Believe it or not, I don't make a living by blogging and tweeting.
Yes, I confess I have a day job. I toil in an engineering department. I console
myself and amuse my colleagues with Dilbert strips I post outside my cubicle.
But I've digressed before I've even started. Over the years, there
has been an unmistakable growth in the participation of women in the
profession. Don't misunderstand, the population of the workplace is still
majority male, but the percentage of the fairer sex we see now is considerable.
And I mean women doing engineering, not just administrating or bean counting.
This increased participation is good for many reasons, but I want
to point out a very particular, little talked about benefit. This is it: a
workplace that is more balanced between the genders is a workplace that is more
like real life.
In the real world there are men and women. So, unless you like
weird dystopias, at the work place there should be men and women. This
observation seems almost too irrefutable to comment on any further, but I have
some more time to kill.
At an all male work place, what can you expect but mindless
conversations about sports, cars, and Jennifer Aniston's ass? Oh, and hear
clearly misogynist jokes like this one:
Man to friend: I had a really embarrassing Freudian slip the other
day. I was at the airport and I saw this chick with really huge chest beefers.
When I went to the counter to check in my bags, I slipped and said, "I
need to check my bags through to Tits-burgh."
Friend to Man: Oh, that's nothing. I had a whopper of Freudian
slip that beats that one. One morning I was having breakfast with my wife. I
meant to say, "Please pass the cream and sugar." Instead, I slipped
and said, "You ruined my whole effing life bitch."
Actually that's pretty funny. I'm sorry ladies. Do forgive me.
An all female work place might be even worse. From the vicious
squabbles I've observed, it seems apparent that women very often don't like
working with other women.
Woman #1: (Shouts halfway across the office.) Hey! Felicia! Can
you resend that cost sheet? My inbox was full. It must have bounced!
Woman #2 in next cubicle: Will you stop shouting? I am trying to
concentrate!
Woman #1: Shut up!
Woman #2: Don't tell me to shut up! I'm a grown woman! No one
tells me to shut up!
Woman #1: Well I'm telling you to shut up!
Woman #2: Only if you want a roll of packing tape wrapped around
your head!
YadaYadaYada. Perhaps in the all-woman you hear male-insensitive jokes like this
one:
Why does the doctor slap the baby's bottom when it's born? To
knock the penises off the smart ones!
(That's funny too.) Anyway, welcome to work, ladies. Please be
punctual.
This is a great piece! Yes. Women working with all women can get ugly. I tell my husband all the time how I pity him because he had to marry one!
ReplyDeleteBig mistake! You know you have to maintain that all is HIS fault! My wife has mastered this strategy. However, I remain unrefuted. That's my story and I'm sticking it to her. By the way the way, on the previous point (RE: "Ten Things You Must Know..."), you asserted divine intervention, while I referred only to "naturally occurring elements." I stand, as always, UNREFUTED!! Thanks for testing the premise of the blog! Sincerely, thanks for interacting with my nonsense. It is very much appreciated.
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