Women are treated as administrative staff by default in the corporate setting. This gender bias is sadly still present in many companies all over the globe. Women are sill asked to make coffee and take down notes, even if this is not part of their job description. This is something that should be remedied.
Even Virgin Group founder and billionaire Richard Branson suggest that everyone should take down meeting notes, not just women. He said women shouldn't be the only ones doing support work, like taking notes during meeting. This is unfair to women and disadvantageous to men.
By being the ones writing the notes, men will have a clearer picture of what is going on with their businesses.
In a Forbes article, Lisa Quast recounts her experience regarding this gender bias issue of women treated as default administrative staffs. She said, while she was preparing her presentation in a conference room, a male participant suddenly asked her to make them coffee.
When she introduced herself as the vice president, the man turned red with embarrassment. Instead of lashing out, Quast talked to the person and found out a great deal about why men still treat women like administrative staffs.
In an article from The New York Times, Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant suggests assigning communal work evenly to properly share support work. If support work is valued and noticed, men will not avoid it.
In another Forbes article, Rikki Rogers suggests that women should avoid volunteering for these administrative tasks so that it will not turn into a precedent.
Sometimes, it would also be best for women to say "no" or turn down tasks that somehow points to gender bias. It may be difficult at times, but women should have the resolve to eradicate this gender bias issue in the workplace.
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