二十一世纪的今天还有性别歧视？

二十一世纪的今天还有性别歧视？

“欢迎来到我们公司。这文件有所有你需要的信息。如果你有问题，你就可以看这里。”

美灵充满紧张，因为这工作真难得，真会增进她的事业，所以看着接受的信件的时候她吃了一惊。她已经接受培训，很努力准备。

公司的总部很大，她看了所有的雇员急忙的走，跟她擦肩而过。她进入升降机，按三十九楼的按钮。她走出升降机，找到她的桌子以后，听见一个很有精神的语音。“你好！我是玉明，我是你的助手。”

几周后，玉明和美灵感情变得非常好，她们无话不说，而美灵跟其他的同事的关系也变得越来越好。

美灵跟公司的工作方式变得更加熟悉。除了跟同事交流的成功以外，她对顾客变得最喜欢的员工，让他们的部得到公司里最高的收益之一。

这一天，一个叫明涛的男人问她：“我的咖啡在哪里啊？我一个小时前不是请你帮我弄咖啡吗？” 美灵感觉困惑，为什么这个男人假定她是一个助手？“什么？我不是你的助手，我是这公司的新投资顾问。”

他眼睛上上下下地打量着美灵，“真的啊？你是我的同事？”

“要是你没有其他的问题，我要走了。我可没有时间继续这可笑的对话。” 美灵回去她的桌子。

几月后，玉明说：“美灵啊！你上次见面一个很有钱的顾客，记得吗？他现在再一次要我们公司的服务做一个很重要的交易，还特别请求你自己来帮助他！你跟顾客的关系那么好，老板一定会给你升职。”

美灵：“真的啊? 如果这个交易没问题，老板就会觉得我们真厉害！”

美灵这阵子非常累，这个星期她每天晚上九点都还在办公室，加上从文件到会议她都很努力。她真心希望老板能看到她对该公司的贡献。这样可能促使他给美灵提升她在公司的职位。

这一天，美灵早上九点达到了办公室，好准备跟老板说一说那个升职。她突然听来自老板办公室的笑声，看到老板跟她的同事明涛很快乐握手。美灵想不通他们为什么那么高兴。如果她没记错，他们的公司部其实正在一个困难的时期，昨天找到一个很重要的交易有问题。

明涛离开以后，美灵 进入老板的办公室。他说“啊，美灵你来了。对不起，我们现在不再需要讨论那个升职。我已经给明涛了。”

美灵心中充满愤怒。她和明涛在该公司的时间差不多一样，但是美灵做尽了双倍的工作，加上她很快精通公司的操作。她每天很晚离开办公室，她付出了那么多努力，则明涛总是强迫下属(xia4shu3)同事做他的工作，至于上班时间呢？他总是晚进公司，提早下班。

她这口气吞不下去。她以前很崇拜她的老板，他做的事情一定优秀。

“真的？为什么你这样做？” 问的时候，她很想掉眼泪，但是她不能让老板看她的伤心。

“给他升职是更实际的决定。他的薪水已经比你的薪水更高，我如何可以给你这个升职。也是为你好啊，现在你不能处理该职位的责任。我知道你很努力工作。但是，你是女人。某天你会离开公司，结婚，生孩子呢。”

美灵变得越来越生气，但是她保持安静。这就是所谓的性别歧视。她没想到，在二十一世纪的今天，她竟然还会在这个事儿上吃大亏。“他的薪水比我高？这怎么可能是真的？我们有一样的职位，这真不公平。即使我是女人，但是你一定不能告诉我的生活应该是怎么样。”

“我不需要向你解释。在我们这个产业里，这样是很普遍的方式。”

美灵说不出话来。她很向往这新的职位，可是无论她努力做多少工作，她仍然不能得到升职。没有精神的美灵，离开老板的办公室，头也不回地。

在家，跟新的决心美灵做了一些研究。虽然她以前吃惊，但是他找到了这样的情况无处不在。她同情世界上的所有要处理这样情况的女性。除非我们社会的方式有变化，否则没下一代会跟这个态度继续。

第二天早上，美灵辞职。报告他的老板的方式以后，美灵跟玉明讨论一下，她们决定开她们自己的公司，一个每个人受到平等待遇的地方。

“Welcome to our company. This document contains all the information you need. If you have any questions, you can refer to it.”

Meiling was very nervous. Because this job is extremely hard to get and would definitely advance her career, when she read the acceptance letter she was surprised. She already received training for the position and prepared very well.

The office headquarters were very big. She watched as all of the employees walked hurriedly, passing by her. She entered the elevator, pressing the button for the 39th floor. Exiting the elevator, after she found her desk, she heard a spirited voice.

“Hi! I’m Yuming, your assistant.”

After a few weeks, Yuming and Meiling became very close, there was nothing they couldn’t talk about. Meiling’s relationship with their other coworkers also became better.

Meiling became more familiar with the company’s way of working. Apart from successfully communicating with her colleagues, she also became many client’s favourite employee, helping her department bring in one of the highest profits in the company.

One day, a man named Mingtao asked her “Where is my coffee? Didn’t I ask you to get it an hour ago?” Meiling was confused, why did this man mistake her for his assistant? “Excuse me? I’m not your assistant, I’m this company’s new investment advisor.”

He looked her up and down. “Really? You’re my colleague?”

“If you don’t have any other questions, I have to go. I don’t have time to continue with this ridiculous conversation.” She returned to her desk.

A few months later, Yuming said: “Meiling! Do you remember last time when you met a very rich client? He wants our company’s services once again for an important trade. He even specifically asked that you help him. Your relationship with clients is so good, the boss will definitely give you that promotion!”

Meiling: “Really? If this deal goes well, the boss will know how hard-working we are!”

At this time, Meiling was really tired. Every day this week, she was still working at the office at 9pm. From documents to meetings, she put in lots of effort. She genuinely wanted her boss to recognise her contributions to the company. This would prompt him to give Meiling a better position in the company.

One day, Meiling arrived at the office at 9am, well prepared to speak to her boss about the promotion. She suddenly heard the sound of laughter coming from her boss’ office. Looking inside, she saw her boss happily shaking hands with her colleague, Mingtao. Meiling couldn’t understand why they were so happy. If she wasn’t mistaken, their department was going through a bit of a tough period. Yesterday, they found out there was a problem with a very important trade.

After Mingtao left, Meiling entered her boss’ office. He said “Oh, Meiling, you’re here. I’m sorry but we don’t need to talk about the promotion anymore. I already gave it to Mingtao.”

Meiling’s heart was full of anger. Her and Mingtao had been at the company for approximately the same amount of time, but Meiling has done twice the amount of work. She developed a thorough knowledge of the company’s operations. She leaves the office late every day and works so hard, whereas Mingtao always forces lower-ranking employees to do his work. As for office hours? He always arrives late and leaves early.

She was speechless. She used to admire her boss. All of his achievements are so impressive.

“Really? Why would you do that?” When she asked, she really wanted to cry, but she couldn’t let her boss see how sad she was.

“Giving him the promotion is the more practical decision. His salary is already higher than yours, how can I give you the promotion? It’s for your own good. You can’t handle this position’s responsibility right now. I know you work hard, but you’re a woman. Someday you will leave the company, get married and have kids.”

Meiling became more and more angry, but she remained quiet. This is clearly gender discrimination. She never imagined that in the twenty first century, she still would have to deal with this. “His salary is higher than mine? How can that be? We have the same position, this isn’t fair. Just because I am a woman, that doesn’t mean you can tell me how my life should be.”

“I don’t need to explain this to you. In our industry, this kind of thing is very common.”

Meiling couldn’t speak. She was really looking forward to this new position, but no matter how much effort she put in, she still wouldn’t be promoted. Feeling deflated, Meiling left her boss’ office, never looking back.

At home, with new determination, Meiling did some research. Although she was shocked before, she found out that this kind of situation exists everywhere. She sympathised with every women in the world that had to deal with this kind of situation. Unless there is some change to the way our society functions, every future generation will continue with this attitude.

Two days later, in the morning, Meiling resigned from the company. After reporting her boss’ decision, Meiling spoke to Yuming. They decided that they wanted to open their own company, to create a place where every person receives the same, fair and equal treatment.