Women in the Workforce

October 7th, 2024

Currently Reading: Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

Currently Watching: The office freak out after a partial power outage

Currently Listening: Hurricane Milton Updates Live

What sacrifices must Women™ make to have the life Men™ can have? This is the question I ask myself as I start the second week of my new job.

I work with so many mediocre men with daddy's money who are so out of touch with the average American, let alone the populations this company serves.

On the first Friday I had with this company, a man I don't even know the name of wrote on the white board in my office, "Beacon → smile more." On Monday he reached down and touched my shoe to point out my red laces. Why does he think it is appropriate to touch me? Even in a non-sexual way?

I know I do not handle adversity well. There are women who are used to a much more hostile workplace than a man old enough to be their father trying to connect with them. Still, I am not used to working with this much testosterone in one place.

Growing up, my classes were dominated by girls. They outnumbered boys in my area and age group. My first several jobs had me reporting to women in a woman-dominated workforce. My last corporate job was the first job I had with a male boss.

Why is it that my corporate jobs have been dominated by men, but retail and service are the domain of women? One answer is historic sexism. Just as segregation exists in neighborhoods with historic redlining, so too does the segregation of the sexes in the workforce.

I don't have a true argument to make here, but I highly recommend the book After Work: The History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time by Helen Hester and Nick Srnicek for more information about how women have trouble freeing themselves from unwaged labor.

--Beacon