WOMEN AND PROMOTIONS
A cranky opinion for
CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY
WARNING:
The following post is based on the
hypothesis that men and women are not the same.
I realize this concept automatically makes me Misogynistic, xenophobic,
and I may as well throw in racist. You
may want to delete this and head for a safe space.
If thinking that men and women are
not the same is misogynistic, then I am a misogynist. I don’t believe I am a racist, but the two
seem to always go hand in hand. I’m not
really sure what xenophobic is but without even knowing, I am sort of afraid of
anything that starts with an “X”.
Please don't beat me up too badly, here goes:
Please don't beat me up too badly, here goes:
There is an often asserted statistic that women earn only 77 cents for every dollar a man
earns. Not sure how that happens. Pretty much anyone, man or woman who works
for minimum wage earns the same pay. I
believe government positions have pay grades that are difficult to gender
discriminate, same job has the same pay by law.
I know from experience; large corporations do not discriminate in terms
of same pay for the same grade.
If there is
discrimination (not already covered by three federal laws) in this country, it
is discrimination in moving to higher grade positions. I am sure this discrimination exists and it
is one that is probably pretty hard to legislate against and prosecute where
legislation may exist.
There are
several reasons why this discrimination exists.
There is the perception that women cannot work long hours, that women
will be more dedicated to their children than the job, that women will defer to
the responsibilities of her spouse’s occupational demands. There may still be some truth in these
perceptions, certainly they were a genuine factor in previous generations. Still, these perceptions are unfair and need
to be mitigated.
There is,
however one female trait (warning, massive generalization here) that is a factor in women not getting promotions to a
higher grade than men.
Women are
less likely to take credit for what they do.
Men are more competition and confrontation-ally oriented than woman (Once again, massive generalization
here). Men in their competition to get a promotion
will take credit for other’s ideas and work when possible. Men will throw others under the bus for bad
ideas and mistakes even if they were also responsible for those mistakes and
bad ideas. Men will exaggerate their
accomplishments and brag about their skills.
Women are
less likely to throw others under the bus.
Women are more team players and are more likely to include others in
giving credit for accomplishments. Women
tend to downplay their abilities and even subconsciously go out of their way to
bolster male co-worker’s egos at the expense of the perception of their own
abilities, and women who do act as competitively as men as perceived as "Bitchy."
Women like
to please men (relax,
remember massive generalization here) and they have learned that men prefer noncompetitive,
helpless ladies and not strong tough women.
As a result, women (This is the last time I will say this… massive generalization here) play dumb or incompetent just to
get male attention…men think dumb incompetent women are cute. Women are experts at playing dumb or incompetent
to outsmart men and get what they want.
They are experts at getting things done their way and making men think
it was their idea to solve a problem.
These traits
of women to please men and get their way without ruffling the feathers of their
clueless mate work well in the traditional men women roles of earlier societies,
today they are the anchors that keep women from breaking through the glass
ceiling.
This “pleasing”
trait is fading and with it more women will reach the higher pay grades…it is just
a matter of time. As women toughen up
and become as mean and attention grabbing as men, the pay grade differential
will shrink to zero.
Being called
a bitch for being tough will probably never change.
The following was the opinion (and
massive generalization) of a cranky old man and not necessarily that of management…Mrs.
Cranky.
So much truth in this. Fortunately I was raised with a dad who not on your life would allow any of us to dumb ourselves down. In fact, he taught us all of us girls the "guy" things in life so we would at least have a lit'l bit of a heads up going out into the world. Of course I would end up with a career in a "mans world" as one of the few female on site project cooridinators in commercial construction. I will admit, I had a pink hardhat.. :) - Enjoy your weekend!
ReplyDeleteI think it is who raises the woman we might be talking about. If she is raised in a single parent home with a mother who has chosen in lots of different ways to reject a male influence around her children, that woman is going to turn out different than the woman who is perhaps raised in a 2 parent home with Mom and Dad around. That woman might be too assertive and too independent she can't grasp the concept of working for the good of the couple and the family and may perhaps put her needs and desires first before them....just saying. Some women might not necessarily put their children and their spouse first and go for their own personal gain to the detriment of their children and spouse. It is not "guaranteed" that one is woman that they may act like this but choose to think they are doing what is "best" for their family though others around them think it is the most single biggest mistake they have made.....just saying :)
ReplyDeletebetty
And?
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought things had changed...
ReplyDeleteI was going tot ry and act outraged in order to raise the controversy quotient on this post and maybe help it to go viral.
ReplyDeleteI just didn't feel very outraged.
Does that please you?
I'm kidding. There's probably something to this. In my job, I know a few back-stabbing women eager to take credit for everything. But I'm in the oil industry, where they wouldn't be at this level without some degree of that sort of thing.
One of the main reasons for any gap in pay is that some women are of childbearing age and some women do indeed have children. Some of those women then take months off from their positions, but are protected from losing their jobs and fully expect to regain them when they return. Those absences result in other hirings and that's an expensive process. And new hires will not earn as much as experienced personnel.
ReplyDeletei've never played dumb or incompetent, but i have always been mindful of keeping the peace and being nice. and i'm naturally non-competitive.
ReplyDeleteExcellent points, and a lot of study has shown much of this is true.
ReplyDeleteThere is also the "good old boy" network at play in some businesses. A friend of mine got caught up in that a couple of years ago when the division of a business for which she worked had to lay off two people. The managers of that division decided they could easily do without the two women and she was let go. Then they realized how much experience she had and all the things she could do that they couldn't, and they begged her to come back as a contractor.
Wow...that was a generalization wasn't it? I think at one time most of your opinions rang true. It\s a little different now. I have known women in the work force who would happily 'throw you under the bus' and I have known men in the work force who were nurturing and helpful. I think (and this is only my opinion) it would be lovely if we could stop labeling people as man/woman/gay/straight/catholic/jewish/black/white/whatever and just looked at the human race as just that....human....personality traits belong to all of us regardless of gender.. Also, there are other ways of getting ahead in the work force than being devious, crooked, malicious etc. Okay? Just a cranky old woman expressing her opinion. Somehow I feel safe doing that here.
ReplyDeleteWell, way back in the dark ages of 1985, the major department store chain I worked for hired new management trainees at different salaries, based upon sex and the college you just graduated from. If they hadn't made such a big deal about not talking about salaries, I doubt I would have ever discovered this.
ReplyDeleteTo say it pissed me off is putting it mildly. I guess I need to go to my safe place now.
I didn't have time for these kinds of games. The Sheriff's Department was a good old boy network back in the 70s. I just played right along in their game. I did an end run with knowledge. I knew things that others hadn't bothered to learn. It served me well.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day Joe. ☺
And here I thought you only meant to poke the bear. Actually most of what you said with a few exceptions were spot on--at least in my working days. The reason I hate TV competitive reality shows is that calloused stepping upon another to advance. I hated it when I was in the work force and always will.
ReplyDeleteI remember growing up and hearing my mother complain that men earned more than she did at the bottling plant where she worked, but during college when I worked there I noticed that men were doing much more physical work than te women and earned their larger salary. But I do believe in equal pay for equal work provided it truly is equal work.
ReplyDeleteI've worked with a few women back in the day who definitely were as tough or tougher than the men around them. But I would never have called them b*****s. At least not to their faces.
ReplyDelete