Response Post 3.29

Megan Pinand: “Stories from the Sidelines”

In this article, Pinand offers many personal examples of her experiences with gender and the corporate world. She discusses different types of jobs that she has had and how those experiences have taught her about sexism in the workplace. Her general experience with her superiors reminded me of a story that my friend once shared with me. She works at a large corporate company, and has been working there for a many years. In fact, she has been working there long to see her boss go from a single guy to a married man with kids. She told me that the company’s policy on maternity leave and work hours in general has completely changed since he has had children. Before the CEO had children, he was extremely strict and harsh about people (specifically women) taking maternity leave or leaving work a little early to do something with/for their kids. He was extremely harsh and made my friend feel like she had to make a very clear-cut choice between family and her career. Because of the strict rules, my friend had to work very hard with her husband to make everything at home go smoothly. For example, she wasn’t able to get home in time to cook dinner, so her husband would take on duty (among others).

However, once the CEO had children, his attitude on family-related things changed completely. Suddenly he was leaving work early and encouraging others to do the same! My friend was so happy that she could finally spend more time with her family. I think it was nice that the CEO finally realized that it’s very difficult for working parents to balance their family life with their work. However, it makes me upset that he didn’t think to give working mothers and fathers some leeway when it came to work…before he became a father. Hopefully he can set the example that CEOs should be more understanding of their employees who are trying to balance family and work life.

In relation to balancing family and work life, I think that this youtube video is interesting to think about. This young 5 year old girl already knows what she wants in life...she wants to have a job before she gets married! The video has become very popular and I think it's hilarious, but it's also important to think about the deeper message. It's totally possible that this girl is saying that "she wants a job before she gets married" because her parents have told her to be funny. But, it's also possible that she has been raised in a family that values personal success over romantic relationships. If so, this could be a reflection that children today are being taught that jobs are more important than family life.

Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u2JuWroTn4