I love Mad Men. However, as a feminist, there are definitely some things about the show that I find difficult to watch. The show is being historically accurate, and they do a great job showing the layers of all their characters, but having a 21st century mindset makes some scenes incredibly difficult to endure - the scene where some of the guys in the office chase down a secretary to see what color underwear she has on, for example, or the one where Betty’s psychologist reports on the details of her therapy session to her husband. Today, The Frisky has a first-person account from a woman who went on a job interview and found herself seemingly transported back into the Mad Men era, without any of the awesome clothes or Joan Holloway:
I was informed the “girl” they let go was terminated because she was “too professional in social settings and didn’t know when to turn it on and when to turn it off.” I nodded, working through the possible implications of that, as he continued. “I mean, if you are the sort of girl who, when you are out with a client, and he reaches over and puts his hand on your knee—well, if that sort of thing is really going to offend you, then this isn’t the right job for you.” Ahh, so that is what he meant. Fabulous.
I was treated to a 10-minute lecture on “how to do business.” This included choice phrases like, “I’m gonna let you in on a secret, little lady,” and, “The real deals get made during social hour with a few drinks and some buttons undone.”
The US News & World Report is obviously trying to get on my bad side today. First they start off by announcing that the recession - or, “he-cession,” is affecting male “breadwinners” more than any other group. The depression and unhappiness that men face after being laid off isn’t just the result of losing their jobs, though - it’s the fault of their wives. Thankfully, the article has some “helpful” tips for those women who are totally harshing their husbands’ buzzes:
Support him. Forget about the fact that your job might have become more stressful or that you might be worried about losing it as well - just make sure your man is happy!
Offer “physical support.” In case you can’t read between the lines, this means “have sex.”
Encourage him. Even though you want to be a responsible adult and talk about what your options are regarding unemployment checks or trimming the family budget, if you ask about it you will be “prying.” So just devote more time to reassuring your husband that he’s wonderful and special.
I’m kind of ashamed to admit it, but after 2+ years of running this site, I had never seen the seminal assistant movie Swimming with Sharks. However, thanks to my brand new Netflix subscription, I finally watched the movie this morning. My initial thoughts (complete with spoilers, so if you haven’t watched it beware) are after the jump.
Liz Funk is the author of Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls. Her book deals with the pressures many women and girls face to be ‘perfect’ at everything, often to their own personal detriment. She very kindly agreed to answer some questions from me about how this concept applies to the workplace.
STA: Do you think that, despite many laws and other concentrated efforts for gender equality, women are treated differently in the workplace? LF: Absolutely. At each and every level, there are different standards and expectations for women. The most frequently echoed frustration that I heard from young women working on the job search and starting in their career track is not knowing what to do with their femininity, and trying to strike a balance between being cute and pretty and being competent. There is also a tendency to view women supervisors as mother figures, and we hold women in the office to a certain standard of niceness, and there’s a real trickle-down effect that compels many women at work to sugar-coat things.
STA: What particular goals, pressures, and ideas do women bring into the office? LF: I personally feel that femininity is a great tool. As a whole, women are very intuitive and they’re natural negotiators. Powerful women aren’t always bulls the way powerful men frequently are, and I think women are better at meeting people where they’re at and finding common ground. Also, something that I’ve overwhelmingly noticed is that girls are much better at impressing others in workplace and having career common-sense, and I think they’re much less overentitled than guys (which is something that is scarcely brought-up in this “Gen Y overentitlement” media brouhaha).
STA: Where do you think this notion of “women must be perfect” come from?
April 28th is Equal Pay Day. I’m not sure exactly whether the day is supposed to be about “celebrating” the fact that men and women are allegedly being paid equally or about bemoaning the fact that men still make more than women for doing the same jobs. I’m going with the latter, obviously. Marie Claire has some sobering stats that we should keep in mind today:
For every dollar a man makes, a woman makes 78 cents. That number has climbed 1 cent since 2006.
Fresh-out-of-college women make $15,498 less per year than the boys; over a 35-year career, they’ll make $210,000 less.
A 25-year-old female PR specialist makes the same as her male colleagues; 20 years later, she’ll make about $35,000 less.
She-EOs make $303,000 less than their male counterparts.
Male primary-care physicians make 22 percent more than lady docs.
Male IT workers make 11.9 percent more than geekettes.
According to the American Association of University Women, at the current rate, we’ll reach pay equity in 2040.
Woo, what a fun holiday! Time for some Jager bombs in the break room!
When a boss or manager is having to make the incredibly difficult decision about which employees to let go, there are a lot of factors they take into consideration. According to an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, this means younger women are one of the groups most likely to be laid off. Why?
“There’s the stereotype around young women that they don’t need the job as much as someone else needs it,” because they are not as valuable to the company or may not have a family to support, says Simma Lieberman, a workplace consultant in Albany, Calif.
Also, women are more likely to try and ‘blend in’ at a company so as not to cause trouble or be a target. While this can help them to skate by, when times get tough it may mean that they should have spent the last few months making sure everybody knew what they had accomplished and advertising their achievements.
It’s part of your job to show your boss how valuable you are to the company. Many young women tend to shy away or downplay their successes, where men find it more natural to promote themselves, says Wendy Alfus-Rothman, president of business psychology firm Wenroth Consulting, Inc. in New York. By contrast, women tend to “hint and assume that if they do a good job other people will notice,” she says.
It’s sad, but it’s true. I have been tremendously guilty of this at a past job: I just kept sitting around and batting my eyelashes waiting for someone to congratulate me on my good work. It never happened. It sucks, but learning how to brag about myself once in a while - in a tasteful way, of course - has been one of the hardest things I’ve done in the workplace. But it was worth it.
When I was a kid, I watched a lot of reruns of old TV shows on Nick at Nite. And the show that I loved best of all was The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I didn’t totally have the language to explain it at the time, but even as a little girl I understood that Mary was awesome and feminist and a woman doing it on her own.
This is the original version of the now-iconic theme song. [How old? It's from the first season, and the chorus is "you might just make it after all" instead of the more optimistic "you're gonna make it after all."] This one shows her driving to Minneapolis to start her new life instead of already there, but it still has the famous beret-toss at the end. Watch it, get it stuck in your head the rest of the day, and get inspired.
Bill Geddie, along with Baba Wawa herself, produces the zaniness that is The View. This week, he spoke to Mediabistro.com about his job. There were some really choice - by which I mean ‘weird’ or ‘made me kind of annoyed’ - quotes in there. Of course, since he’s a dude producing a show where a bunch of women talk, there are an embarrassing amount of questions about what it’s like working with all that estrogen around.
A sampling of Geddie ‘wisdom’:
We [he and Walters] have a mommy and daddy relationship with the staff — the only difference is I’m the mommy and she’s the daddy. I have to do it hands-on day in and day out much like, I think, traditionally women have to do with their children. She’s the dad that comes in now and then and says, ‘I don’t like this.’ I’ve always thought of it that way.
I figured what happened for me in a previous life is that I abused women. I have these two Barbaras in my life, my two daughters and these five women. I think it’s some sort of penance… No, I don’t feel that way. Also, I don’t feel like I understand women any better [than] when we started 12 years ago. I am not some miracle worker or Alan Alda or Phil Donahue-type that just has a real sense of what women want.
Even if you’ve never watched the show, you’ve probably heard of The View, the AM ladies-only chatfest led by veteran journalist Barbara Walters. And if you have heard of it, you’ve probably heard about it in the context of one of the catfights or political disagreements on the show. Here’s the thing that bugs me: I don’t care if the hosts like each other or not, I’m tuning in for some interesting (and occasionally thought-provoking) television, I’m not tuning in to hear about how much these five combative coworkers supposedly care about each other (although not about their show’s production assistants).
You are not legally required to love, or be best friends, with your coworkers. All you have to do is work together in a civil and polite fashion. If you happen to really like each other and want to hang out outside of work, that’s cool, but certainly not a must. What bothers me is that Barbara Walters can’t just say that the women of The View come in and do their jobs every day and then go back to their lives, she has to insist as loudly as she can to anyone who will listen that the View cohosts are all BFFs who engage in constant spontaneous group hugs and get each other presents on Valentine’s Day.
I love Mad Men. However, as a feminist, there are definitely some things about the show that I find difficult to watch. The show is being historically accurate, and they do a great job showing the layers of all their characters, but having a 21st century mindset makes some scenes incredibly difficult to endure - the scene where some of the guys in the office chase down a secretary to see what color underwear she has on, for example, or the one where Betty’s psychologist reports on the details of her therapy session to her husband. Today, 
Even if you’ve never watched the show, you’ve probably heard of The View, the AM ladies-only chatfest led by veteran journalist Barbara Walters. And if you have heard of it, you’ve probably heard about it in the context of one of the catfights or political disagreements on the show. Here’s the thing that bugs me: I don’t care if the hosts like each other or not, I’m tuning in for some interesting (and occasionally thought-provoking) television, I’m not tuning in to hear about how much these five combative coworkers supposedly care about each other (although not about