It’s not always obvious that you’re being kept down. Learn how insidious ‘soft sexism’ could hurt your career
At first, things were looking woke last year:
Big companies like Salesforce and IBM took solid strides to correct their gender pay gaps and implement female-friendly paid-leave policies. Hardcharging women (yasss, Shonda Rhimes and Spanx founder Sara Blakely!) had seemingly cleared a path for others to reach the top. But then came story after story of outlandish male workplace behaviour and criminal acts. And an October 2017 social-media phenomenon – in which millions of women shared sexual harassment stories under the hashtag #MeToo – proved arse grabbing (and worse) wasn’t just happening in Hollywood.
But the explosive headlines mask another truth: gender discrimination at work is more pervasive than bathrobes and backrubs. It thrives via soft sexism – when, say a male boss suggests you’re PMSing when you disagree with him or when your doctor calls his female nurse ‘honey’.
Soft sexism isn’t always intentional – and women participate too. How many times have you heard female coworkers call their female boss ‘crazy’ or ‘a c*nt’ while brushing off a male manager’s similarly diva-ish behaviour because ‘Oh, that’s just Steve?’ One survey found that both women and men would rather work for a male boss – with women showing an even stronger preference for one.* Women are raised in the same biased culture as men are, causing them to internalise – and sometimes subconsciously act on – gendered double standards, says Rosalind Barnett, a senior scientist at the Women’s Studies Research Center.
This story is from the October 2018 edition of Cosmopolitan Australia.
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This story is from the October 2018 edition of Cosmopolitan Australia.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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