Sexism in the casino

It's well known that the gambling world is heavily male-dominated - read about Victoria Coren and her struggles (and successes) in a man's environment, for example. Or gambler Pickleman Poker writing about his night in a club just for men who can have girls brought to them if they're rich enough. So it was with no surprise that I noted on my first visit to a casino that there were very few women.

On each table, in fact, there were one or two token women among perhaps eight to ten men - who were all ages. The women were generally dressed smartly, mostly in evening dresses. And the men wore casual clothes - jeans and t-shirts.

On the casino wall was a striking mural, a large image of women's feet in high heels; an image of women's sexuality.

Again no surprise; in a man's world, women are seen as sex objects with little intellectual or power status.

In fact, one of the male casino attendents made a comment along the lines of: "Even women can learn how to play blackjack!"

A joke, of course, as most sex stereotype comments are disguised as.

Eager as ever to disprove untruths that harm my gender, I made sure I won a pile of money on the Blackjack table. A small stab at putting things right, but not really a victory. There is still a long way to go until we balance the books.

Ourstory by Carole Satyamurti

I saw this poem on the underground today. Carole Satyamurti is a poet and sociologist, based in London. She is Vice-President of Ver Poets. The poem is from the book Stitching the Dark, which I shall be ordering straightaway! Watch her read some poems here.



Ourstory

Let us now praise women
with feet glass slippers wouldn’t fit;

not the patient, nor even the embittered
ones who kept their place,

but awkward women, tenacious with truth,
whose elbows disposed of the impossible;

who split seams, who wouldn’t wait,
take no, take sedatives;

who sang their own numbers, went uninsured,
Knew best what they were missing.

Our misfit foremothers are joining forces
underground, their dusts mingling

breast-bone with scapula, forehead
with forehead. Their steady mass

bursts locks; lends a springing foot
to our vaulting into enormous rooms.

© Carole Satyamurti

Financial company promotes sexist stereotypes

Financial affairs is a stereotypically male topic, and the media often reinforces this.

Artemis is a fund manager company.

This is its advert - a collection of 'hunters'.

They are all men, all except one - and she is a member of a team of hunters (stereotype: women are good at teamwork and supporting the men, but are not suited to leadership).

On Artemis's website, there are 40 videos of interviews with fund managers.

They are all men.