45 Times Sexists Tried To Explain Women But Ended Up Embarrassing Themselves

It’s 2025, and there’s no question that feminism has come a long way over the past century. More than a third of nations worldwide have had a female leader, and in Spain, women can take menstrual leave when suffering from debilitating period symptoms. Gone are the days when women were expected to simply stay at home, pop out babies and wait around for their husbands.

However, it would be a lie to say that we have reached true equality. In 2022, the American Supreme Court shocked the nation by overturning 1973’s landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, which guaranteed women the right to an abortion. And a quarter of countries around the world reported that they noticed backlash on women’s rights in 2024. 

Being a woman can be amazing for many reasons. The bond that female friends share with one another is incredibly special, and I always feel so safe and supported while in a room that’s full of other women. But along with the highest highs come some of the lowest lows.

It’s certainly not a cake walk to be a woman, and it never has been. Obviously, one of the most challenging aspects is dealing with sexism, which never seems to let up. A 2020 study from the United Nations found that a whopping 90% of men and women are biased against women. And sadly, a third of women report that their careers have been negatively impacted by s*xual harassment. 

Women are significantly more likely than men to become victims of intimate violence. And in the United States, on average, women are still only paid 83 cents for every dollar that men make. In fact, the World Economic Forum estimates that, at this rate, it will take another 134 years to eliminate the gender wage gap. Feel free to whip out that “fun” fact any time someone is confused about why we still need feminism!

Women can’t even escape sexism at home, as they tend to spend nearly twice as much time as men doing unpaid domestic labor. In fact, even women who earn more than their husbands outside of the home are stuck doing more cooking and cleaning after a long day of work than their partners. Unfortunately, women are held to impossible standards, and they’re expected to do it all with a smile and without ever complaining.

Now, let’s get one thing clear. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to have a traditional lifestyle, if that’s truly what you dream of. Getting married, having children and becoming a stay-at-home mother sounds wonderful to some people. And that’s great if that’s what you choose! But in recent years, right wingers have made the “trad wife” lifestyle so popular on social media that it seems like many of them don’t actually have a choice. Their husbands expect them to be homemakers because they’re women, which can be a very slippery slope.  

I love baking bread as much as the next person, but as Marika Lindholm, PhD, noted on Psychology Today, there are risks to pursuing the “trad wife” life. For example, if the couple ends up divorcing, the wife is often left with very little to no savings, and no career prospects. Even if she wants to return to work, it can be incredibly challenging after years out of the workforce raising children. 

Meanwhile, throughout a traditional marriage, the wife may have almost no power in the relationship if her husband is allowed to call all the shots. He makes all the money, so he may feel entitled to decide how all of it is spent. And this can leave a wife and mother feeling trapped in the relationship, even if she’s unhappy. It’s certainly not easy to navigate a sexist world as a woman, but for the vast majority of us, the answer is not to give up all of your autonomy. It’s to continue fighting for more freedom, especially for women who experience even more oppression due to the country they live in, the color of their skin or being part of the LGBTQ+ community.

We hope you’re enjoying your scroll through this list, pandas. Although some of the posts are undoubtedly infuriating to read, it’s nice to see that women aren’t keeping their mouths shut when they see sexism in the wild. Keep upvoting all of your favorite pics, and then, if you’d like to check out another similar article from Bored Panda, look no further than right here!