Office sexism is a less-talked about issue in India, but in essence it just hints at the wide gap we have between awareness of basic female corporate rights and lack of policies to deal with sexual misbehavior. With the prevalent rape culture in the country it is almost silly to expect corporate culture to escape the clutches of misogyny. From varying pay scales to unfair promotional strategies, a female employee always scores far less than her male counterpart.
But that’s just one part of the problem.
While we all know about sexual misconduct, what also needs a mention is the attitude that exists, not just in India but worldwide that leads to a notion that men are simply better professionals than women. I personally have had the experience of going to multiple job interviews and being asked when am I planning a baby. ‘We don’t wish to hire a person who will go on maternity leave within a few months,’ is what a corporate giant, who was planning to start a magazine told me. Wow. Bet my husband never got asked this question.
This belief that a married woman is just going to have babies in a few years, or that an unmarried 21-year-old is just going to quit in a few years and get married is perhaps the biggest problem that women face while climbing the corporate ladder. Once she is married or has a baby it is assumed that she won’t give a 100 per cent to her job and hence doesn’t deserve a promotion as big as her male counterpart.
The recent Seattle real estate firm ad, which had the Internet community up in arms today, is perhaps the best example of this. They had a flyer doing the rounds which asks, ‘Who would you rather represent you?’ On the left of the ad is a woman who is standing in a messy house, struggling with her three children, labeled as a ‘part-time agent’. And on the right are people from the firm labeled as ‘full-time professionals’. These men are well-dressed, presentable and very much in tune with a good corporate culture.
The message is loud and clear; leave the woman to deal with her mess and hire us to give you the best service. In fact, the back of the flyer lists the qualifications of the two – part-time and full-time professionals and the only qualification worth looking at of the working mother was ‘available at their convenience.’
The negative feedback that the ad received led to the firm, Costello and Costello issuing a formal apology on their Facebook page, which is now deleted.
As seen on Business Insider India, the apology read, “There are thousands of professional agents working in our area who are also dedicated mothers, including several members of our team. Our original hope with this message was to show the value of having a full-time agent in a competitive market, but we completely failed. We have the utmost respect for moms and working mothers, and we know that the job of a mother is far more demanding than what we do as real estate professionals. Again, we are truly sorry.
It was not representative of the company we wish to be.”
Guess the firm totally forget to consider the efforts put in by the ‘dedicated mothers’ who are working for them. But we still take heart from the fact that the Internet community was quick to take offense and force the company to issue an apology and probably take back the flyers. Small steps for corporate freedom, big steps for womankind.
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