suggested that I not express myself in the class chat room in order to expose my feminism. Do you see the impact that cutting the public budget for the nascent Women's Secretariat could have?
The Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) indicates that, globally, only 25% of people and sources in print, radio and television news are women. Women's voices are underrepresented in traditional news media. If Juan grew up in Mexico as I did, of course he finds it unlikely that a woman will speak in public or private spaces, because the media gives authority. The main stars of the largest networks in Mexico (TV Azteca and Televisa) were occupied mainly by men. When Lolita Ayala became a woman referent, she was softened every night with a rose at the end of the program. Meanwhile, the Teacher spun the chair as an invitation to infinite reflection. Everything communicates.
- "Yes, it's all gender, Juan."
Phrases such as "you have to put your heart into your tasks" appeal more to emotional aspects than to technical criteria. These types of remarks are often directed disproportionately towards women, perpetuating expectations that our contributions should be emotionally charged or require extra effort that is not equally demanded.
The statement "you were left with only the bare minimum" reflects a value judgment that should not be part of an academic evaluation. Questioning my commitment or effort is unnecessary and, frankly, condescending.
Once, in an office performance review, I was called "arrogant". I got them to change that word, and it's the same this time. In addition to our technical skills, women are evaluated with phrases alluding to our hormonal cycle. This is particularly serious coming from a professor, and worse, from a boss.
Over the past five years, I have evaluated more than 450 offices through the Godin Mom Ranking and have found that only one in ten formal job openings is held by a mom.
And yes, all of that is a result of gender, Juan.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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