Women in Business and Politics: It's Society's Fault

I think that in our society there is a double standard between women's and men's sexual behaviors and the way they are or aren't accepted. However, I don't believe that this double standard really runs over into business or politics. Men and women alike are expected to act professionally in these fields. There is as much controversy over political or business men's sexual exploits as there is over those of a woman.

I think this equality of 'wrongness' occurs because when we elect someone to a government position where they will be in charge of making important decisions for us, we expect them to be better than us. Regardless of gender, we want our elected officials to be perfect. This is something that is never going to happen because humans are humans; no one is perfect. People running for office can hide their imperfections, to a point, but the age of Facebook and the internet will soon prove to make this nearly impossible. The internet doesn't forget, so when the inevitable happens and someone screws up, it will be available for the world to see now, or 15 years down the road when they decide to get involved in politics. So society will be forced to accept that no one in office is perfect, and they will make mistakes, just as everyone else does.

You must also consider society as a whole, though. Women and men in every area of society are looked at differently when it comes to their sexual actions. People tend to label women more harshly when their personal life becomes public than men. This has nothing to do with politics or business specifically; this must be blamed on society's preexisting views. Another issue is that men and women are not viewed equally in government. There aren't many women holding office, but this is not because they are alienated due to their sexual behaviors. It is because gender equality as a whole has not yet reached into elected officials. So, again, society must first change their ideas of sexual equality and gender equality to make any progress, especially in politics and business.