Double Standard

There is a partner at my firm. She's obviously an educated, successful, and meticulous woman (if you move nick-nacks in her office she notices and moves them back). She's middle aged and has never been married. In other words, the stereotypical female partner. She's tall, very pretty (in her youth she would have been stunning), and very clearly has either an eating disorder or a thyroid problem.

Her clothes hang off her frame as she slouches in a posture I once thought was reserved for concentration camp survivors, as if the weight of her shoulders and frail arms is too much for her back to bear as it caves in on itself. I'm told her weight loss is a sudden occurance, and I see her eating regularly so I assume her problem is thyroad related. Although in that case I find it even more shocking that she hasn't gotten help since she should know all the signs, being that she used to be a nurse.

As a result of either her general temperment or possible mood swings related to hypothetical thyroad problem she has been known to yell on occasion. Nothing worse then what [Hours] or any other partner does, yet when she does it, unsurprisingly it's viewed in a different manner. Nothing is ever said pretaining to how it might be a result of either a thyroid problem or the general unhappiness that could have led her to an eating disorder. Comments are made regarding her being unhappy has a result of never having been married, about having nothing besides her work; once again, the stereotypical remarks made about female partners. When male partners yell nobody ever says; he must have gotten into a fight with his wife, he has a horrible family situation-he and his wife don't get along and he spends all his time at the office, his wife found out about his mistress this weekend.

We all know why it happens, women are not deamed "successful" unless they have a family, who look perfect in photographs on their desk. Nevermind that it's been months since they had a family dinner, the children are "experimenting" with drugs and coming home in a stupor every weekend, and it's been months since she's had sex with her husband. If that's happiness and success, I'll take being single at 40 and having a dog any day.