{"id":5917,"date":"2013-05-01T12:08:38","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T17:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/?p=5917"},"modified":"2013-05-01T12:08:38","modified_gmt":"2013-05-01T17:08:38","slug":"small-change-big-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/2013\/05\/01\/small-change-big-wins\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Change, Big Wins"},"content":{"rendered":"

We know about the gendered wage gaps in the workplace. It\u2019s old news that women are wildly underrepresented in top leadership positions at companies across the nation. And it\u2019s clear that men need to be on board in order to for women to achieve equity in the workplace. Men have a central role in improving the workplace<\/a> as we move into the future. But to be effective in accomplishing productive solutions, we need to scratch beneath the surface and look beyond salary and the corner office.<\/p>\n

Most men believe that all people should have the same opportunities based on qualifications, not gender. What about that guy at the conference table \u2014 you know, the one who means well but still puts a sexist foot in his mouth.<\/p>\n

Allow me to suggest a few tips to share with co-workers about why gender equity matters and what men can do in taking a lead.<\/p>\n

As I explain in my book Men and Feminism<\/a>, masculine privilege is the idea that society awards certain unearned perks and advantages on men simply because they are male. Sometimes this privilege is really obvious, like the fact that Congress remains overwhelmingly male. But masculine privilege also flies under the radar. Institutional practices and ideological beliefs about masculine superiority seem so normal or natural that we\u2019ve learned not to notice when a man\u2019s opinion is taken more seriously than a woman\u2019s.<\/p>\n

And, let\u2019s face it. The workplace is nothing if not an institution.<\/p>\n

As Michael Welp<\/a> explains, it\u2019s to men\u2019s individual advantage to inquire more about others and step back a bit from chronic self-advocacy and self-promotion. Listening more and speaking less can \u201ccollectively shift the culture in organizations toward more inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s a hard sell to convince folks with power and privilege to step aside and share a bit of that pie, then it helps to remember that gender equity improves a company\u2019s bottom line. Michael Kimmel<\/a> points out that equality \u201cincreases a company\u2019s profitability, enhances its reputation in the outside world, and boosts employee morale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exposing invisible patterns and practices allows us to think critically about the links between gender privilege and sexism. One way masculine privilege operates is in how men (and women) are taught to see sexism as \u201cindividual acts of meanness,\u201d says scholar Peggy McIntosh. What\u2019s really going on, though, is that sexism is supported by invisible systems that perpetuate and maintain dominance for men as a group.<\/p>\n

What Men Can Do (and Encourage Other Men to Do):<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Engage don\u2019t interrupt. Be quiet. Don\u2019t talk-over others. Communication is a two-way street, and some people have been socialized to cross that street more slowly than others. Research shows that women speak less when they’re outnumbered<\/a> while men are groomed for assertiveness. Simply put: talk less; listen more.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Wait for a response before continuing. Ask more questions and don\u2019t assume you know more than the person you\u2019re speaking to.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Remember: authority, expertise and strength<\/a> come in all shapes, sizes, colors<\/a>, and wardrobes. A hot manicure does not preclude a hot IQ as 16-year-old Mensa-member Lauren Marbe<\/a> can attest.<\/p>\n

In my recent book Men Speak Out<\/a>, a collection of first-person perspectives on gender, sex, and power, Ian Breckenridge-Jackson sums up the issues of privilege in the workplace really well. Ian was part of a mixed-gender volunteer crew working to rebuild homes in the Lower Ninth Ward in post-Katrina New Orleans. \u201cMen would often challenge women\u2019s competence on the worksite, particularly women in leadership positions. For instance, men often assumed women were ignorant about using tools, leading men to inappropriately offer unsolicited advice to women about how they should do their work,\u201d Breckenridge-Jackson explains. And even though he was tempted to step in, take over, do the job himself, and explain to the women how things get done, he had to check himself. \u201cAll men owe this both to the women in their lives and to themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

There might not be a perfect solution, but we can certainly start the process, and we can easily commit earnestly to change. Men have a crucial role in promoting this workplace change by refusing to be bystanders to the problem.<\/p>\n

First published on www.onthemarc.org.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We know about the gendered wage gaps in the workplace. It\u2019s old news that women are wildly underrepresented in top leadership positions at companies across the nation. And it\u2019s clear that men need to be on board in order to for women to achieve equity in the workplace. Men have a central role in improving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1906,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21117,1,21120],"tags":[17648,950,245,55,1976,876,21577,21578,21964,3687,76,1008],"class_list":["post-5917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-man-files-2","category-uncategorized","category-xy-files","tag-bystanders","tag-communication","tag-feminism","tag-gender","tag-masculinity","tag-men","tag-men-and-feminism","tag-men-speak-out","tag-solutions","tag-wage-gap","tag-work","tag-workplace"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1906"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5917"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5928,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5917\/revisions\/5928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}