This letter was singled out as letter of the day in a box of its own

CERTAINLY the underlying sentiment of Robyn Riley’s article is admirable, that women in the workplace should be equal to their male counterparts (“Face it guys, we scare you” September 5)
But may I suggest that this should not necessarily mean we need to imitate male behaviour, let alone want to scare them.
The antics of many men in the workplace are often rude, nasty and arrogant with men masquerading as aggressive and of course, tough. These men are often no more than bullies getting off on their own power and self-aggrandisement.
One of the mistakes women have made to try to achieve equality is to ape their behaviour and call themselves tough, too. Making men fear us, albeit indirectly, is not what it should be about.
We don’t need to turn the tables on men in a way that belittles our dignity and self-esteem. We, as women, should be strong, resilient and fair without being overly aggressive, rude or nasty.
We need to assert our strength and our skills without succumbing to the syndrome that casts bullies as successes, as men would have us believe. We should be our own boss with our own behavioural style.
WE don’t want to scare anyone. It’s not a compliment to be feared, rather an indictment of our status as equals in the human race.