Is 2018 the year that women are given the respect they deserve?

When I started out in the work world, it was a very different place than it is today for women.  Women had extremely sharp elbows because there were only a few spots at the top and those who got there had to show that they were tougher than any man who was their peer.  They did not reach back and pull the rest of us up, they essentially turned around once they got there and just looked forward.  Things have certainly changed.

The playing field has not been equal.  It begins early on through behavior perhaps even beginning with girls get pink and boys get blue as babies.  Girls are told at an early age that if they aren’t good at something that they should try something else.  Boys are told to keep on trying no matter what.  It is these subtle (or maybe not so subtle) directions that become embedded early on.

Why certain men find it ok to belittle women through their words and sexual harassment from the playground to electricians to corporate positions to founders of start-ups is beyond me.  That includes being interrupted by a man at a meeting, being dismissed for their ideas, or not believing that women know the answer.

Gender lines are becoming blurred.  Married couples are sharing responsibilities in different ways and not falling into past gender roles where the woman stays home and the man goes to work.  All sexual orientations are being embraced.  Women are speaking up and the ones that have said something about unacceptable behavior in the workplace are of the age where growing up they were told they could be anything they wanted to be.  They are looking at the landscape of bad behavior (this includes a different paycheck) and shaking their head and opening their mouths.  The long tail of that is men and women are getting behind them.  Women are mentoring the generation behind them by giving them a hand to succeed and move up the ladder alongside them.  Women are applauding each other and cheering each other on.  It is refreshing.

In the 1950’s, women had few job opportunities.  They were either a teacher, nurse, secretary, or a Mom and of course, there were a few who broke out of those jobs but not enough.  That has changed dramatically in the past 60+ years.  Now the world is a women’s oyster and with that, I am hoping that this will be the year that women are given the respect we deserve which means our voices are just as loud and revered at any table we choose to sit at.

Comments (Archived):

  1. pointsnfigures

    https://www.vanityfair.com/… I read this and was a bit shocked. Will blog about it but when things get excessive, it’s a sign of a top.

    1. Twain Twain

      There are lots of stories of female founders going for a coffee / drink to talk about potential funding and all the guy wants to do is take advantage of her.

      1. pointsnfigures

        This is worse. Gotham Gal and I don’t agree on politics, but I think we are pretty close to eye to eye on this one and I am 6’5″. The article goes even deeper than harassment. It’s outright lack of respect. Women are not cattle.

        1. JLM

          .The men and women involved are amoral. It is, literally, animal behavior.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  2. awaldstein

    I dunno.I want to believe it is true.It’s a start I think. Now the work begins.

    1. Gotham Gal

      Agree

  3. Twain Twain

    Unfortunately, a handful of women taking legal measures, writing blog exposés and millions of women hashing #metoo won’t change the systemic biases that are in the algorithms because female engineers are either not present or don’t have the sign-off power / budget to implement improvements to the data sets and algos.* https://motherboard.vice.co…Patriarchy is what it is and it’s been encoded in the systems and algorithms for 2000+ years.* https://aeon.co/essays/on-t…* https://www.theatlantic.com…* https://www.youtube.com/wat

  4. Sophia

    I also believe that there is a change happening. The more women write about their stories and expose the bad behavior, the more women who have kept quiet will speak up. Women won’t accept the bad behavior anymore because they know they are not alone anymore in their experiences. We are learning from each other how to speak up and how to get out of/deal with these situations by being more open about them. Also, as more women get funded and create positive work environments for their peers (both men and women), I believe the bad behavior will be crowded out.

    1. Gotham Gal

      Let’s hope that this behavior is crowded out!

    2. JLM

      .Here’s the thing — no reasonable person requires any more evidence to believe it’s a thing, a huge problem.What we need is for Harvey Weinstein to go to jail. For Matt Lauer to be burned at the stake. For Bill Clinton to be publicly shamed. For Charlie Rose to be hung by his heels from the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.Right now, we have a riot, thunderous voices, but NO accountability. We can only have a fair process if there is a process. There will be no accountability without due process.The bad behavior will never be crowded out if it is funded. Look at Uber. Everybody has known it was a frat party, locker room culture for years and yet nothing was done. Why? Because of the magnitude of the money invested, the implied loss, and the failure of the Board to discharge their duties.The problem was identified. Nothing was done.There are plenty of men who run great business and at which a woman gets a fair, talent driven, skill supported shot at making it. But, we need to hold these guys accountable to such a degree that it becomes a true impediment to bad behavior.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  5. jason wright

    many people deserve many things, but they don’t just get them…handed on a plate. you have to fight for them. That applies to the majority of white males too.