Where's all the sexism in the workplace? (employer, work, careers)

[JustJulia]

Originally Posted by kickchick2000

I'm 27 years old and I've never experianced anything even close to sexism or sexual harrasment at ANY of my jobs(I've been working since I was 14).

Have I meet men at my jobs who have said stupid crap, yes, but I certainly don't feel it would be classified as sexism or sexual harrasment.

Same here. I am 35 and have worked office jobs since my early 20s, mainly for IT, banking and healthcare companies. I've worked with a couple of men who said some stupid things, yes. At my last job, my group was small and close-knit, so there was some friendly teasing and joking. My immediate boss made a couple of comments to me about a woman we worked with, and I told him he was being an a**hole and to cut it out. That was that--he was a blunt guy who didn't mind being called out when he was being a jerk.

The manager of our department (same company) commented on my baggy pants one day. I had lost about 40 pounds, which isn't as big of a deal as some may think because I'm very tall for a woman, but my pants didn't fit well. He said something like, "You need new pants," and I answered, "I know; I just haven't gone shopping yet. They used to fit." He persisted, "Yeah, like 200 pounds ago." He was joking, but my mouth dropped open and, without thinking, I punched him pretty hard in the shoulder. Most of my group was standing there at the time, and they all laughed at him and told him he deserved it. The blunt supervisor I mentioned before told me later that he had wanted to punch him for other things for years, and the manager apologized to me several times. He half-jokingly rubbed his shoulder while he apologized, but I know it hurt him because I know how to throw a punch and I was angry at the time.

Now, I don't advocate workplace violence , and I know this scenario could have gone badly at other companies. But I've met my share of jerks at work over the year, and never, not once, did I ever regret standing up to them and calling them on their crap. Having a backbone and little bit of backtalk has never let me down, and the jerks have always treated me better for it. I'm not gorgeous (pleasantly average, maybe?), so it's not that. I am tall and have very good posture, so I admit that guys just don't pick on me, because I don't look easy to pick on. But I do deal with people a lot over the phone and e-mail, and many of them have never met me in person.

My mother and grandmother have stories about sexism and favoritism, but I don't. I know they're out there, but I have been fortunate enough to not have any of my own.

[renter8319]

Originally Posted by annika08

Yes, they are different.

At the pizza place, I did experience sexism (I didn't answer this in my original post-I went off on a tangent).

I was the only female cook and was paid $7 an hour when the male cooks were paid anywhere from $8-$9 an hour; this I know because one day we all discussed our salaries. This is something I think employees should normally NOT do, but these were different circmstances.

I had more experience than my male counterparts, not to mention I was a far better and harder worker as well. I pulled my weight more than they did, I never came in late, I helped in other areas of the kitchen when they wouldn't (answering phones, washing dishes, doing prep, cleaning chicken, making dough, etc), they were always going outside to smoke, I could go on and on..yet they were paid considerably more than I was and my boss flatly refused to give me a raise. Why?

I remember my boss standing and watching me work one day, and saying "The only good woman is one in the kitchen". I'm not one of those feminists who get riled up and look for reasons to point fingers at men for wrongdoings, but please tell me that's not sexism in the workplace!

That was my last day on the job. I didn't come back after that.

sounds like sexism to me. i hope everyone understands i'm not saying it doesn't happen. i am saying, i don't believe it happensas often as people believe.

[Pearls]

Sorry to resurrect what looks to be an old thread, but I stumbled on this...

Originally Posted by TracySam

But what about professional, corporate settings? Every place I've worked, most of us have advanced degrees, and there is no physical "dirty" work. Gue mentioned a corporate environment, but since she's 50, she might be supporting my original hypothesis(?)

I am 26, work in a corporate environment, and I absolutely sense sexism from my (male) manager. It's a subtle, passive-aggressive kind of sexism, though. Our office is almost entirely women, so he clearly doesn't have a problem hiring female professionals to do the work. BUT any time any of us bring up a business/work problem, no matter how calm or factual we are about it, he kind of rolls his eyes and treats it like "women being divas." It doesn't matter who brings it up, what tactic they take, or how valid it is. He doesn't care. He's also been known to ask which one of us "screeching females" has a problem.

There is also a not-so-subtle system of favorites: giggle, cry, let him massage your shoulders, and he likes you. Stay crisp and calm and stick to business, he freezes you out.

This, by the way, is an example of how sexism has a boomerang effect. The best employees are burned out and frustrated because no matter how good they are at their actual jobs, if they don't play into his middle age crisis, he doesn't care. The worst employees have figured out that they can get away with murder as long as they simper and smile. Our morale has more holes in it than Swiss cheese, and our manager has no clue, still stuck on the thought that we're just a bunch of temperamental ladies. It's actually a HUGE shame since he's otherwise a fairly nice boss. In fact I wouldn't call him 'sexist' across the board, I'd say he has some serious blind spots and latent prejudices he hasn't examined in himself. But he's going to be in for a very rude awakening as one by one, his best employees all jump ship.

[JustJanie]

Its alive and well in State Government in Tennessee! There is a boss that lets the men come and go as they please, for instance yesterday late too work and hour and a half to two hours for lunch and breaks all day never at his desk and should work until 4:30 however left yesterday and hour and 30 minutes early. This goes on among all five of the men there is 3 woemn in the department and they can't even stop and speak to each other without the Director saying something where everyone can here while he sits in his office with his finger in his lower end. He never notices them visiting and talking being away from there desk nothing!! However this will come as a surprise he gives promotions to the men when it is apparent that the women do all of the work not to mention more education! He has been called on the carpet once for this and he stopped then its started again. If this treatment doesn't stop HR is our next stop he isn't qualified for his job either, imagine that! One of the male employees slept 2 and 1/2 years before that was finally stopped. Another one sleep whenever the notion struck him and nothing was said. I really feel like the Boss should be demoted or fired and replaced with one of the women that is more qualified, sweet justice wuld be for the woman to become his boss! I am feed up and so is the other two. So if this isn't discrimination what is? I love my job but have started to hat coming to all of us do because of this moron. What should be done? I don't like to complain or get anyone in trouble but he deserves what he gets!

[yellowsnow]

It all still exists, it's just better spread around now. I think it would be hard to find someone these days who hasn't been discriminated against because of something....

[Rhenzanite]

I've always worked in male dominated fields (less than 3% of the non pilot jobs on aviation are currently occupied by women) and I can absolutely say sexism is rampant... however, in my case I think a lot of it is that they men I've worked with have no idea how to act around a woman in their workplace because it's simply never happened. I was the first female hired into a non-administrative job in my companies history, so it took a while for the guys to get used to me. I'm trying to get on as a full time mechanic, but I was basically told that he didn't feel comfortable having a female mechanic with a crew of all men. He said there was too much risk of a lawsuit. Now I'm working my ass off to prove him wrong, and after that I'm finding a new job.

So yeah, sexism is still out there.

[kinkytoes]

What's worse is the pay disparity. In my field for all of the salaries I discovered*, I was being paid at least 10K less than men in the same job. A couple of years ago, I found out the guy who replaced me after I left had been getting at least 10 K more for doing the same job AND he got training, which my company was too cheap to send me for.

While I do NOT ever try to find out anyone's salary, one of the women in my department (sorry my pet peeve about working with women, they are too nosy and gossipy) told me someone else's salary. He had the SAME job and wasn't even qualified and constantly asked me questions..and he was making THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS more than I do.

I'm sure HR would have discovered an excuse for why he was paid so highly, so I didn't even bother. I'm black, so I guess I should be happy I'm even employed, right?

Wrong..I can't afford a larger house or a family...so someone else can...but I'm not alone, I understand it is the same in every industry. I could understand if I did a bad job, but I can't afford to do that. I have to be more qualified and more valuable to even get a basic salary. Now I'm bitter. You know how much I could do with 10 - 30K more per year.

Anyway, I've also experienced more overt sexism at work. But what are you going to do...those of us who didn't get the benefit of marrying a guy who can support us, need to continue to work, no matter what the conditions.

*People always seem to want to tell me...I'm the kind of person who does not ask about someone's salary...and honestly...I Really didn't want to know.

[kodaka]

"Sexism" usually refers to gender discrimination, where "sexual harassment" is usually an act of intimidation. Wage discrepancies are a discrimination problem.

I believe sexism is alive and well. It's certainly more subtle now than it was in previous generations. It's the snide digs about PMS every time you have a professional difference of opinion. And far too often, the only reason why a woman is promoted to "partner" is so that the company can claim they are "women-owned".

Sexism is still more noticeable in many fields where women are underrepresented, like construction, law enforcement, and automotives.

[seain dublin]

Originally Posted by JustJanie

Its alive and well in State Government in Tennessee! There is a boss that lets the men come and go as they please, for instance yesterday late too work and hour and a half to two hours for lunch and breaks all day never at his desk and should work until 4:30 however left yesterday and hour and 30 minutes early. This goes on among all five of the men there is 3 woemn in the department and they can't even stop and speak to each other without the Director saying something where everyone can here while he sits in his office with his finger in his lower end. He never notices them visiting and talking being away from there desk nothing!! However this will come as a surprise he gives promotions to the men when it is apparent that the women do all of the work not to mention more education! He has been called on the carpet once for this and he stopped then its started again. If this treatment doesn't stop HR is our next stop he isn't qualified for his job either, imagine that! One of the male employees slept 2 and 1/2 years before that was finally stopped. Another one sleep whenever the notion struck him and nothing was said. I really feel like the Boss should be demoted or fired and replaced with one of the women that is more qualified, sweet justice wuld be for the woman to become his boss! I am feed up and so is the other two. So if this isn't discrimination what is? I love my job but have started to hat coming to all of us do because of this moron. What should be done? I don't like to complain or get anyone in trouble but he deserves what he gets!

Just an FYI. I wouldn't post too many details of where I work and complain about coworkers. It wouldn't be that hard to figure out which dept. has 8 people(5 men and 3 women). You don't know who is reading this board.

There are a few posters on here who not only give the company name but the location. Not too smart.

You can get your point across without giving out specific information.

[andywire]

Originally Posted by Magnolia Bloom

There is nothing more sexist that a two-tiered salary system. And when it comes to making money, women consistently are paid less than men.....across the board- doctor, lawyer, corporate executive- the numbers dispute your observation.

So, while you may not have someone asking you to bring them coffee, if the salary numbers aren't matching up, that's sexism in its strongest form. And if you say that you have not seen it, then you aren't looking.

From a 2005 survey of Fortune 500 companies-

Women occupied only 9.4 percent of "clout" titles and were twice as likely as men to hold staff vs. line positions, making it harder to get the kind of experience needed to reach the top levels in most organizations.

Women held only 6.4 percent of top-earner positions; 75 percent of the FORTUNE 500 reported no women as top earners.

Less than 2 percent had female CEOs.

The Ayers Report: Corporate Leadership: Gender Gap Continues at The Top

In the legal profession, the American Bar Association says the salaries of female lawyers are slipping in comparison with those of their male colleagues. Again according to the most recent statistics available, female attorneys' weekly wages amounted to 70.5 percent of male lawyers' in 2006, compared with 77.5 percent in 2005

The same is true for physicians and in the fields of science, engineering and technology.

I am guessing by your age that you are not far enough up the corporate ladder to have bumped your head on the glass ceiling. And I hope that things change before you reach that point in your career, but I can't imagine that they will. Do all the research that you can to know which corporations are more gender neutral when it comes to career advancement and steer your career in that direction.

There is a reason that between 1997 and 2006, the number of majority women-owned businesses increased 42%. We got tired of bumping up against that damn glass ceiling!

Than that's their problem's for accepting those wages. You don't like it, than vote with your feet. As a man, I have done this, and it works amazingly well.