Labor / Employment, On The Job, Women's Issues

Sometimes Being A Woman, At Work, Is Hard Work. Persist.

Employment lawyer Beth Robinson explores different types of gender bias in the workplace.

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Senator Elizabeth Warren: nevertheless, she persisted (by Tim Pierce via Wikimedia)

Recently, I’ve read excellent pieces about some of the issues the few women in Congress are facing when they dare to raise their voices. I wish I could say this treatment is shocking. But I’m an attorney. And my specialty is employment law. It is not shocking at all.

No, being a woman at work can absolutely be hard work. If you don’t believe me, I’ve provided a few examples for your review, of things that literally cannot happen to men, but that are the reality for female employees. They fall into two buckets really: assumptions based on eventual pregnancy, and just general bias.

The “Pregnancy” Penalty

One of the biggest issues women in the workplace face is the pregnancy-age-related wage penalty. The wage gap really appears at the time that professional women are expected to have children. Now, as I’ve said before, even women who never marry or have children are punished by this gap. But the expectation of childbirth creates the pregnancy penalty. And when is the last time you heard someone ask if a male employee will keep working after having children?

But it’s not just the wage gap that sucks.  The dearth of pregnancy-related leave protections is also a huge issue for women employees. If the human species is to continue, women must keep having babies. The test-tube babies aren’t ready just yet. The only leave policy country-wide is found in the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and it applies only to schools, government agencies, and private employers with 50 or more employees.

Nearly half of all private-sector employees are not covered by the FMLA. I’m not covered by the FMLA, or any state laws here in Colorado. Good thing we have finished having kids (we stopped at one).

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So, you ask, why can’t women just use their PTO? First, other laws, well intentioned I’m sure, combine to make PTO use an issue for female employees. For example, many states treat paid leave like wages: they must be paid upon separation of employment. Employers, particularly small employers who don’t have a lot of money lying around, are then reluctant to give employees meaningful paid leave.  And because employees value their ability to control staffing, unpaid leave is often off the table.

Then there is the physical reality of childbirth. Pro tip: it takes more than 9 months to make a human being in your body, and the process, not just the birth, does a huge number on your body. Do you really think a woman can have a baby via C-section, a major surgery where they cut you open and move around your internal organs to remove a human being from your body, and return to work in two weeks, and have everything be a-ok? As I’ve written before, women don’t think, after one of the most expensive developments in their lives: I should really quit my job for fun. Oh no, the decision to leave employment post-pregnancy is often a combination of factors. In addition to the prohibitive cost of child-care, it’s often related to the fact that a woman must choose her job or her health.

Straight-Up Bias

But pregnancy aside, the one issue women face in general, at age 21 or 41, regardless of where they are in their careers, is gender bias. It’s documented. It’s real. Some might say it’s a small pay difference, but it’s a huge difference in how one is treated, the refusal to acknowledge it aside. It’s why men in women-dominated fields earn more. People believe awful things about female employees, even other female employees (because that’s how bias works, it convinces everyone). Furthermore, heaven help us when biases intersect for women (e.g., gender discrimination plus age discrimination).

So what is an employee to do? Persist. Seriously, it’s the only way that things change. Do good work and keep showing up.  If, when things get tough, women give up, nothing will ever change. The secret is to persist. At the next congressional hearing, I highly doubt that Kamala Harris is going to stop asking questions. She’s faced all types of bias to get where she is, and a little more won’t stop her. Oh no, she will be back. Because she knows, and women in the workplace realize, that persistence is the only solution.

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But, if you find yourself facing a lot of bias in your workplace, talk to a good employment lawyer.

Earlier:

beth-robinsonBeth Robinson lives in Denver and is a business law attorney and employment law guru. She practices at Fortis Law Partners. You can reach her at employmentlawgurubr@gmail.com and follow her on Twitter at @HLSinDenver.

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