Women wish to live without the expectations society keeps placing on them. Sadly, despite attempts to free themselves from these pressures, certain expectations don’t quite seem to go away. Today, we’ll address 18 of these that are the most unfair to deal with.
Always Looking Perfect
We start with the expectation that women should always maintain a flawless appearance. The Guardian shares how more women today feel they have to be perfect despite the increasing concern about the stress, self-esteem issues, and mental health concerns such expectations have been known to cause.
Staying Fit and Healthy
In addition to looking good, women are also expected to stay fit and healthy, sometimes through intense, unrealistic practices. Unfortunately, these expectations focus on improving physical appearance instead of actually focusing on well-being. What’s more, even exercises that focus on women’s well-being are expected to be different from what men engage in.
Always Being Agreeable
Sadly, in the face of adversity, women are told to remain polite and agreeable despite this restricting them from expressing themselves authentically. It’s also sad that if women fail to meet these expectations of being likable, it’s less likely that others will cooperate with them or show support for the things they do.
Being Nurturing and Caring
There’s no denying that women are often expected to be nurturing and caring in both their personal and professional lives. While these qualities are valuable, expecting them solely from women reinforces gender stereotypes. Instead, we should encourage everyone to develop these valuable traits, as doing so can create a more balanced and supportive environment.
Managing Both Career and Household
Of course, many women are also expected to excel in their careers while also managing household duties, sometimes without much support. Such dual expectations have been known to lead to burnout and a sense of being overwhelmed. Because of this, it’s important that men share even more of these responsibilities at home.
Sacrificing Personal Ambitions for Family
Women also often feel pressured to sacrifice their personal ambitions for their family’s sake. This expectation from society and themselves hinders both their career and personal growth. In many cases, as will ordinarily happen, many women are then left lamenting their lack of personal fulfillment.
Keeping Emotions in Check
It’s also said that women are expected to keep their emotions in check, especially in professional settings. Emotional suppression like this then results in increased stress levels and eventual outbursts that many use to further justify this standard. Encouraging a culture that values emotional expression will eliminate oppressive biases and help protect everyone’s mental health.
Being the Primary Caregiver
Many people may not realize that the expectation that women be the primary caregivers is still prevalent. This role often comes with limited support and recognition, and it almost always leads to even less personal fulfillment in life. Sharing caregiving responsibilities and providing resources for all caregivers creates a more equitable situation for women.
Maintaining a Perfect Home
In addition to being caregivers, many women feel the pressure to maintain a perfect home while handling everything else. They’re required to balance cleanliness and organization with other responsibilities perfectly, and of course, many such expectations are overwhelming and unrealistic. We can help alleviate this pressure by encouraging more men to share these household duties.
Aging Gracefully Without Showing It
We also can’t deny that women are often expected to age gracefully without showing signs of aging. This unrealistic standard leads to unnecessary stress and ridiculously expensive beauty treatments—some of which make women appear even worse. Embracing aging as a natural process and celebrating all stages of life is crucial to combating this expectation.
Handling Work Discrimination Gracefully
What is even more worrying is that women are also often expected to handle workplace discrimination gracefully without making a fuss about it. Many people don’t have a problem perpetuating such discrimination in hiring and promotion processes, and these sadly provide women with a toxic work environment that hinders their progress.
Handling Criticism Better Than Men
You may have also heard women complaining about how they’re expected to handle criticism, no matter how far from constructive it is. Sometimes, they’re even told to react better than women, and this can be unfair and unrealistic, given that everyone responds to criticism differently.
Being the Emotional Backbone of the Family
Women are often expected to carry the emotional burden of everyone in the family, providing support and stability when needed. This is a heavy burden to bear, leading to emotional exhaustion. We should all encourage shared emotional support roles within families to distribute this responsibility more fairly.
Always Be Modest
It’s also sad that women are still expected to always be more modest in their behavior and appearance than men, and they are often shamed when they don’t. Pressure like this has been known to stifle many women’s self-expression and individuality, and we can all challenge this outdated norm by supporting self-confidence and freedom of expression.
Prioritize Others’ Needs
Many of us don’t realize the extent to which women are expected to prioritize others’ needs over their own. Self-sacrificial expectations like these have led women to burnout and unfulfilled personal goals. We can never balance this dynamic without encouraging self-care and recognizing individual needs’ importance.
Have Children
The expectation for women to have children remains strong in many cultures. This can pressure women into making life choices they may not want. Many who uphold this opinion choose to ignore women’s reproductive choices, forgetting that parenthood is a personal decision for each person to make.
Be the Perfect Host
Interestingly enough, women are also often expected to be the perfect hosts, managing social gatherings with more ease and grace than men. We can’t deny that such expectations can be stressful and demanding, especially when many people don’t see a need, albeit how realistic it is, to share hosting responsibilities at social events.
Be Less Ambitious Than Men
Finally, we should all think about all the times we’ve noticed an ambitious woman being judged for her drive. When not pressuring women to thrive within an unwelcoming work environment, society constantly tells women to be less ambitious than men, not minding how this can hinder their career progression and personal fulfillment.
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