what “female duties” have you been asked in the workplace even through it wasn’t your job?

46 comments

1. early on in my career (tech in the early 90s), I was one of the only women in my department but they all assumed I was the EA or receptionist etc. Didn’t matter if I wasn’t, they still tried to put tasks on me like getting coffee for the meeting (that I was invited to) or fax something for them. I never did it though; I’d shoot back some snarky words and they stopped doing that once they realized I would not put up with it.

2. I was asked at an all-men workplace if I could possibly take some time off during my lunch break to clean the kitchen, because “we really don’t know how to do it well”. I remember I was so shocked I only responded with a gaping mouth and a “…no??”, but I have a feeling I radiated rage because they just gave me a timid nod, left and did not ever ask again.

3. unload the dishwasher. the company owner told me to, specifically cause i’m a woman.

   a guy coworker was with me and instantly started doing it. i love him.

4. We’ve had a couple of male coworkers that will tend to leave dishes in the sink for us girls to wash them.

5. I was asked to clean out the fridge… and organize the shared kitchen space 🙄 I work with mostly males

6. I used to work in team with only males and I was the only one ever in charge of my colleagues birthdays (ordering a cake, inviting everyone to the cafeteria, etc.).

   For one of my birthdays I heard my ex-boss had to ask a “favor” from a female from ANOTHER department (at least he remembered, I guess)

7. I had a manager who couldn’t adhere to a deadline to save his life. He said that it was my job to remind him of his deadlines (because I’m female and therefore naturally organised), and would actually try to penalise me in my performance review for any deadlines he missed.

8. Basically like others said, being asked to do what they consider “women’s work”

   Fortunately it’s only a handful that think they can offload such tasks on me.

9. Organize the holiday parties

10. I wasn’t exactly asked but someone mentioned that “we could have some coffee” and stared at me (like an unspoken request) and I stared right back 🙂

11. Cleaning, taking notes, putting together potlucks/events, taking over for the receptionist when they’re at lunch

    ETA: I pulled the helpless incompetence when people tell me to make coffee. I don’t drink coffee and make it as sludgy as I possibly can. They never ask again.

12. I would have meetings with all male coworkers and clients. I was the neither the most junior or the newest hire. I was consistently asked to prepare the meeting room with snacks and coffee, never anyone else, including other male interns.

13. I do the accounting & payroll and they asked me to take over the task of cleaning of the offices; vacuuming, bathrooms, and trash cans.. I did agree to it for an extra $500 a month lmao and honestly it takes like 30-45 min a week to do and the bathrooms are much less scary than they used to be so its a win-win for me 🙂

14. I was asked to clean the men’s toilets, as they were a mess. I said loudly that the men could clean their own toilets, there’s nothing about that job that requires a vagina. Total silence for a minute as everyone stared in disbelief at me, and the next week the boss hired a cleaner

15. Friend of mine is automatically assigned to drinks maker when they have meetings, she’s head of marketing…

16. multiple times coworkers had to bring their children into work for different reasons and multiple times they assumed it was ok to leave them in my care while they went to meetings. never once was i asked.

17. Was asked to attend job interviews with my boss, to not speak, sit and do nothing for the sole purpose of looking pretty and lure newcomers.

18. I and the other woman in my old team were asked to cook breakfast for the team with the ingredients the boss bought

19. Had a coworker blatantly demand me to go down on him. In those words.
    Endless demands for me to make coffee for them too.

20. My boss started buying all sorts of kitchen tools (e.g., pots and pans, rice cooker, portable burner, etc.). I thought it was for the annual Christmas raffle he hosts for his employees.
    Until one day at lunch, he turns to me and says, “once the burner arrives, be sure to make a list of groceries you will need to start making lunch for the office. I assume you know how to cook since you are a woman.”
    We work in a small office and I’m in HR…

21. Organize office parties or take pictures of office events. Barf!!

22. Cleaning the coffee machine and having to cut all the office birthday cakes.

23. Plan a party.

24. I was asked to make coffee. I just gave him a blank stare. Unbelievable.

25. I’m a female with 20 years in the IT industry too. Not been too bad. Only thing I’ve been expected to do is answer the phone. I refused point blank until eventually someone offered me a pound to do it, so I did.
    On my industrial placement from uni, I was asked to make tea. I refused point blank and was never asked again. We had a male receptionist at the time, who made the teas thereafter.
    I give as good as I get – you have to in an industry that is still predominantly men.

26. They always look at me to cut up and serve the birthday cakes. Makes my blood boil.

27. On my second week on a new job my boss asked me to prep his food for the Christmas potluck. When I gave him a questioning look he added, because women are just so much better at that stuff.

28. I’ve never been directly asked about female duties however, being a young female working in various admin roles I frequently noticed that much older men in higher roles try to treat you like their PA. Even when they aren’t your boss or have any leadership over you. Ignoring them is pretty fun though, I love watching them get frustrated because I had the audacity to not complete a task that has nothing to do with my role or had gone through my manager lol

29. Notes and organizing things is forever put on me.
    Also anything else no one else wants to deal with- or knows how to.

30. I get asked all the time to run and do errands like grab snacks, etc.

31. Someone asked me to make coffee for him
    I said no

32. My male coworkers expected me to make the coffee in the break room because women were better at things like that. They also left their coffee mugs in the sink for me to wash.

33. Cleaning up after male associate Supervisor’s, despite the fact I worked in payroll.
    I processed the payroll for 100 warehouse associates. My boss, told me part of my duties, would be “cleaning up after the Supervisor’s eat lunch at their desk” .
    Mind you, these men ate taco bell, McDonald’s, etc., everyday. Leaving behind scraps of lettuce, cheese, whatever. And when I objected to the obvious miscalculation of my job description, my boss stated, “because your the women of the office”. GO FUCK YOURSELF

34. To clean out the coffee pot. I said no.

35. I’m the Director of a 38-person department. I’m constantly asked to make coffee, mainly because I make the best.

36. A male manager once told me to clean the men’s room in our store. I told him he has arms, legs and knows where the cleaning stuff is. Have fun ✌️

37. Once I was eating sliced radishes at my desk. My male coworker saw that, said he loved radishes, and asked if I could get some for him and throw on some salt. When I suggested he slice his own, he literally said it was too much work. Same coworker suggested to a room full of male students that I should provide them all with snacks. When I laughed thinking it was a joke, he looked at me dead serious and told me it was MY JOB because I’m a woman and then accused me of wanting them to go hungry. F that noise.

38. My coworker cleans the office on the weekends, and when she can’t, always asks me and never the male colleagues. Disappointing.

39. At any employee event, women leaders were always asked to help serve food. In meetings, always asked to take notes.

40. I was a senior analyst in IT and was asked to make coffee, make catering arrangements, set up reservations. Never by IT, always by other departments.

    I told them I don’t drink coffee and just sat there. I did the rest though.

41. I used to have a male boss who in meetings would always look at me and say, “you’re taking notes right?” I wasn’t in an admin role and he also never said the same to my male coworkers. I would then stop bringing any pens or paper with me other than meeting materials so I could say “no, but maybe [Joe] can”, and watch him wrestle with that for a minute in awkward silence.

42. I was chosen to cut up fruit for a platter for an all day conference for management, who were all men.

    Apparently I looked like a girl who knew how to cut fruit.
    I was also told that only ‘I could make it look pretty’, with a condescending pat on the back.

    I was young, and I wasn’t comfortable saying no, but at the time I was like fuck this. They were just too cheap to pay for already cut up fruit.

    I was referred to as the ‘assistant’, when in fact my title was an Administration Officer.

43. The manager who hired me for the blue vest mafia put me in back room stock. So that means I should have been stocking shelves and making sure stuff was pulled forward. This position requires a fair bit of heavy lifting. When I showed up for my first shift my department manager put me in the clothing section just refolding the clothes people were constantly messing up. My shift lead found me on my second day and she informed me that he did that to all the woman who apply to his department. I did not stay there long

44. I was asked to organize a bunch of baby showers for people. I don’t have any kids. I don’t think I’m particularly good at putting together events like that. I was the only girl under the manager that asked me to until about a year ago. I’ve moved from that team since, and the new girl gets asked to do them now. 😭

45. I work in an office off of a warehouse. All the warehouse workers are guys. They have their own break room and they let a coffee maker go to shit because they never cleaned it.

    Recently one guy ask me to make him a cup of coffee. He was a new guy so the coffee maker issue wasn’t his fault. He was also sick. And asked very nicely. And his mom and my mom also happen to be very good friends. So I decided to be nice and make him a cup.

    For the following week EVERY GUY in the warehouse asked me to make them coffee every morning.

    Give an inch, they take a mile.

46. Plan parties, birthday lunches or team bonding things.. because only the women on the team apparently are great at “cultivating culture”