Excuse me, girls...

There seems to be an inordinate amount of ageism and sexism going down at work these days, and to be frank, it's driving me bonkers.

Now I rarely put fingertip to keyboard for blog-writing these days - my blog has certainly not enjoyed the whirlwind of internet fame since I first started blogging that others seem to have experienced, but this current wave of annoyance I deem worthy of a blog.

It deals with the divisions in the staffroom, and the genders and ages thereof.

It's no secret that our boss has a very low opinion of the younger female variety, a pitiful shame seeing he chose to work at an all girls' school. This year there has been a number of occasions in which he has treated young female staff with absolute contempt, accusing them of being unprofessional and lazy.

"WHAT!?" I hear you screech. But it's true. It seems to have gone unnoticed, by pretty much THE ENTIRE STAFF that the 'girls' are the only ones who do after school activities with the students, particularly the PE teachers who spent most of the year staying behind until 5pm with the students supervising sport, after starting work at 7:30 in the morning.

It was the 'girls' who oversaw the school production. It was the 'girls' who organised the debating teams and travelled out to another school each week at night to watch them. It was the 'girls' who huddled in the freezing cold to watch the students play tennis. It's the 'girls' who arrive at work at 7:30 am to get a head start on marking essays, marking SACS, marking posters, marking tests, marking exams. Girls, girls, girls.

We are not 'girls'. Well we are, but that's beside the point. We are not 'girls' to the other staff, we are women, we are teachers, we are professionals, we are colleagues. But we are not 'girls' to be told off for chatting at our desks, or accused of being bitchy, or seen as unprofessional or lazy. We do everything everyone else does, and more. For a whole lot - and I mean A WHOLE LOT - less pay.

Thousands and thousands of dollars less.

So to everyone who talks to us like we're naughty 15 year olds, I would just like to say a resounding 'fuck you' - from the girls.