Mädchen in Männerberufe

Yesterday in German class we were given an example of a test, like if you want to get a degree in German and this would be the topic. Girls in professions of men. Work like men traditionally do. I cannot tell you how much this upset me. First of all, using the word girls in comparison to men. It so should be women. Otherwise you say girls and boys. And these days there are no professions women cannot do if they so choose. And vice versa. Men can work with what was traditionally womens jobs. Of course the "besserwisser" next to me suggested that a woman cannot be a Pope. Haha. Don't think that was the essence of the discussion. But it led to interesting discussions with all the nationalities in the class. For example this wasn't an issue with the South African. There they have more problems with blacks, coloured people and whites. In Eastern Europe where communism was common until quite recently, everybody had the same chance and gender wasn't the issue (they had other problems though). It is always enlightening to meet people from other cultures.