Though we are now in the 21st century and we would like to think that our society has progressed in terms of gender equality, there are women are still treated differently from men.  Indeed, men and women are the ones who continue to perpetuate these inequalities.   Women still like to take on the submissive role in many situations.  For example, how many of you women out there tend to say "Can I get a (insert food/drink order here) please?" when ordering in a restaurant?  It bugs me because you are paying for the food and service-- of course, you can get whatever it is you're ordering!  They are serving you, earning your money-- they should be the ones taking on the submissive role!

That is not to say that we shouldn't be courteous or polite just because we're being served.  Instead of saying, "Can I please get a___?", why not just simply say "I would like a ____ please.  Thank you."?  It's straightforward, assertive but still polite.  Now, I sometimes find myself guilty of slipping into that bad habit of submissiveness, too.    I think that it's because as females, we have been socialized into assuming submissive, nurturing roles, while males are to take on the more aggressive and assertive role.  Women, when interacting in conversations with other people, both male and female, tend to go out of their way to save the other party's face.  As a result, most women speak in roundabout ways, beating around the bush, which leads to submissiveness.  Why do women do that? I think it's because deep down, despite all the hardwon battles for liberation and equality, women think that assertiveness means aggressiveness.  In other words, women fear of coming across as being aggressive, and thus, not appearing to be "feminine" enough.  I mean, why else is there such a term as "butch"?  And why is it such an undesirable image?

Gender equality doesn't just mean getting paid equally for the same jobs/positions (and that isn't necessarily happening either) or about making politically correct changes in titles (e.g chairman is now chair, policeman is now police officer, etc.) or other such things.  For true gender equality, women these days need to  truly believe and act like they can be just as assertive, intelligent, and respected as men.  Yelling  "Girl power!" or dressing androgenously doesn't neccessarily mean that.  Women will always be different from men but women should be respected precisely because there are differences.