did you come across sexism at work? how do you nudge against someones sexist bias without messing up the relationships. Is there an easy path?
I just shut my mouth and accept that there are certain systemic advantages that society bestows upon women/URM.
Yes, you speak out. If that doesn’t work, you find a better job with a better company culture and you quit. It’s what I did. Dropbox has great company culture in terms of diversity and inclusion.
Yeah sure...
What? Have you ever even worked at Dropbox?
All the time. The good old boys network is alive and well. And Microsoft hires many people from places where gender discrimination and age discrimination are legal. Those people are never trained that this kind of behavior is illegal before they are allowed to interview people. Employees are never told by the company that we have laws in the US against that kind of thing. That never happens even though it puts the company in severe legal risk. So it’s no surprise it still exists. You could make the case management has taken steps to ensure sexism and other forms of discrimination don’t go away.
The easiest path to do this is simple: know the law and when you see people not following the law politely ask them to do that. Do it via email and archive it. If you are met with retaliation of any kind remind people that you’re only asking others to follow the law. It’s like asking the person driving the car to please drive the speed limit.
Do we have to use the law angle every time - can’t we just be considerate to other human beings without scaring them with law
It's a catch 22. If people were nice they wouldn't do creeper or racist crap in the workplace. If you bring up the law you're not a team player and you're a "problem employee." What to do if you want to keep your job and you want harrassesment or hostile work environment protected by state and federal EEO and anti-harrassment laws to stop happening? (gender, disability, race, ethnicity) and others depending on the state, type of employer, and how many employees they have. Discrimination/harrassesment for Motherhood is also protected, and so would fatherhood if that patent is known or perceived to be a care giver and treated differently for it. Avvo is the best place to validate or find a good attorney. If you can already afford an attorney, do a consult and ask them what to document and how. Retain copies of material at home. They will let you know when you've got enough to F@&$ HR into squashing the matter with the offenders to deplete legal risk----should include job coaches and internal training. If you can't yet afford an attorney there's lots of online information on what to do. Sadly, unless the harassment is super flagrant + repeated, you need to tell the person or your manager/their Manager that there is unwanted attention happening. Once you've done everything needed, get an attorney. Them taking care of the next steps will take between 5 and 16 billable hours.
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