A video capturing a woman’s astonished reaction to an eye-opening email reply about “professionalism” has gone viral, sparking conversations about gender expectations in the workplace.
Shared by Georgina Barker (@.ggeorgina), a 19-year-old from Scotland in the United Kingdom, the video has amassed 1.4 million views since it was posted on December 1. Barker is studying international relations at the University of Edinburgh and pursuing a career in politics.
In the video, Barker is shown standing inside an elevator, pointing her phone camera at a mirrored wall. A note overlaid on the video says: “My Roman Empire is when I rescheduled a meeting and apologized for the ‘unprofessionalism’ in my email. She replied, ‘Don’t apologize, professionalism is a product of the patriarchy.’ I think she shaped who I am today.”
She told Newsweek:“I refer to that response as my ‘Roman Empire,’ which is like a Gen Z term for something that is really random, but it’s …