Discrimination in the 21st century. ⇒
9 March 2007, early morning
Tiff's at law school, which probably skews her out look a bit. You're probably more inclined to find 'old-boys club' type characters at law school.
This is a post from my link log: If you click the title of this post you will be taken the web page I am discussing.
I don’t have an account to post on her blog, so please excuse if the discussion flows back to Ram’s site.
I have to agree there is racism and sexism out there, and I find it very distasteful. But a couple of points, I think that people of our current generation mature away from it a bit. Testosterone and machoism bend younger men, especially those in school with other guys towards thinking that they are better then people in general, including other races and women. However, as they mellow a bit, and move away from the destructive peer group things moderate a little.
In the accounting field, we are a pretty calm group and we actually work reasonably hard at equality, our problem is that despite how we try, women decide on their own that they refuse to come back after maternity. (Promotions are guaranteed, wages are paid, raises are given, they are invited to all social and learning functions, etc.) Actually most women say they want to and will come back, but then have changed their mind last minute. It’s unfortunate, as I was looking forward for quite a few to return.
However, I do hear stories in the banking sector, that it is still very much an old boys club, and that women have to turn into cold, calculating people to get by, or else they are used and abused. Now that is pretty sad.
I’ve always found women to be an important part of my life, I mean the vast majority of my closest friends are women.
by Victor on March 9 2007, 2:19 pm #
i agree that I am likely viewing things from a very cynical perspective. Perhaps what i’m alluding to is not just to the ‘old boys club” phenomenon. Perhaps I’m being extra-sensitive because I am a woman and I imagine myself in the position of a mother. Taking maternity leave means being a year set back from making partner. and while we do have more progressive employment offering equal paternity leave benefit to fathers (i know two progressive dads on paternity leave!!), I also am aware that these men are not exactly representative of society.
My bias makes me believe that women are still expected to be the main caregiver beyond the maternity period. Doing more than 50% of the household chores would probably be my definition of the main caregiver.
So perhaps women are not even willing to be promoted into managerial positions because they know they lack the familial support that would relieve them from their caregiving duty. Afterall, taking care of children demands more than the benefits from maternity/ paternity leave. I think true equality would be reflected in an equal number of dads taking paternity leave as moms are, and with roughly equal number of women and men in all level of employment hierarchy.
by tiff on March 9 2007, 11:24 pm #