By Sophia Lashmar, Year 11
We, as LGB students, exist in a school environment that respects and celebrates our differences, and fights for equality. However, when we leave this school, what awaits us? At work, women are faced with an unacceptable level of gender discrimination. Many women in the workplace are victims of harsh pay gaps for the same jobs as men, they are treated with less respect and consideration than their male counterparts and suffer from male colleagues blocking their career progression. This is not to say that all men, nor all businesses and companies are sexist and mistreat women in the workplace, but it is significant enough to say that some men, some companies, and some laws need to change.
First, women are affected by an enormous wage gap compared to men. Did you know that even in Switzerland, a fairly progressive country, women earn about 18% less money than men? According to the Swiss Government, “Women’s pay slips show an average of CHF 1500 per month less than those of men. 52% of this gap can be explained by objective factors such as professional status, years of service or qualifications”. However, this does beg the question: What about the other 48%? Government legislation and company policies need to change in response to these shocking statistics by closing the gender pay gap for equivalent jobs.
It is equally important to consider the day-to-day treatment of women in the workplace, as women experience abuse and harassment in many forms. For example, women are often victims of derogatory jokes, and criticised for their clothing choices. In addition, working women are also often the victims of cruel and unfair stereotypes. For instance, if a woman is assertive, she will not be applauded, but labelled ‘too bossy’, or if she is not assertive enough, she will be called ‘too emotional’ or ‘weak’. This goes to show that women’s voices in the workplace are accorded less value than those of men, simply because there are entrenched values and stereotypes that are still employed to intimidate and hold women back from their full potential.
Even if it is not done consciously, women in the workplace can also be victims of “mansplaining” and “hepeating”. These are words that evolved around the same time as the #Metoo movement, and they are commonly used to label situations where women are disrespected and others (generally men) take credit for their ideas. Mansplaining, when men interrupt women or explain things in a derogatory manner to demean them and their intelligence, is a phenomenon apparent both in and outside of the workplace. However, hepeating is work-specific, as it labels the all too common scenario where men repeat and use women’s ideas that have been previously ignored, but the men themselves are then applauded. Even more unfair is that if women do complain about disrespect, discrimination, harassment or assault, they are sometimes risking their careers, as they are much less likely to be promoted if they are characterised as ‘difficult’. The issue with this is that there are rules in place, intended to combat this very situation, however the discrepancy between what is the law and the rules, and what is done, is far too great. In order to overcome and fight this institutional sexism, both attitudes and rules need to change.
Female students at Ecolint will one day go out into the world and into the workplace where unfortunately some of them will suffer from sexism. Not all businesses and companies are like the ones discussed in this article, but far too many still are. It is unacceptable that smart, hardworking women have to endure these injustices once they leave school. Throughout their educational experience at Ecolint, they and their ideas are equally respected, valued and celebrated as much as anyone else’s, so why must this end when students become employees and join the workforce?
Source: https://www.ebg.admin.ch/ebg/en/home/topics/work/equal-pay/background-information/facts-and-figures.html#:~:text=Women’s%20pay%20slips%20show%20an,years%20of%20service%20or%20qualifications.
