The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

I haven't had many experiences dealing with bias, prejudice, and oppression. In thinking about incidents that I have accrued in my life I can think of one that could be looked at as gender bias. My last relationship was a tough one for me. We were together for a year and in that time I felt unappreciated and in a way used. For those that know me, know that I am very hard working and try to maintain a balance between working two jobs, school, and my personal life. I guess he didn't see it that way. My ex would get upset because apparently I was not doing enough around the house. He expected me to come home (after working both jobs), cook dinner and clean the house. He would say that I was making excuses when I would say I didn't have time or I was tired. On top of my already busy days, I would have to come home and do homework. In my head I was thinking, he only works one job and spends most of his day at home, so why couldn't he just help me out around the house. He tried to make me feel as if I was this unclean selfish person. Needless to say that was one of the many issues we had and I refused to stay around someone who could not support me bettering myself.

During my incident he made me feel as if we I wasn't thinking about the household. Though I was providing for us due to him not being able to keep a job. He made me feel like his views on the role of a women was misconstrued. I think because his mom was a single parent and she did that for him, he thinks that all women are suppose to cater to him. Boy was he sadly mistaken. He just made me feel like nothing I did was enough and it hurt because this was someone that I have known since the 7th grade. Though I tried to explain to him how tiring and long my days were nothing seemed to matter because things weren't getting done when he wanted. The best thing I could do was remove myself from the situation and I did. And I must say, I'm a lot happier and I continue to work hard to accomplish my goals.