Yeah, Foxy, so sorry to hear about you getting shafted. In a manner of speaking.

So much of this goes on in the workplace and it really sux the big one. Even though you love your job I also would think its time to start looking for a new one even if, on one level, you might consider it cutting off your nose to spite your face. Who knows, if you give in your notice they might realise they need you enough to actually pay you what you're worth?

What also sux is how we were always told as kids that if we worked hard for something we would get rewarded. Yeah. Right.

Foxy, do you prefer Kathy or Foxy?
I'm sorry to hear about the junk at work. That sounds very crappy.

Hope I'm not adding to your bad day, I generally like the honesty of your posts so I'm not trying to pick on you.

I don't generally call myself a feminist, but sometimes it's the closest label I can find to describe my preference for equality of opportunity regardless of gender.

I'm feminist when feminism is about a fair go for women and men, not when it's about dumping on men. Feminism has given us the tools and language to talk about gender issues. It's made it relatively easy for people to consider stepping outside traditional gender roles. I'm a full time single dad and that role is made easier by the awareness of gender issues which feminism has created.

I hope your week gets better and that you find a way to turn the stuff at work into to something good.

R0bert

All interesting posts!
My 2 cents, I believe most its about overcoming your "conditioning"
As a child and then in middle age we are conditioned to represent the "norm" By being introduced to to the "abnormal" most fall into two categories. One of curiosity as to anothers belief, alternately to deny an alternative position.
So you have the curious and the fixed. Personally I did it the hard way, first I was a denyalist, then curiosity overcame my fixed perceptions.
All made for an interesting life!!
fluff4

foxy: "Men only call themselves 'feminists' in the hope of getting a more intelligent root. Kathy Lette."

Well I've never actually called myself a 'feminist', but I have noticed over the years that women like to be treated as equals and tend to respond accordingly :)

Re Foxy's work situation - aren't you supposedly able to just go out and get a better job and negotiate more equitable treatment these days? I thought that's what WorkChoices is all about - you've never had it better, Foxy!

Thanks everyone for your comments. I apologise for having gone off the mark - it was inappropriate to whinge about my workplace situation.

I just find it frustrating that in corporate and other workplaces, women find themselves promoted - up to a point.

Women may be 44 percent of the work force, but they are less than 5 percent of the senior executives; they may be 71 percent of class-room teachers, but they are only 2 percent of school principals; they may be half the population, but they have very few seats on boards of the nation's leading corporations.

Why do women stop short of the top? One reason, no doubt, is the attitude of many men. Corporate leadership is a kind of old-boy network; there is no old-girl network to speak of. There are still many men who feel a woman should be at home, or in bed, or having babies -(look at the criticism of Julia Gillard) - rather than hiring, firing, and ordering men around.

In an atmosphere of often earthy male comaraderie, the combination of female competence and sexual attractiveness can be unsettling and even threatening. Another reason may be that the socialization process tends to produce women who lack the self-confidence and determination to compete with men for career goals.

Women are taught from childhood to be nice, to defer to men, to listen without interrupting, to be supportive rather than competitive.
The few women who do rise toward the top tend to be those who have learned to behave in some respects in a "masculine" and assertive way,
for this is the style that the corporate world understands.

Other women, whose management style is less abrasive and more caring, are - thus far - less appreciated at the higher levels of the corporate culture.

Anyway, I won't say any more on this subject - and I again apologise for this little rant. One thing I don't want to be is - boring!

Dear Botheration,

You asked what gender am I on one of my other posts... I'm a female, in my fourties, of Russian ancestry, married, with two children...