Why Women Always Lose

Why does it seem like women always get the short end of the stick? Such as the case involving the Detroit city former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, who had an affair with former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Although this story is more familiar to those of us who live in Michigan, it was a story that received national news. After all, both were sentenced to a few months in jail for lying under oath at a wrongful termination trial involving a former Detroit police officer. Both parties lied about an alleged affair that text messages between the parties later revealed to have taken place.

In prison, Kilpatrick was isolated from other prisoners, and upon his release from prison a few weeks ago, he had a job waiting for him. He and his family relocated to Texas to start over. However, no such parity for Beatty, who wasn’t isolated from the general population in prison and who lacked the connections of the former mayor such that there was no job or community support for her, other than her church.

Believe me, it’s not that I feel sorry for Beatty one bit. After all, she lied under oath, had an affair with a married man and jeopardized her own marriage and family. She also is left in Detroit to continue to hear day in and day out the community outrage and scandal surrounding the affair.

Nevertheless, my issue is that women always end up on the short end of the stick. As such, it’s imperative that women consider the decisions they make because society often imposes harsher penalties on them than men. I’m not certain the exact reason for the difference in penalties. Maybe it’s because society holds women to a higher standard or society refuses to acknowledge that women have the capability to engage in bad behavior equivalent to that of men. Whatever the reason, I would encourage women to think first, no matter what the circumstance, before they decide to engage in this type of behavior. Ask if it’s worth prison, jeopardizing your marriage, your family, your job, your career or even more simply, your self esteem. If not, run! If so, be prepared for the consequences or the fallout attendant to such behavior because there certainly will be some. In the end, remember you always get what you settle for.