Recently in Work Category

Hi guys I need help on my Senior project which in on how purity pledges do more harm than good. But since Jessica book isn't out until may, bad luck for me since my Senior project is due around spring. I was hoping you guys could help me as did with the last person who asked for help. Thankfully this cite has helped me greatly.

Thanks

I am a long-time reader of Feministing and finally decided to get an account on the new Community system. I wanted to share an incident that is both amusing and an indicator of just how much being an actively reading feminist has helped me to stand up for myself and for all women -- for all people, really.

I was working a temp job as a stocker for a traveling liquidation sales event that happened to have stopped in my city. I met some fun people and enjoyed the work, not minding at all that I was assigned to work mostly with men. One of the main supervisors, however, was a bit of a prick. I was packing the stuff into the boxes neatly and tidily, as I believe that integrity applies even when it has nothing to do with keeping a job or impressing anyone. I mean, why not do good work when you're being paid hourly for it? It does take longer than sloppy work and that leads to an increase in your paycheck at the end of the day.

One of the fellow stockers working with me was doing a bad job. Another stocker noticed the difference and graciously complimented me. I joked that it was all in the spatial reasoning. The supervisor said that it was nice that a woman exhibited any kind of reasoning at all.

Now, the me before I'd read up on the history of the oppression of women and current news on how bad sexism still really is would have shrugged it off in the moment, but then would have regretted it later. I would have kicked myself for not having stood up to someone who was abusing his power to mock me and half of the entire human race. I know this because I endured 3 months under the thumb of a boss at a loan company who did nothing but make sexist remarks, turn a blind eye to the perverts in the office who harassed me merely for being a young woman, and undermine my successes by insisting that I attained them because it was easier for women to do so. I didn't even have the courage to quit -- I had to underperform and be fired in order to leave the god-awful place (is it bad that I am pretty happy that he is now most likely bankrupt?)

The me now? Not so much.

In a tone rife with sarcastic comraderie, I remarked, "I see what you did there, a little bit of sexual harassment in the workplace, eh?"

He paled a bit at the comment and for the rest of the event, was nothing but respectful.

It only took a small bit of bravery to speak up in this case, as I had little to lose, but it felt significant to me in two ways. Firstly, I am sure the supervisor in question will think twice before belittling anyone else out to make a bit of cash by working one of the events. Secondly, I feel more confident and less scared to speak up for my rights.

fireincarnation commented: "I never understood why an actor could be paid to have sex on film for a movie, but it was illegal for a woman to have sex for money directly. Only thing I know of that becomes legal when cameras get involved."

the entry.

If a Bikini Bar Dancer is a Sex Worker, so is a Model.
If a Stripper is a Sex Worker, so is the Actress that simulates sex, kisses someone she is not in love with and performs in the nude.  In fact, she is more a Sex Worker than most strippers, certainly more so than any table dancer, most lap dancers too.

So, Halle Berry, Julia Roberts, Richard Gere, just to name a few, are all sex workers.  That is,  IF dancers are.    Certainly what we saw in Monsters Ball far exceeds what a stripper performs in the average strip joint.

So I thought I would bring the question here.

Who is a sex worker?

This article just makes me angr Vodafone does not allow housewives to buy their phones (I assume househusbands as well, but the article doesn't talk of them). A woman coming in to buy a new blackberry was turned away because she couldn't provide a work number as she's a stay at home mom. Apparently Vodafone is trying to weed out out of work people who might not be able to afford their bills. It obviously is not working.

And get this: they told her to get her husband to buy it for her. Can you imagine? Does anyone thinks this stinks of old school rights where women were not allowed to own property?

First blog entry!

Though it's common knowledge that the wage gap between men and women in the workforce is alive and kicking, the American Psychology Association has released a study from the University of Florida that shows men who hold traditional views of women actually earn an average of $8,500 more annually than men who support gender equality. It seems men who hold traditional views not only look to keep women earning less, but also the men who believe men and women are equal.

Also interesting (but certainly not unexpected) is that a wage gap exists between women who don't hold traditional values of gender roles and those who do: basically, those with traditional views earn an average of $1,500 less than those with egalitarian views. It makes sense (and I apologize for inevitably oversimplifying) in that women who don't value traditional gender roles are more likely to work toward breaking through the "glass ceiling", while women of more traditional values are more likely to "accept" their perceived position in the patriarchal system. 

Since this my first entry ever (yay), I'd like to leave the analysis to those who have read through the article (and maybe the entire study). I am always amazed (and humbled) at the analytical prowess of this community. I am far from good at it, but I take pride in learning more every day by reading posts. So... post!

Also, I may have messed up the links above, so to ensure the article can be accessed, here are the links in full redundancy.

APA Press release.

Full study.

Thanks!

Hey all,
Just read an interesting piece at alternet. Thought you might be interested.
Cheers!

Women lead better than men, studies say, so by voting for women politicians, buying products from woman-owned companies, and funding woman-led research we will improve our society. For example, Lawrence A. Pfaff conducted a five-year study that found that female managers scored significantly higher than their male counterparts in 15 of 20 management skill areas but men didn't score significantly higher in any skill area.

The nineteen-state study of 2,482 managers from 459 organizations used the Management-Leadership Practices Inventory (MLPI) tool to measure the managers' performance. The MLPI asks managers to rate themselves but also asks the managers bosses and employees to rate them as well to get an all-around picture of how well the manager performs. All three groups rated women higher than men. But it's one thing to score high on leadership tests and another to actually produce concrete results like profit. Do women's better scores on leadership tests produce better results than men? Yes, MLPI results have correlated to a manager's workgroup productivity. Other studies support Pfaff's research:

Edith G. Orenstein of Financial Executives International reportsthat, "A study in 2001 by Roy Adler, 'Women in the Executive Suite Correlate to High Profits,' published by the Glass Ceiling Research Center, found that the 25 Fortune 500 firms with the best record of promoting women to high positions are between 18 and 69% more profitable than the median Fortune 500 firms in their industries."A 2004 study conducted by Catalyst, "The Bottom Line: Connecting Corporate Performance and Gender Diversity," examined 353 Fortune 500 companies from five industries--consumer discretionary, consumer staples, financial, industrial, and information technology/telecommunications services. The study found that, "Companies with the highest representation of women on their top management teams experienced better financial performance than companies with the lowest women's representation. This finding holds for both financial measures analyzed-ROE, which is 35% higher, and TRS, which is 34% higher."

Hence, it is reasonable to conclude that women are better leaders than men overall. I believe this difference is because of the way females are raised and not due to genetics. Thus, men can learn to be as good at management as women. But the most important thing now is to recognize that women are better leaders overall because that knowledge will motivate people to give women the opportunities and respect that we deserve. It's tragic that men who are worse leaders are given most of the leadership jobs. Since studies show that the majority of the best leaders are women, we should get at least 50% of the top leadership jobs. That will benefit society by improving our institutions due to having better management and help women achieve political, social, and economic equality with men.

This is a perfect reflection of an incredibly pervasive sexist attitude in our culture concerning women. Somehow a woman's job-performance is always thought to be tied to her family obligations (or lack thereof). Nobody ever asks these kinds of questions about men. I often point to this kind of thing as an example of deep systemic sexism, but it seems like most people in our culture are in complete denial about this. How can anyone not see the profound disparity here? It's mind-boggling.

Karen Kornbluh is Obama's chief policy advisor and I found this CNN article that includes an interview with her. In addition to talking about how she became his chief policy advisor, she talks about the need for family friendly workplace policies and related topics. This excerpt is from a section where she is talking about how the one bread winner, one stay at home person model doesn't work for most families anymore and the CNN person is asking how to fix this.

"Kornbluh: It's a really great question. The way to think about it is we need not new policies but reform of existing policies -- for the new economy and the new family. Programs were put in place by FDR that were built around the breadwinner and the homemaker. Now the family is different, and the economy is different. But the policies haven't changed.

So health insurance and pension coverage are dropping; we don't have early childhood education or child care, and we're one of two developed countries that doesn't offer paid maternity leave. And we also need to have a discussion about how important parenting is, the challenges parents face, and what can be done in the workplace to make that easier. Many companies have figured this out, and we need to share those lessons more broadly. And parents shouldn't feel alone -- they should feel that what they're doing is of national importance."

She also talks about the challenges of being a high ranking female employee and a mother. It's worth a read. I didn't know about her before and now I'm going to look up some of the articles she's written.

EQUAL PAY COALITION NYC

cordially invites you to attend a breakfast forum

FAIR PAY:  THE TIME IS NOW!
A roundtable discussion on strategies
to end the wage gap and build our economic security

Moderator
Maria Hinojosa, PBS Journalist

Panel

Ellen Bravo - Author and Former National Director of 9 to 5

Lilly Ledbetter - Supreme Court Plaintiff
Hon. Carolyn Maloney - Congresswoman NY- District 14
Edward Ott - Executive Director, NYC Central Labor Council

Donna E. Pedro - Diversity and Compensation Expert

________________

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2008
8:00 - 10:00am

HUNTER COLLEGE
Faculty Dining Room­ - West Building, 8th Floor
Lexington Avenue at 68th Street (southwest corner)

RSVP by Nov. 10th  -  CALL:  212-937-2411 or  ONLINE

CO-SPONSORS: Hunter College and the New York Women’s Foundation

PARTNERS: National Council for Research on Women and Demos

HOST: EQUAL PAY COALITION NYC , a consortium of civic organizations, advocates and experts working together for Pay Equity in NY. Members include: A Better Balance ? AAUW–Manhattan ? AAUW–NYC ? Catalyst ? Center for the Women of New York ? Coalition of Professional Women in the Arts and Media ? CUNY-Howard Samuels Center ? Junior League of the City of New York ? League of Professional Theatre Women ? League of Women Voters of the City of New York ? Legal Momentum ? Manhattan Chamber of Commerce-Women's Business Committee ? NOW-NYC ?  NOW-Brooklyn/Queens Chapter ? National Association of Female Executives ? National Association of Women Business Owners NYC ? New York Coalition of 100 Black Women ? New York Women's Agenda (Coordinator) ? 100 Black Men ? Roundtable of Food Professionals NYC ? Women in Development-NY ? Women in Health Management ? Women on the Job Taskforce-NYSPEC ? Women's City Club of New York ? Women's Center for Education and Career Advancement ? Zonta Club of Greater Queens ? Authors Ellen Bravo, Debra Condren, Barbara Ehrienrich (in formation) EPCNYC was created in 2007 by NYWA, a coalition of women professionals and community activists who support the diversity and interests of New York women through collaboration, advocacy and education. NYWA is a New York nonprofit charitable corporation.