Why We’re Calling Bullsh*t on Excuses for Workplace Sexism

August 13, 2015 / Barry Deutsch

Originally published on Lefty Cartoons and republished here with the artist’s permission.

Ever heard these excuses for why gender discrimination at work “isn’t about sexism?”

This comic puts it all in perspective. It really shows why we shouldn’t have to sit around and wait for progress – let’s make a change so these lies don’t outlive us.

With Love,
The Editors at Everyday Feminism

Click for the Transcript

Panel 1

Two people are standing in the foreground speaking while another person sits quietly at a desk with a laptop in the background.

Person 1: The reason most executives are male isn’t sexism. It just takes time for women to get promoted! In thirty years lots of top executives will be women!

Person 2: Do you ever get deja vu?

Panel 2

Two different people are standing in the foreground speaking while another person sits quietly at a desk with a computer in the background.

Person 4: (speaking to Person 5, who has a worried facial expression) The reason most executives are male isn’t sexism.

Text: Ten years earlier.

Panel 3

Two more people are standing in the foreground speaking while another person sits quietly at a desk with a computer in the background.

Person 7: (Speaking to Person 8, who’s holding their mouth with their hand) It just takes time for women to get promoted!

Text: Twenty years earlier

Panel 4

Two more people are standing in the foreground speaking while another person sits at a desk with a typewriter in the background.

Person 10: (Speaking to Person 11, who is in turn looking back at Person 12 in the background) In thirty years lots of top executives will be women!

Person 12: (Speaking to Person 11) Do you ever get deja vu?

Text: Thirty years earlier

Text that spans the final two panels: People grow old, excuses live forever.

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Barry Deutsch is the Portland-based author and cartoonist of Ampersand, a political comic with a generally progressive sensibility. A new Ampersand comic appears in every issue of Dollars and Sense Magazine. While in school, his political cartoons won the Charles M. Schulz Award. His current comics project is my comic book Hereville, a fantasy adventure comic about an 11-year-old Jewish girl. Check out his blog and follow him on Twitter @barrydeutsch.

Becky Hawkins is an autobio cartoonist living in Portland, OR with her comic costar, Shoulder Angel. She often works in watercolor on postcard paper, a habit she picked up while traveling the world as a cruise ship musician. Other projects include an informational comic, Know Your Rights: Don’t Get Evicted, and a 1940s lesbian superhero graphic-novel-in-progress with cartoonist Barry Deutsch. You can find her on Tumblr and Twitter @hawkins_becky.