That morning Mary faced Tom, one of her colleagues at the office. She asked if it was true he had got her pregnant just to send her on maternity leave and so he could get a promotion. Tom laughed and said that it was true and he was proud of his plan. Mary was confident that the boss would give her the job anyway because her results were twice as good as his. He laughed and said that they would find it out then.
They both went to the boss and he clearly told her that he was not promoting her because she was a single mother. She was shocked and he said that she would be asking for days off and sick leave all the time. So, Tom got the department head position. Tom told her to accept it or to go on maternity leave and take care of their 2-month-old daughter. And they, men would be in charge as they should be. Mary said that it was gender inequality and she would sue them. He said that the boss and he already had discussed it over a round of golf. He also said that she didn't have money for a lawsuit and laughed.
She left the boss's room in tears. And by that time, Tom thrilled with power, he immediately demanded she should do all of his work for him. He told her that she was his slave then and ordered her to get down to business or he would fire her. Mary could not afford to lose her job and income. But she didn't want her daughter to grow up in a world where women were disadvantaged. She told Tom that she was leaving and promised that she would get justice. Tom again laughed and said that she would be crawling back in a week at most because no one wanted a single mother: not for work, not for relationships.
The first thing Mary did was go to a lawyer's office. But when the lawyer told her how much it would cost her to handle a gender inequality case, Mary cried. She told him that it was all her savings and she could not spend it all because she had a little daughter. He didn't care it and said that the choice was her and also reminded her that no one would help her for free.
Desperate, Mary left the office but ran into a woman with a baby in her arms. The woman thanked her for her help. Se said that her babysitter was sick, but she had to work. Mary sadly told her that at least she had a job, but she had to quit her one. The woman got to talking, and Mary told Kim her story. She turned out to be a lawyer and a single mother, just like Mary. She heard her story and told her that that was outrageous and she was taking her case for free. But also told her that she would have to be patient and get a job because she would still need money for paperwork.
Mary happily thanked her and said that she would find the money. She started looking for a job, but at first, she had decided not to mention that she had a child. She put single in the marital status and no children in the resume. Recruiters immediately called her for an interview. But when they found out that she was a single mother of a 2-month-old daughter, they just said goodbye to her.
She was so desperate and met Kim. She told her that she was rejected by 11 companies. Mary asked her why they didn't allow single mothers to work in that country. She added that it was people like her who needed money the most. Kim told her that that was an infringement of women's rights. And then she decided that they were going to sue all 11 of those companies.
The lawsuits lasted for a long time. Unfortunately, Mary was never able to find a job. But when she was completely broke, Kim offered Mary and her daughter to live with her. She told Kim that it seemed that in this world, single moms can only rely on each other.
And just when Mary was about to give up on winning, the news came that they had won a gender inequality lawsuit against her former boss and Tom. And a month later, Kim and Mary won cases against the 11 companies that had rejected Mary. The news started to get a lot of coverage in the media, and soon, thanks to Mary's case, a lot of companies revised their hiring policies for single mothers and equalized the number of jobs for men and women.
Mary said in one of her TV interviews that it was not just a victory for her, it was a victory for all women! But she told people to remember, gender equality is not a women's issue, it is a human issue! And it affects us all!
