A friend from highschool posted about her struggles at work, and blamed it on the male-dominated company. To see this post, click here.
In response, I wrote the following. I'm happy to hear any feedback, if someone actually reads this and decides to respond!
Hey Madi!
It’s Lucas, long time no see! I guess since Topham’s class you really made your talent shine, whereas I became a bit more of an academic haha. While your story is good, but I wonder if it’s actually woman suppression in your workplace, or maybe it’s just confirmation bias. Through your story, I see a girl who worked hard and was assertive and is becoming successful, despite the challenges of starting at a new company. I do not see the male-dominated hierarchical oppression that you claim here. I argue against you because, if there were actually oppression going on, the question arises, what is to be done about it? And many modern feminists demand government involvement. Government involvement in the workplace is inherently violent, and I believe there are better ways to change the workplace: through open dialogue. Dialogue is what changes oppressive culture in a democracy like the one we live in. If you want things to change, make it known to other people, and then they can boycott companies, or at least put their money somewhere else. Or, it doesn’t have to be so extreme, maybe it just takes awareness, and then people change themselves.
However, to avoid government involvement in your situation and situations like it, or to avoid an unnecessary boycott against this company, I am arguing that your blog displays confirmation bias, rather than actual “woman oppression”.
A quote from you: “I was excited to finally be working in the field I loved. But guess what? I was then the marketing secretary – making schedules and running errands for the team. Gee thanks.”
Are you sure that’s not just the process of working up in the company or are you really going to blame it on you being a woman? You were assertive, clearly showing you wanted a position change better suited to your skills… and then you got it! You were assertive and enduring, just like everyone needs to be to be successful. else. I did something similar when I starting working for a big construction company, taking out the trash, filling up the water jugs, all the “chores”. That is fine, it sucks, but it's a part of moving my way up in the company and waiting for opportunities. I don't blame it on me being a boy, and you shouldn’t blame it on being a girl. Is there a bias against girls? Perhaps, but there need be better examples than what you have presented.
It’s awesome that you got the pay raise! Did you pay raise come from you showing them that you were worth more to the company? Or did they give you the raise because you played the legal, feminist card? If it’s the former, congrats! If it's the latter, then you use the government as a big authoritarian brother to force them to change. Are you so sure that’s a power you want prevalent in your community, the overhanging threat of governance if anyone looks like they’re marginalizing woman? That seems like a fear society to me, not a democracy.
They fired you because you got pregnant. That seems super messed up...unless the company doesn’t have enough to support you while you are away with a child. If you are able to work while still spending sufficient time with the child, then great! But if you are suggesting that they support your labor expenses while you’re away, then doesn’t that put the company, and thus the other employers, at risk? Of course, if the company is financially stable enough, and your skillset is so valuable to the company, then why wouldn’t they want to keep you and support you at this critical time? But should the government force them to support you? That would make any small company fearful to hire women at all! Thus, I think child labor laws oppress women more than modern males currently do.
But if the company is stable, then they should have the decency to work out an arrangement that works for both you and them, and not to just fire you without proper consultation. But even then, I hope you have a family or a community to support you when times get hard. If your skills are truly marketable and valuable, then further opportunities will arise (which they did).
I'm not denying past woman oppression. But I am arguing that sexism is not the problem modern day second-wave feminists claim it is.
In your epilogue, you say that it goes to show that talent shines, despite it being a “male” employee who hired you. Careful, because I should not be objectively criticized for being a male, nor should your company be shamed for being a majority male. Do guys act differently when they are in big groups? I think so. But so do women. Should these cultural norms stop? At some points, yes. But I don’t think there is an inherent oppression in your situation that is denying you progression in your career.
Your statistic that women earn 75 cents to every dollar in the workplace is inaccurate. You pulled the statistic from CNN. Careful of doing that, since CNN, FOX, and other big news stations today are naturally biased. It’s best to do research before spreading claims that there is a need for another mass, government-supported women’s liberation campaign. Here is a multivaried analysis of the wage gap: http://www.aei.org/publication/the-gender-wage-gap-myth/, which shows how the statistic should not be taken as a “our country is sexist!” The source I just gave you shows that maybe there still could remain a 5% wage gap to be explained. Despite obvious factors, such as women getting pregnant and taking time away from work, or to house-wives that work lower-paying, less "take work home" jobs, or a large majority of woman preferring nursing or education jobs, consider this source: https://heterodoxacademy.org/the-google-memo-what-does-the-research-say-about-gender-differences/ where they do a great meta-analysis of why the idea of 50-50 of women and men in the workplace is, or may not be, justified. It presents both sides very fairly, unbiased, and reaches no conclusion. All I’m trying to show is that to say “Did you know women only earn 75% of the man’s dollar nationwide?!?” is an oversimplified, exaggerated claim that can have dangerous implications.
Sorry, I’m not trying to beat you down, I’m just analyzing your work. I do have another question for you. At the beginning, you said, ”Being the raging feminist that I am, I was STOKED to bring some femininity to the office.” What is femininity to you? And how can it help the video-making, marketing industry? Perhaps your experiences you could provide a valuable perspective on creating a product for large or smaller sub-cultures of women. But does femininity really help the company? How so?
Great job on the writing and good luck with the future videos! I bet your videos are awesome just by sheer years sticking with it. I’ll look forward to your response unless I’m just a big jerk…. Then you can either ignore me or just let me have it ;)
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