A few months ago I printed off a report from Diversity Inc. titled, "What's Appropriate for Women to Say at Work?" The answer was: only PG rated stuff.
I meant to write about it--add my two cents--for weeks and weeks, but it just didn't fit into the regular content of my own blog, so, it got shuffled beneath other papers and reports, and, ultimately, forgotten.
This weekend I decided to tackle the desk clutter. Not clean it up, mind you. Just tackle it. That means going through the top layer, the most obvious layer, and chucking outdated material. Lo and behold! there was the Diversity Inc. article and...remembering how annoyed the article was when I first read it, I decided this would be a good day, a good time, a good venue to get this subject off of my chest-- if I may be so bold, being a woman and all, where thoughts of 'chest' bring on images of-- bosoms???
According to this article, a young woman working at a Florida utility company was fired for saying the F-word. I'm a prude, I don't say the F-word, but...I'm also an American and my likes and dislikes are my own, I don't impose them on others. So, it angered me that this young woman could be fired for...spouting off. Especially when, in my experience, men are never chastized for their language--in or out of the office.
The article, and this is most disturbing, went on to agree with my assessment, saying, "Would the same thing have happened to a male employee? Hamburger (the young woman who was fired) says no and many high-ranking women executives agree." The emphasis is my own.
The thinking is-- and this is aimed directly at younger women who grew up around four-letter words much more so than we baby boomers-- that "...it doesn't matter if it's fair or not. You can control yourself a lot better than you can control others.!
Article comments
1 - Angela Chen Shui
Yvonne,
Thanks for resurrecting the article and writing about it now... and for the link ..
and no, I wouldn't have heard about it if u didn't write about it here... u see just how important your voice is??? ;-)
Great going on your book... love the title. Interesting that even now your book would be even necessary... u know the myth that 'women rule the world' & all that...
The rise of the feminine is one of the biggest issues that will play out all across the planet in the next few years... the transformation that is critical to our survival will not be carried out by the 'old' style male energy that isn't integrated with it's own feminine within...
all the wars and all the other expressions of imbalance that are there, whether covered by mainstream media or not, are lovely expressions of the imbalance between the masculine and feminine energies that currently exist...
as we each in our own way integrate the inner gender energies, we contribute and trigger the expanding balancing across the planet.
it's hilarious that 'experts' would and have advised women to speak differently than men. but like you, I left the 'work world' aeons ago... It certainly isn't hilarious for our women who already have to outperform men and still don't reap equal benefits and pay...
old style male energy needing to quash and keep the more defiant female leashed... power and gender all tied so comfortably together..
thanks again and seeing your book on the best selling list!