The Sexism of a Cup of Tea in the Workplace
It’s an insidious reminder of the expectations for women in the workplace
We have a fun tradition at our workplace, in common with lots of others I know of: when someone gets up to make themselves a drink, they ask the office if they want one, too.
I live in England where the national pastime is drinking tea, so this little ritual happens quite a few times a day. It’s happened often enough that I started noticing an odd pattern.
The men don’t offer.
Seriously: I counted. In one day, the women in the office made 17 assorted hot beverages — instant coffee, decaf coffee, peppermint tea, regular tea, with sweeteners, with real sugar, soy milk, cow milk, just black.
The men? Three. One developer got up to make himself a cup of coffee and I forcefully handed him my mug and said I’d like a peppermint tea, please. One of the finance team handed him her mug as well, requesting a decaf instant coffee. But that was it. Just three.
In a week, this tallied up to 53 hot drinks consumed by men, versus 11 drinks made by men.
