“Are you described as a manager, by that project you nailed, or as someone’s relation? How you are described can determine how you will be remembered. For many women, descriptions boil down to who they are with more than what they actually know or do.

Take Lauren Sanchez as an example. She was a TV news anchor for years, co-hosting Fox’s “Good Day LA” from 2011 to 2017, as detailed by People. She is a licensed helicopter pilot who founded her own aerial film company and consulted on Christopher Nolan’s film “Dunkirk.” But if you read about the 49-year-old today, you likely see her identity reduced to one word: mistress. After reports of her romantic relationship with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezosbecame public, multiple news outlets, including The Associated Press and New York Post, described her with that one word.

As Emily Peck explained in HuffPost, the term is sexist because it is “meant to suggest that a woman is subordinate to the man with whom she’s having a relationship. The word also implies that her behavior is immoral.” And its usage does not go the other way: You are not likely to see stories introducing Bezos’ defining characteristic as Sanchez’s mister and paramour.”