After allegations that Harvey Weinstein, a Hollywood movie producer, sexually harassed his female employees, he was forced to leave his production company, was removed from the prestigious Academy of Arts and Sciences, and created a media sensation with a hashtag #metoo, for women to reveal that they had been sexually harassed as well. Within hours, millions upon millions of women came forth with their stories.
There is no excuse for someone hurting another, but there is the matter of consent, and at what point a woman’s actions conveys consent.
Let’s not pretend that we are all naïve. Really!!! We are sexual beings. Put men and women in any situation and watch the pheromones kick in. That’s how we were created, and that is why religion works hard to govern it.
There is no escaping that people dress in a way which conveys who they are, what they want, and how they want people to see them. In an ideal world, we would spend time getting to know each person to determine who they are and what we think of them. But that is not how society works, in fact a point on subject is the shidduch resume.
A boy wants to see a resume before he agrees to a first date, what he wants to see is the picture on the resume. Try giving a boy a shidduch resume without a picture, and the girl is doomed, there is an assumption she is not pretty, and the boy need look into her no further.
Women spend hours every day on our beauty: Clothing, plastic surgery, makeup, hair, nails, gym etc. And BILLIONS of dollars each year on it. To change what we don’t like, and enhance our beauty.
Towards what end? Sit yourself on a bench in Cedarhurst and watch the women on Central Avenue at lunch time:
$6,000 sheitls that are long and elegantly sexy
Kiki rikis that hug the body
Spanks hugging behinds under skirts
Eye lash extensions
Botox
Highlights
Permanent tattooed makeup so you can look madeup in your sleep
And media supporting women as venuses.
Hiring is about chemistry, as any people interaction is. A woman goes on an interview dressed beautifully, and she is there to sell her skills. But first she has to connect with the interviewer, both male and female.
Work is not all work, it cant be for 12 hours a day. There has to be social interaction. A woman, working in a male dominated world, which is what the workplace has been in the last 50 years, has to build chemistry with those around her. Many times, workers go out for lunch or dinner. If she wants to move up the corporate ladder, she has to attend these outings, to build her network and rapport with those around her. They have a couple of drinks, talk about personal lives and there is fertile grounds for men and women to get physically closer. She is out with men to rise in the corporate structure, and feels that if she says no to the man who is above her on that ladder, she will not advance in her career. The conundrum.
Why have women remained silent for so long. Because not only, will that woman not advance in her career, she might even lose her job. If she sues for sexual harassment, she will be known in the industry, the employment industry, as a trouble maker and risks losing all employment opportunities. A major drawback for all, but especially for women in high-paying jobs, where opportunity is scarce.
Diversity is malarchy, its lip service. Statistics will show that more women were employed in the last ten years, but analysis will reveal why. Almost ten years ago, the major recession hit. Those in high paying jobs were fired. The men. The women in the lower paying jobs were retained. BUT because they were retained, as business improved, these women were provided an opportunity to prove themselves and rise in the company, which was a boon for the companies, because they paid these high-rising women a fraction of what they were paying men in the same positions. An article in the NY Post, April 14, 2017:
Overall, occupations that are more than 80 percent female are projected to grow at nearly twice the rate of jobs that are at least 60 percent male between 2014 and 2024, according to research out this week from the jobs site Indeed and its chief economist, Jed Kolko. The site researched Bureau of Labor Statistics and found that many are jobs that are traditionally dominated by women — including occupational therapy assistants, physical therapy assistants and nurse practitioners — are growing at the fastest rate. They will grow at about a 40 percent rate, compared to an overall rate of 6.5 percent for all jobs.
In fact, when more women tend to enter a certain field and it becomes more female dominated, pay in those professions drop, according to a study by researchers at Stanford, New York University and the University of Pennsylvania.
Between 1950 and 2000, as women started to become designers in large numbers, pay in that profession fell 34 percentage points, their study showed. Wages for housekeepers fell 21 percentage points and those for biologists fell 18 percentage points. As women entered the field of recreation, including working in parks or summer camps, pay fell 57 percentage points between 1950 and 2000.
Where there are men and women, there will be sexual tension. Men move up the corporate ladder by cozying up to their superiors by building rapport and interactive chemistry, and women too. But when women cozy up to their male superiors, it sends the same message of rapport and chemistry, but between men and women it can easily turn sexual, and at what point she pulls back on her consent will depend on how much she wants to retain her job or be promoted.
Women have cracked the glass ceiling in employment, but we are a great distance from employment equality and pay parity with men. That’s the reality. This imbalance permits the environment in which bosses can say to female underlings, take me or leave.