misogyny at the tower of london.

Beefeaters, the jailers at the Tower of London, are iconic figures that represent medieval England in the midst of thriving Londontown.  The Tower of London is one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions(I’ve been there! It was awesome!) with it’s ‘grim history’ going back 500 years involving the guarding and eventual executions of several Tudor queens.  The esteemed job of a beefeater is a male dominated field but recently, a woman named Moira Cameron made history by becoming the first female beefeater.  Unfortunately, misogyny and discrimination has resulted from her achievement at the hands of her fellow male beefeaters.

Moira Cameron

Since she has become a Yeoman Warder, she has been the victim of bullying by 3 fellow beefeaters on the account of her sex.  Cameron found her sacred beefeater uniform defaced.  She discovered notes in her locker along with her wikipedia page to be tampered with–all of which were in a derogatory manner.  2 men have since been suspended on the account of this blatant discrimination and a 3rd is being investigated by Scotland Yard.

Cameron is one women in the middle of 34 men at the Tower of London and despite the misogyny that is displayed towards her, she considers her job ‘magical.’   The fact that Cameron is such a strong, independent woman threatens her male co-workers causing them to act out and discriminate against her and her sex.  Hopefully soon the discrimination and bullying will stop so Camerson can continue being the strong, successful woman that enabled her to achieve beefeater status and with the ongoing investigation with Scotland Yard, Cameron will get the justice she rightfully deserves [via NY Times].