There’s a curious thing happening in Allegra Spender’s office.
A slew of incredibly professional, hard working women working with her, keep getting mistaken for the Teal MP’s daughters… Meanwhile, her male staffer has never faced the same question.
Spender drew attention to this baffling phenomenon in a reel posted to Instagram over the weekend.
Starting with the most understandable example, she introduces her young colleague Allegra who gets asked this all the time. (Fair enough, the name coincidence is fairly unusual).
But then Spender goes onto introduce her other colleague, Ella, who keeps getting asked the same thing. “Maybe I just look maternal?”, Spender hypothesises.
But the real weirdness comes when Spender introduces her campaign manager, Lyndell who apparently is always asked whether she is the mother of Ella.
Say, what??
Spender then highlights the ultimate paradox of these occurrences.
“The weirdest thing that happens is that young men in my office– hello Stephen!– the office thinks that he and I possibly look the most alike, but I’ve never been asked if he’s my son. So, my question here is, what is going on?”‘
While it would be nice to think that this experience stemmed from something more innocuous, the truth is this: women are perpetually viewed as less worthy than their male counterparts. How could young, female staffers have earned their roles without outside forces? How could more senior successful women not be benefitting through nepotism?
This double standard doesn’t just diminish the achievements of women, it reveals the unconscious bias that still pervades our workplaces today. It sends the message that women’s roles are somehow less legitimate or deserving, casting doubt on their abilities and professional worth.
It’s a reminder that even in progressive spaces, these subtle but pervasive assumptions are still at play. Women must constantly prove they belong, while men glide by without the same scrutiny or second-guessing.
If we want true progress to happen, how about we stop acting surprised when women are exactly where they’re supposed to be.