Discussion
  • Read More
    thetallblonde loves twinjaAimée Lutkin
    6/22/16 4:07pm

    like i care. i don’t wanna be a manager anyway. i need to have time to make babies. if i don’t have them by 32, it’s never gonna happen because my womb will basically have tumbleweeds rolling around in there. and no man will want me if i can’t have kids, so what do i need extra income for? if no man wants me, i don’t have to worry about paying for anti-aging treatments like botox to ensure that he never leaves me for younger woman. i can also save money on batteries for my vibrator because i won’t pleasure myself unless it’s in front of a man because he demanded it of me. i also don’t have to shop for at least the next 15 years, cuz again, why do i need flashy clothes if not to attract a mate? the cats don’t care what i wear, really. plus, i can save extra money by finding another sad old spinster to be my roommate (you know, cuz of the no husband or babies thing), so honestly it’s like i got that raise anyway. it all evens out in the end.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      vanvarmarthetallblonde loves twinja
      6/22/16 4:11pm

      GET OUT OF MY HEAD.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      erelongdonedodoesdidthetallblonde loves twinja
      6/22/16 4:15pm

      Your cats are a lot more laid back than my cats. STOP JUDGING ME MR MITTENS!!!

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Ms.ChanandlerBongAimée Lutkin
    6/22/16 4:28pm

    I’ll just throw in my little story to add to the sexist shit pile:

    Due to certain threatening behaviors of one of our clients, we had to install a keypad on our office door, along with a doorbell. This wireless doorbell doesn’t work well and when our receptionist is out for her lunch -which she takes early - we’ll miss deliveries and such. Sooooooo, today my boss decides that while she’s gone, I get to go up there and sit at her desk. Which would be fine, except he didn’t ask anybody else to do it. Just me, the other female. I have a co-worker who is basically my age and we’re on the same level, but he’s male, so God forbid he has to do “womanly” duties like fill the secretary’s shoes.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      LooseSEALMs.ChanandlerBong
      6/22/16 4:30pm

      Yeah, my office pretty much runs like that. The two women are project managers so we are default secretaries/office managers. We are also the only employees who don’t get reviews or raises. I am using my maternity leave to find a new job.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Gingervitis04Ms.ChanandlerBong
      6/22/16 4:33pm

      First, best name ever.

      Second, yeah. That shit happens alllllll the time. I’ve been in meetings where I am the only woman and I’ll get asked to close the door, handle the lights, etc even if I am sitting across the room and there is someone closer. I also get ‘are you comfortable with this work assignment?’ in a room of 20 guys and just me. No one else is asked that question.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Dinosaurs and Nachos, girlfriend!Aimée Lutkin
    6/22/16 4:03pm

    Oh look, another study for the “No Shit” file.

    Damn, it’s getting full in there. Wish I could clear something out.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      AntisocialJusticeWarrior is not Anti-SJWDinosaurs and Nachos, girlfriend!
      6/22/16 4:25pm

      I get where you’re coming from. It’s frustrating to keep reading studies that arrive at the same conclusions of questions that we as women/minorities/etc. have known to be true for ages. But it’s really important to be able to cite published, peer-reviewed studies like this one as a basis for lawmakers introducing legislation, making arguments against those who think gender wage gaps are a myth, etc.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      IWontDenyItAntisocialJusticeWarrior is not Anti-SJW
      6/22/16 4:39pm

      This isn’t a peer reviewed study it is a “report” put out by a software company.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    dalilaAimée Lutkin
    6/22/16 4:59pm

    I’m 32. I’ve spent 2016 panicking that if I don’t get promoted like, tomorrow, I’ll be “too old” to ever move up. Meanwhile my male “counterparts” with half my experience and expertise and who are younger than I by a good 5 years are being promoted with lightning speed. It’s hard not to assume it’s because I’m an old incompetent woman.

    Spend less time panicking and more time honing your skills, you say? Don’t be embittered when people with literally no experience are put in managerial roles above you, you say? Fuck right off.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      LooseSEALdalila
      6/22/16 5:02pm

      Its just because they know your uterus will explode with a baby before too long and you’ll leave them high and dry for the 6 weeks they allow you to take leave.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      VulcansAreHeartbreakersdalila
      6/22/16 5:04pm

      Yeah, this scares me too. I spent five years under a boss that always thought of me as entry-level, no matter what I did or what skills I learned. I would regularly have to train my newly promoted male bosses. Eventually I got a better job, but it’s still the same bullshit. Anytime I complain about this sort of stuff it’s a chorus of people asking me why I don’t just switch jobs (again), as if this problem isn’t everywhere.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    MemaiAimée Lutkin
    6/22/16 4:14pm

    I’m exactly 32 and what I’ve noticed, moving into my 30s, is that opportunities to cross train, to learn new skills and to have new experiences are suddenly closed to me. When my father was my age he transitioned to a whole new career. I see men all around me who are my age make career jumps based on new interests and new skills they’ve learned in the past year or so. That’s just not a possibility for me, apparently.

    People genuinely seem confused when I say that I want to learn to do something. It’s like I’m 60, instead of 30. I can’t even volunteer to take on projects based on things I’m genuinely interested in learning to do. I’m starting to make some headway by actually calling people on this: Saying, “I am not interested in being ‘promoted’ to doing the same thing I’ve done for 10 years, while now mentoring other people to do that thing too. I want to do new things.”

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Gingervitis04Memai
      6/22/16 4:39pm

      I'm running into that as well and have actually brought it up to my manager. I am 34 and an engineer. I am also the oldest female engineer in my area. The rest are either project managers or managers. It is super intimidating to want to continue in a technical role when it is seems all the women have been filtered out at this point.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Betty SlocombeMemai
      6/22/16 5:01pm

      Right?! I’m in my mid 30s and recently considered making a career switch. Doors were pretty firmly closed. I could have shoved them open, but ug.

      My partner was a couple years younger than me (but still in his 30s) and had doors widely swung open for him and cheers given when he wanted to do something similar a few years ago. It’s like...I can’t even.

      I ended up taking a job that’s a step down in some ways, and pays less, but gives me all that work/life balance that people talk about and am basically being a stereotypical woman now. Bye bye salary increases!

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    HappyHighwaymanAimée Lutkin
    6/22/16 4:14pm

    Is it possible that many women’s salaries are affected by dropping out of the workforce or taking time off to have children?

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      NomNom83HappyHighwayman
      6/22/16 5:01pm

      Yes (note that the study was out of the UK, but Forbes notes that the numbers are similar in the US).

      Which begs the question: But why?

      Why should having a kid leave so many women so far behind for the rest of their careers? Why is motherhood viewed by so many as mutually exclusive to “manager” when fatherhood isn’t? And it isn’t like fathers don’t feel the pressure, either (Forbes).

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      HappyHighwaymanNomNom83
      6/22/16 5:10pm

      Answer: It shouldn’t. But Americans don’t support pregnant women or new mothers. Look at Canada and tell me they don’t do it properly. Women need a year off and then guaranteed return to their job. And to get paid while they’re off. But that’s totally anti-American way which hates women and loves unborn children. That is the easy solution.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    OliverAimée Lutkin
    6/22/16 4:34pm

    My wife who is a receptionist and cashier at an auto dealership department recently found out that she makes less than the kid who washes the cars, or the lot boy up at sales.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      recidiviciousOliver
      6/22/16 8:04pm

      Admin staff are always undervalued. Businesses and offices would grind to a screeching halt without them and yet they’re nearly always the lowest paid positions.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    LawshelleyAimée Lutkin
    6/22/16 4:11pm

    I am 99.99999% sure that the header photo is a the TD Centre in Toronto, where I am currently sitting in my dumb office job. And I just turned 32...

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      thetallblonde loves twinjaLawshelley
      6/22/16 4:13pm

      oh, i thought it was the ministry of magic

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      NomNom83Lawshelley
      6/22/16 4:32pm

      Um... Happy... Belated... Bithdaaaay?

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    yayletseatpizzaAimée Lutkin
    6/22/16 4:25pm

    i need to share a small victory and this seems like the place to do it. i am 32 year old working lady with a toddler. a few months ago, i turned down an offer which would have been a step up and a raise, because it demanded a lot of hours beyond regular office, and i just couldn’t sacrifice that time with my child. at my current job, even though i am checking email after bed time and every so often have to go to events, i am lucky it’s understood i need to leave the office by a certain hour due to child care (and wanting to see my kid). even so, i was sad to have to turn down a senior level position, and had to come to terms with the fact that would be plateauing career-wise. a couple of weeks ago, i got a promotion and raise to the type of position i turned down elsewhere, without having to sacrifice kid time. i still can’t kind of believe it.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      LooseSEALyayletseatpizza
      6/22/16 4:27pm

      That’s awesome

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    IAmBrettAimée Lutkin
    6/22/16 4:16pm

    The firm recommends using blind screening for promotional decisions and pushing for equal-paid parental leave for both men and women as a way to close the gap.

    This definitely, if possible. So much bullshit hides in evaluator bias - remember the symphonies and blind auditions?

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      kmkinger1IAmBrett
      6/22/16 6:20pm

      To add to this, I think there should also be a stipulation saying “the amount of time one spends playing golf with ones manager should not be seen as a ‘plus’ to one’s experience level”. Sometimes, it seemed those that spent the most amount of time on the golf course with the execs got promoted the quickest.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      teenmomIAmBrett
      6/22/16 6:26pm

      Paternity and Maternity leave needs to be mandatory, then the only way you can really discriminate is by preferring childfree men and women, which, honestly, is kinda fair.

      Reply
      <