I have read numerous accounts of men saying they were denied jobs or promotions because their employers wanted to hire a woman to meet diversity requirements. In a country of 300 million people there will be examples of discrimination against women, but the studies I have cited do not find evidence of large-scale discrimination against women.
I think some of this boils down to how we are defining and looking at discrimination. As an example, institutional discrimination against people of color is still very prevalent in our country. That is discrimination, even if it is not as in your face as it may have been.
There is still large-scale discrimination against women, but how we view what discrimination is, does impact how we see this.
[quote=lucounu]
But then, I'm a guy, and I haven't experienced the sorts of sex discrimination that are related here. I think sex discrimination, to the extent it still exists today, is more likely to exist in small companies and to be a much reduced problem overall, not to be completely nonexistent.
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While it may be more likely, I can emphatically state it still exists. I find this especially the case in technical companies, even when it is not 'overt', it is there.
One summer internship, at a government facility, I was told by a security guard that I was being 'observed' and being commented on by the men that were supposed to be monitoring the equipment of the room I was in. The comments were sexually explicit. This was not a small company.
When I did graduate, I worked for a very large and well known tech company.
I put in years of service, and had phenomenal reviews. I was quite appalled at how things changed when I became pregnant. My husband had no issue changing his schedule. Trying to get my group to have a discussion with me about flex schedules, alternate Friday's off or really anything I put out there, was initially all thrown out of the realm of discussion. There was no project reason I couldn't have telecommuted for part of the week, but they wouldn't hear it.
In the end, they basically lost someone that had been there over 11 years with an outstanding record, because they were unwilling to have any sort of discussion with me about schedule. They simply wanted a body that could be there 60 hours a week, even if that body was untrained, and while I could have done the work easily in 40 hours.
A year after I left, I was called back in by HR. They were trying to contact all senior women that had left, because they were losing their senior women.
I told my story of my experience. I was told that my story was similar to what she had been told again and again by the women that had left. That management (the men), was unwilling to implement worklife balance sort of programs, despite that option being available via corporate guidelines.
Overall, my time there was good. I never had anyone overtly tell me I was incapable of doing something because I was a woman, and I feel my salary was probably comparable.
My biggest issue as a woman came as soon as I had children, and this was epidemic throughout the company based on my HR interview. This was NOT a small company.
The other issues I found as a woman, while I worked. There were not women in positions of management, or few and far between. (Glass ceiling). There was still vestiges of 'good ol' boy' networks. It was very interesting to see lunch, where group of men would go out, but women in the group were not necessarily included. I sat in a meeting where managers refused to acknowledge me and another woman were managers and put us on an organizational chart. The last, I don't think was discrimination, but was plain empire-building and fear their role would lessen to incorporate 'younger' managers.
I have heard that things have improved in the last 2 years, but there were definitely large scale issues at a large scale company involving women.
Tammy
