As college students, and specifically female college students, the realities of working in the professional world are things we need to start preparing ourselves. Unlike our male counterparts, there are many more things that we need to think about, be conscious of, and prepare for before graduating. Unfortunately, many of these things are not good.
Sexism is still very much our reality and most definitely in our future and the better prepared we are, the better.
If you have not started researching workplace sexism and policies specifically for women, I would encourage you to do so.
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg is a great starter-book to introduce you to very real and very important issues women face in the professional world. It does not encompass everything—not even close—but it helps in gaining quick stats and helps start your research.
Forbs and the New York Times also published countless articles about gender inequality and gender workplace trends. The research is out there and you should look for it. It’s impressive and horrifying all at once.
Trust me, it will be incredibly helpful to know where you stand in a company that pays you 30% less than a male co-worker with the exact same qualifications just because you are a woman. And that’s just the average which means women are also paid less than 30%!
Women even surpassed men in attaining the most bachelor’s degrees, meaning there are a greater number of educated women than men in the U.S. now, and we are still being paid less.
The Pew Research Center found that the U.S. was the only nation out of the 41 evaluated that does not mandate paid maternity leave. On average, maternity leave in the U.S. is at best 6 weeks if they offer maternity leave at all. Many companies may even fire a woman who is pregnant or a woman with a family because she won’t be able to work as long due to family obligations. Keep in mind that looking at these studies are also affected by many other factors, such as societal expectations for women to settle down and have kids, perceptions that women should put families before their career (which men are not expected to do normally), and countless others.
Sheryl’s book is a good starter because she mentions that the reason that women are always freezing at work is that the room temperature is adjusted to a man’s body temperature which typically runs hotter than our own, instead of a woman’s.
Subtle, isn’t it?
Women are less likely to be in leadership positions within a company. Meaning, your boss will more than likely be a man, no matter how high up in a company you get.
Workplace harassment, thanks to the #MeToo Movement, is being addressed more and more, but the reality is that it is still happening. The tradition of men in power using that power to threaten, coerce, and mistreat women in “lesser” positions than them is still a harsh reality for us.
The United States Department of Labor has this lovely website to help report and handle workplace harassment (sarcasm). There are also plenty of other resources as I am simply a messenger, not an expert, and claim no great knowledge on it but you can educate yourself and make sure you are protected.
You are the only one who can protect yourself, just remember that.
Being a woman in the modern workplace is getting better and there are companies that believe in pay equality—but it’s on a company-to-company basis. Not all companies have these policies and it’s up to you to find if they do or not—or if they have paid maternity leave if you’re planning on having a family, or if their company values focus on the employee’s well-being in general.
These are great things to look for, especially harassment claims against CEO’s or misconduct by their managers. The behavior of a company is modeled by the behavior of their management all the way to their CEOs and their board members. People look to managers as a reference for their own behavior, so if their behavior promotes being disrespectful to women, then the employees think that that behavior is acceptable and will treat their female coworkers in the same way.
If they have behavior that you don’t agree with, then you probably don’t want to work for that company, period. But do your research!
I could go on and on about the million other sexist tendencies that are socially acceptable in the professional world that shouldn’t be, but this helps jump-start your own searches and own self-education.
There are more women in this country than men, and we are subjected to fewer opportunities, less pay, less respect, and less decency than our male counterparts simply because of our gender.
We need to start promoting better practices and speaking out against these trends and turn it around. We need to start holding companies accountable by working for companies who have equality policies, promote female leadership, and even companies run by women.
This may not always be possible and we need to be aware and prepared for the worst, unfortunately.
I wish this wasn’t the case but it is.
But we don’t have to accept that kind of treatment, either. We simply have to know enough about it, do our research, and choose wisely for our own sakes.
Best of luck in your research! I hope you find empowerment from it.
We are more power than we know.