Feminism in the Workplace - The Muse

Feminism in the Workplace - The MuseFeminism in the WorkplaceLets say youre a feminist. And you dont exactly work in a feminist workplace. Maybe you see some shit happening that shouldnt be happening. What do you do?(Note because non-intersectional feminism is no feminism at all, this article will talk about what individuals can do to combat sexism, racism, and all forms of discrimination.)This post- the minutes from a Feminists at Work salon- contains some suggestions about calling out sexism, as well as about the self-care you may need to persevere in a hostile workplace.But this post by C.V. Harquail on Authentic Organizations highlights some of the problems with explicitly talking about issues of concern to feministsAny time I bring this up as a womans issue, it gets marginalized and put in a corner because women are a special case. Any time I bring this up as a womens concern, people disregard it and tell me that this isnt a business issue.We dont want that.You cant be effective as a feminist if people around you consider feminism to be some kind of quirky special interest you have, one basically irrelevant to business- as in, youre into feminism and your co-worker is into bluegrass, and those two things are of equal importance.What you have is not a fun individual hobby it is a commitment to human rights, dignity, respect, and fairness. You shouldnt even need a name for that. You shouldnt have to come out as a feminist. A commitment to human rights, dignity, respect, and fairness should just be called being decent.And, mora apropos, being professional.That being said, telling everyone youre a feminist may not be the most effective way to further feminism in the office.The vast majority of workplaces say that they have a commitment to diversity. Those workplaces are just not seeing those commitments through. Its not a special interest to see that company policies are enacted consistently. Thats really just being a stickler for rules and professionalism.So be that a stickler for rules and professionalism. Its a lot harder for people to write off your concerns that way.To be clear, theres obviously nothing wrong with being a feminist and calling yourself one. But in a conservative or hostile workplace, this will cause some people to dismiss your views before you even speak. Do you want to be 100% authentic, or do you want to be effective? No one in a workplace is 100% authentic anyway our authentic selves mostly dont even want to go to work in the first place.So, if someone says something sexist, instead of, Hey, thats really sexist, try, Hey, lets keep it professional.If Bro Douchebucket keeps it up and you need to speak to a manager or HR about it, phrase it the same way. Lead with, Im concerned about some unprofessional behavior from my colleague Bro.When pressed, repeat exactly what he said. Let the manager or HR come to the obvious conclusion that the behavior is sexist. If that conclusion is not immediately obvious, try again It was obvious that those comments alienate a lot of people on the team. Also try, Bro has been insulting his co-workers. Thats true, right? Thats what sexism does.This font of language can sometimes be effective in getting people to agree with you and take action without making them quite as defensive. Call people sexist or racist, and they go on high alert and start defending themselves- and youll likely be asked to debate whether some obviously sexist or racist thing really is so. Talking about professionalism is a little less loaded- a person doesnt recover from racism with one stern talking-to, but a person can certainly become more professional from just a single kick in the pants.For exampleIts unprofessional for us to interview only white candidates for the job.Its unprofessional for a manager to rely on stereotypes when assigning people tasks.Of course, dont get me wrong- sometimes the answer to a problem is to call it out explicitly, go to HR, get a lawyer, and sue. (See also What to Do About Your Awful, Sexist, LGBT-Phobic Friend.)But you might want to try a few other things first. Here are some ideas.Speak Up for Other WomenWhen someone speaks over you, constantly interrupts you, ignores you, or, worse, takes credit for your ideas, it can be difficult to speak up for yourself. You should speak up for yourself anyway, of course. But its much easier to speak up for other women. And some of them will return the favor.Someone took credit for Allisons work? Derek, thanks for putting the finishing touches on that. Allison, how did you get the idea for this in the first place?Someone interrupted Tamika in a meeting? Mark, I see your point, but lets not get off track- I want to get back to what Tamika was saying.Theres no need to mention gender when sticking up for other peoples right to speak, and theres no need to sound offended. Just be consistent and dont hesitate. Do it automatically- robotically, even- and without making a big deal. Thats nice, Dave. Ju lie? Feel free to speak in a dead monotone to ward off any accusations of being overly emotional.Like a court reporter, you simply record, quite factually, who was speaking when someone interrupted, and who brought up an idea first.Of course, this isnt limited to standing up for women. You can stand up for all the people commonly spoken over. Expand the Office Circle (and Your Network)Much workplace racism, sexism, and cronyism (but mostly racism) is a result of people in positions of power hiring and helping out their friends. Most white managers would be quite offended if accused of racism they believe they have never discriminated against anyone. It just so happens that they mostly hire from their network, and their network is made up mostly of other white people. (See this post from the Harvard Business Review- as always, dont read the comments.)Is hiring at your company heavily biased toward the friends of people who already work there? Does the 99%-male tech team keep recruiti ng all their male friends? Think not only about hiring for full-time jobs- what about vendors? What about people brought in for focus groups? What about speakers and workshop facilitators?If these people tend to all be pulled from the friends of employees, make new friends. Get involved in diverse organizations both inside and outside of your field. You might even be known as a helpful resource whenever the boss needs a photographer to come shoot company headshots or an improv group to come do a team-building exercise- and hopefully when the company needs new higher-ups, as well.Maybe you get involved in Girl Develop It or another program for women to learn to code (also great All Star Code is a program to get young black men into tech). Maybe you volunteer for an organization that gets girls into STEM- and you network with the other volunteers.Even if youre not formally involved in hiring, you can recommend people you meet through your networking for jobs and opportunities, and you can offer yourself to speak to groups or individuals about what its like to work at the company.When a job posting goes out to the staff via email- but isnt posted publicly- you could forward it to organizations for women and people of color in the field, along with a note along the lines of, I thought this might be relevant to some of your members. Please also pass along my email address- I dont make the hiring decisions, but Im happy to speak to anyone who has questions about working here.If you do speak to someone, that person is now a friend whose name you can mention to whoever is making decisions.Get Involved in HiringIf possible, get explicitly involved in hiring. (See HireMoreWomeninTech for some resources, and the Colorlines post, How Tech Stays White.)Again, language is important. If you refer to attempts to get more women into leadership or tech positions as a diversity initiative or a womens issue, you may get marginalized. Try referring to such efforts as best practice s, which they are.As in, Sending out job postings only to just our inner circle isnt in line with best practices, and Writing a tech ad that asks for code ninjas- sure, that does sound cute, but its not in line with best practices. (Here and here are articles about how certain language in job ads alienates women- or attracts grossly overconfident people, who tend to be overrepresented in certain groups.)If possible, get involved in interviewing. At smaller companies especially, roles like this are sometimes up for the asking. If the people to be hired are people youll be working with personally, or people whose expertise youre particularly able to evaluate, you have an even better case for getting involved.One way to make the interview process more fair is to ask the hiring manager ahead of time for a list of questions. Then, if someone comes in and doesnt seem to be getting a fair shake- for instance, someones gender presentation throws off the lead interviewer so much that they ar ent moving the interview forward- you could continue down the list of questions. That gives the person a chance to at least make enough of a case that you can, if theyre the right candidate, advocate for them later.And even if youre fairly low in the hierarchy, plenty of hiring managers use assistants to do the first round of resume sorting. Heres one great idea Suggest or implement blind resume reading.Workplace discrimination often begins with the first word on a resume- a persons name. This study showed that applicants with traditionally white names were far more likely to be called for an interview than those with traditionally black names. This article is about Jos Zamora, whose job search was drastically improved by dropping the s from his name. And here is a man named Kim who did drastically better when he added Mr. to his resume.Perpetuating this crap is hardly best practices. So make a spreadsheet with each candidates name in one column and a code (Candidate 101, Candidate 102, and so on) in the next. And then swap out the names on the resumes with the codes before you or anyone else reads them. Do it in Word, slap some labels on paper copies- do what you have to do.Try to make this a company-wide policy, or just part of the company culture. Wouldnt it be amazing if you could make a change like this that made a more diverse and just workplace well after you had moved on? Photo of office people courtesy of Shutterstock.