Category: Workplace Issues
Studies show that, even in family~friendly countries like Sweden, the main reason for the gender pay gap is motherhood. In other words, if a woman wants to keep up with men in the work world, she shouldn't have children.
It's illegal for an interviewer to ask women if they have children, but that doesn't stop employers from assuming that they do. Even if a woman is childless, if she's of child-bearing age, the mere possibility that she could have a child makes employees skittish about hiring or promoting her. The underlying (and insulting) assumption is that being a mother makes a woman a bad employee. She's going to take off more time to care for sick children than a man will. She can't work long hours because she has to pick the children up from day care. Her mind isn't exclusively on her job (as if she can't think about children and work at the same time). She's not going to be as motivated to succeed because she puts her children first.
Employers don't have the same assumptions about men who have children. Why not? Because we have all been socialized to expect that women are going to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to child care.
Before you start accusing me of being a "typical" feminist (meaning that I'm out to undermine the family), let me say that I know that many women intentionally stay out of the work force or put their careers on hold when they have children. Many women believe that a woman's primary role in life is to bear and care for children. But does that mean that all women, mothers and non-mothers alike, should be penalized when they try to join or advance in the work world?
Conservatives scoff at working women's complaints about the pay gap because they contend that statistics show that mothers are less productive than non-mothers. But they stop short of asking themselves why that is or what could be done about it. They feel no obligation to accommodate workers who have children. "After all, having children was their choice; it has nothing to do with me." They refuse to look at the broader picture: our future depends on these children. Shouldn't we be doing all we can to make sure they are cared for, raised in safety and security, and educated adequately?
The current administration has made noises about addressing some of these problems, but so far has done nothing. And knowing its supposed disdain for government intervention, I doubt that it ever will. Republicans are more concerned about tax and immigration reform and abolishing Obamacare than about the plight of working parents. In fact, I can't think of one legislator who has made reforms like maternity and paternity leave, flex-time, job-sharing and affordable quality child care a priority. That's why I'm a feminist: someone needs to be looking out for women in the work force. And looking out for working mothers ensures that our nation's children will be taken care of as well.
A few months ago I listened to an interview on NPR with Laralyn McWilliams, a woman who works in the gaming industry. (She was the lead designer on games like Full Spectrum Warrior and the creative director for the online game Free Realms. Currently she's the chief creative officer at The Workshop, a game studio based in Los Angeles.)
About a year and a half ago, what became known as #Gamergate stirred up a tremendous brouhaha in the video game industry. Although it wasn't specifically about the role of women in that industry, charges of misogyny and sexism soon began to dominate the discourse. Incredibly, women gamers received rape and death threats for daring to speak out about their experiences.
Even though McWilliams herself doesn't feel that she has been impeded by sexism in the course of her career, she still feels that it is a big enough problem that she was willing be interviewed about it. When asked why she thinks sexism is rampant in the gaming industry she offered these comments:
Tech itself is male-oriented; software is even more male-oriented than that. And because games for many years have mostly made games for men, it's even more male-oriented than the rest of them. So it's sort of this more condensed version of all of the problems in tech…
There is a tendency in tech, and in games in particular, that if you are a woman who talks about the issues facing women in games, that becomes what defines you. You become "the woman who talks about being a woman." When honestly … it largely continues to feel like my gender should be irrelevant.
When I heard this I had an "aha" moment, because what she describes is a perfect description of the reaction many people have to feminists. Even if all you do is point out that women don't make as much as men (all other things being equal), you are labeled a "woman who talks about being a woman," or, God forbid, a feminist.
This phenomenon isn't restricted to women talking about "women's issues." Any time a member of a group that is discriminated against dares to speak out about that discrimination, he or she is shouted down for playing the "victim" card. I've heard commentators on the (mostly conservative) radio stations dismiss claims of discrimination by calling the claimants "whiners" who want the world to feel sorry for them. Any criticism of the status quo is seen as a ploy to receive special treatment.
They just don't get it: people who feel that they have been discriminated against don't want special treatment; they want equal treatment.
I know, I know: I can hear the arguments now against quotas and affirmative action. I'm not here to argue for or against such tactics that are often used to level the playing field. But those tactics wouldn't be necessary if it were possible to change people's minds without them. What employer is going to hire a woman if he's convinced she's going to take off work too much because of family responsibilities? Or if he assumes she can't carry her weight because "women are weaker/less competitive/too emotional"?
Some people think that laws reflect the prevailing views in a society and should only be enacted only when there is a consensus for them. But I think that the opposite can also be true: sometimes laws have to be enacted to force society to confront and correct certain problems.
On the other hand, some things can't be mandated. For instance, you can't force women to enter the tech field. Nor can you force the public to buy games that were created by women. But women aren't asking to be accepted just because they're women; they're just asking for the same opportunities that men are given.
I realize this is a tricky business. How do you prove that a man was given preferential treatment just because he's a man or that a woman was denied an opportunity just because she's a woman? Usually you can't. But laws can be put into place that protect women who are merely attempting to have the conversation.
Twenty-four years ago Anita Hill testified before Congress about the alleged sexual harassment she experienced from the then-Supreme Court nominee, Clarence Thomas. Last year a documentary, called simply "Anita," was released which chronicles the whole affair in painstaking detail. I haven't seen it so I can't comment on its accuracy or objectivity, but I have to wonder why the film was made at all, and why it was made now. (See trailer for "Anita" here. See here and here for YouTube videos of Day 1 of the Clarence Thomas Second Hearing.)
Surely this is old news. After all, politicians don't sexually harass their employees or colleagues anymore, do they? Didn't they learn from the media circus that erupted when Anita Hill's charges came to light that they don't dare invite the same public scrutiny? And haven't men from all walks of life learned that sexual harassment is a no-no in this society?
Hell, no. Sexual harassment is alive and well in 2015 America. The only difference between now and then is that sexual harassment is more frowned upon—in principle. Most companies now have strict anti-sexual harassment policies, for instance. But just because sexual harassment has been exposed as an evil, at the very least illegal, practice doesn't mean that it isn't still going on. People just hide it better (unless they're incredibly stupid).
With all the attention that the problem has received over the years, the public censure of and consequences to the perpetrators, you would think that victims would feel emboldened to step forward. But too many women (and men) are still afraid to complain about it. Why?
Often the person who does the harassing is in a position of power over the person who was harassed, making the victim feel that his or her job is at stake if he or she reports the harassment.
Even when the perpetrator is a co-worker, the victim may fear retaliation or shunning, for the simple reason that no one likes a "snitch."
The victim is either not believed or is blamed for the harassment. ("He is just making it up to cover the fact that he willingly participated." "She must have done something to encourage it.")
[When the alleged perpetrator is a man and the victim a woman, the man is more likely to be believed for the simple reason that men are generally seen in a more positive light than women are. Traits like truthfulness and integrity are ascribed to men while women are seen as deceitful and unstable.]
It's very difficult to prove. The person who has been harassed needs to keep meticulous notes about the harassment: who, when, where, what exactly was said or done. Witnesses are rare, either because the harasser was careful to avoid having his actions or words witnessed or, more likely, because potential witnesses themselves are afraid of retaliation if they testify against the harasser.
Denial. What disturbs me the most about the way sexual harassment is treated is that people still persist in minimizing it, in shrugging it off as no big thing. "She's just oversensitive/can't take a joke (or a compliment)." (The same people tend to minimize rape by insisting on using the term "forcible rape," as if the level of violence is what matters, not the fact that the woman said "no.") Many people complain that it's hard to tell exactly what constitutes sexual harassment. But the truth is, it's not rocket science; there are some very clear guidelines. Once it's established that the action or comment is, or appears to be, motivated by sexual interest, one of more of the following needs to also apply:
Is the action or comment unwanted (signified either by out-and-out rejection or by obvious discomfort)?
Does the action or comment make the work climate uncomfortable or unprofessional?
Does the action or comment cause a worker's performance to suffer?
But perhaps the biggest reason why people don't report sexual harassment is because they just don't believe that anything will be done about it. Sexual harassment policies are only as good as the willingness to follow them, including acting on complaints decisively. Employers talk the talk but don't walk the walk. Oh, they'll refer the offender to some kind of counseling or sensitivity training, or move one of the parties to another location. But often what happens is the complainant is the one who is moved, or even later let go, for some "unrelated" reason. Sometimes an employer finds it easier to settle a few lawsuits than to do all that is required to avoid sexual harassment in the first place. However, the smart employer realizes that tolerating sexual (and other forms of) harassment has other costs that affect his bottom line: low morale, absenteeism, high turnover rates and low productivity.
For more information about sexual harassment, including what recourses victims have, read the Feminist Majority Foundation's Sexual Harassment Fact Sheet.
Letting Men Off the Hook
Three years ago, when Melissa Nelson was 33, she was fired by her boss because he felt that her beauty would tempt him to have an affair with her. (Apparently his wife agreed.) Ms. Nelson sued but her case was dismissed. The court ruled that being fired for being a threat to her boss's marriage was within the law.
Excuse me? Where does it say that the law exists to protect men from their own sexual impulses? If that were the case, rapists might as well go free because, after all, they can't help it. Especially if a woman dresses "provocatively" (a value judgment if I ever heard one). Why not expand that to "especially if she's beautiful"?
I'm sick of the excuse that men are at the mercy of their "innate" natures. Girls are told that they have to be the ones to make sure that sex doesn't happen between them and their dates or boyfriends, because "boys will be boys; they will always go as far as you let them."
[This is insulting on two counts: it assumes that men can't control themselves, and that women can (in other words, that they never want to have sex that badly). Both sexes are defined by their supposed normal sexual behaviors.]
I take issue with the attitude that it is the woman's responsibility to keep men from temptation. If it was all right for Melissa Nelson's boss to fire her because of the temptation factor, then every male boss could make a case for not hiring women at all.
Because, you know, men would behave themselves perfectly if women weren't around.
Why Fight the War on Women?
There's been a lot in the news lately about the War on Women. What most people don't realize is that this "war" isn't only about abortion. It's a series of battles over a woman's right to live her life purposefully. This doesn't just mean her right to birth control or abortion. That's just the tip of the iceberg.
Women are still having to fight for these things and more:
access to education
jobs, promotions
reasonable rates for life and health insurance
maternity leave and other accommodations for child-rearing
effective prosecution of rape, sexual abuse and domestic violence
elected office and other positions of power
Many people think that the War on Women was fought in the '60s and '70s and that women won it. They point to female CEOs and other professionals, to the number of women obtaining higher education, to greater attention being paid to women's health issues and to greater protections in general under the law. But these advantages are not being given equally to all women.
As long as there is one woman who is treated wrongfully and unequally because of her gender, the war has not been won. And the fact is, there are still millions of women who need things that many of us, privileged as we are, take for granted. Not only that, but women who feel that they have never suffered gender or sexual discrimination are either unusually fortunate or delusional.
One of the most insidious ways to keep women down is socialization. It's hard to point a finger to the culprit here when the entire society participates in the practices that keep women from fulfilling their full potential. Even women themselves cooperate in their own socialization and often seem proud of it. The woman who drops out of college to get married, the professional who stops working to have children, the mother who praises her daughter for being pretty, but not for her participation in sports—all of these women are shortsightedly dooming themselves and their children to discrimination in the future.
These women protest that they have the right to choose to work part-time or not at all (except for in the home of course), to have as many children as they want and to raise them however they see fit. I'm not saying that they don't have the right to choose whatever they want to do with their lives. I'm just asking them to think about the long-term effects of their choices.
The War on Women can't be fought only by the people who already have the advantages some women only dream of. It has to be fought by all women. Each woman has to think purposefully about her life and do whatever it takes to achieve her goals. She has to stop thinking about what everyone else wants her to do and start thinking about what she wants.
Some say that the feminist movement has done nothing but create a society of self-centered and selfish women who think nothing of abandoning husbands and children and who could care less about their families' fates. There will always be those who think only of themselves (female and male), but the feminist movement didn't cause that. And that is certainly not its goal.
All that feminism asks is that women think and act responsibly with an eye to the future, both their future and that of their children. Do they really want their daughters (and sons) to be saddled with children they didn't want and can't care for? Do they want their daughters to continue to have to bear the brunt of housework and child-raising? Do they want their sons to take women for granted, even to the point of abusing them?
Maybe the War on Women will never be over. Patriarchal attitudes are ingrained in nearly every society. Add to that the resistance people have to change. But humankind's progress doesn't depend on staying in the present or even going back to the past. Progress means to go forward. What was "usual and customary" for our ancestors has to be re-examined and reworked in order to serve our future.
The Reality and Benefits of Doing Something for Nothing
Who does most of the unpaid labor in the world? This includes child care, housekeeping, taking care of and nursing those in ill health, running errands, transportation and volunteer work. The chart below is from an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development working paper titled "Cooking, Caring and Volunteering: Unpaid Work Around the World."
Is this a bad thing or a good thing? Are women just naturally more willing to work for no pay? Do women feel pressured to do all the unpaid work that they do?
It might be more accurate to say that men are less willing to work for no pay, partly because of economic necessity (especially if they're a family's sole provider). Obviously if a woman does not work outside of the home, she's going to be the one "tagged" to do all the things in a family's life that no one gets paid to do. But even when both spouses work, women spend a disproportionate amount of time on these activities compared to men. For example, take child care:
On average, working fathers spend only 10 minutes more per day on child care when they are not working, whereas working mothers spend nearly twice as much time (144 minutes vs. 74) when not working.
I know that many women do these things willingly and wouldn't have it any other way. But in many cases the woman isn't given any choice; it's just assumed that she will be the one to take off work to care for a sick relative, for instance.
This is certainly one of the factors that account for the wage gap. If women are the ones who are more likely to take off time to do unpaid labor, they are less likely to be promoted.
There's nothing wrong with giving of one's time to do things for others. You could even argue that it's good for one's soul.
So why not encourage men to do more unpaid labor? They might learn something that women have known for centuries: there's more to life than a paycheck.