Park and Recreation: Breaking Workplace Stereotypes

For sometime now, Parks and Recreation has been my favorite show. Leslie Knope, who is a main character played by Amy Poehler shows the true power a woman can have in the public sphere, such as the workplace. I went back to the first season to watch an episode that came off as feminist to me, which was episode 4, titled “Boy’s Club.” Throughout this episode many stereotypes of women in the workplace and home are broken. Women in the office are able to join in on the typical men activities in the workplace and the idea of a housewife does not exist. Although this episode and the show in general is pretty feminist, some of the men at the office say some sexist things. The sexist things they say feed into mocking the idea of stereotypes. 

As stated in the title, this episode was about a boy’s club that goes on at the office. The name is misleading though because women in the Parks and Recreation department are treated like one of the guys, equal. Every Tuesday night, the boys club, which is a group of coworkers, meets on the patio outside of the office. One night, Leslie decides to join them with one of her friends, Anne. They are welcomed by all the men and are even allowed to drink with them. By joining the men, Leslie and Anne broke the stereotype that just men drink after a long day of work. They also broke the rules of the boys club, where previously, no girls were allowed. After attending a few meetings, Leslie drops all the bottles of beer on the floor by tipping over the table and the men are cleaning up after her and she says “look at those B---s cleaning up after me.” This breaks the stereotypes that women are the ones who usually do the cleaning. Leslie is also speaking from the stereotypical male’s point of view by stating that the women should be doing the cleaning. 

While the boys cleaned up the beer Leslie spilled off the table, it became clear that the idea of a housewife does not exist. Typically in the past, women are expected to clean and stay at home to take care of the family. That stereotype was broken by Andy, Anne’s boyfriend. When she goes off to work, he cleans the house. This breaks the stereotype the women do the housekeeping. Another typical housewife stereotype is broken by Andy because he is trying to be successful in music but in the meantime, he stays at home and does nothing and doesn't have a job. Anne does. She is the one with the job in the relationship which breaks the housewife stereotype where the women usually stays home and prepare for the family while her husband is at work. Although those barriers are being broken, there is always going to be someone who tries to build those barriers back up.

One of the barriers is rebuilt in this episode because the men say and do sexist things. Ron says his idea of a government is only a man sitting in a room at a desk and have women brought to him when he desires him. This statement is sexist because he doesn’t think that just anyone could run the government, it would have to be a man. He also objectifies women by saying that they should be brought to the ruler of the government whenever. Another example is before Leslie and Anne came along, the men at the office had a boys club where no women are allowed to be in. They meet on Tuesday nights and drink beer. This is sexist against women in a way where they can’t enjoy a drink or 2 with their coworkers because only men are allowed. One last sexist scene in the episode is when Tom asks Leslie if she has every had a dream about their boss, Ron, sexually and she says no. This is the stereotype that workers are sexually attracted to their boss or vice versa. Despite all of the sexist comments that may go on, Leslie never seems to let it get to her and continues to hold her strong beliefs in women in the political world and her home town. The only sexist people in the workplace are the men, which is very relatable to my past work experiences. 

In many ways, Leslie and the other Parks and Recreation characters break the workplace and home stereotypes but of course there is always going to be those people who are sexist and try to break it down again. This occurred in my workplace as well over the summer. My boss would often make the girls clean the locker rooms, at the pool where I was a lifeguard, and always let the boys go home early if the chance came along where we didn’t need any more life guards than we already had. He also gave one of the guys a raise and a higher position but never gave the option to a girl. By the end of the summer all the girl lifeguards could tell that he was always in favor of the boys and was just all around sexist. My boss relates to Ron, the parks and recreation department head. Although there are sexist remarks that come from some of the male workers, Parks and Recreation is a show where women are treated like one of the guys in the office and aren’t seen as the typical housewife. Overall, society is always going to have those people who are sexist but Parks and Recreation makes a stand against it in a way where they mock the sexist and give power to the women in their town and in politics.

Here is Leslie and Anne attending a boys club meeting. 

You can also watch the episode here: