People Strategies: Sexism still around, but in some cases more subtle

Linda Bower is a speaker, executive coach and human performance improvement consultant in Rogersville.

Discussing or writing about sexism in the workplace is something I normally avoid. I assume that my views are clear to anyone I meet: Women belong in the workplace and without being harassed. It's a short conversation; it wouldn't fill a 750-word article for this column.

Having just returned from my 25th reunion from Stephens College for women in Columbia, I am reminded of the many business speeches, articles and books that still need to be written about this issue.

My classmates were a colorful kaleidoscope of liberal arts education for women. All of us had some level of professional experience, including a criminal defense attorney, a college psychology professor and the president and CEO of The Gathering Place, for Denver's homeless families.

Stephens women undoubtedly have a way about them; a confidence that is difficult to measure. The 10 Stephens College ideals had obviously become a part of us respect, intelligence, support, courage, leadership, belief, creativity, intelligence, independence and sensitivity. I regret not conducting a formal survey about sexism in the workplace.

The subject of sexism arose when one of the alums shared her professional experiences with a Women's Studies class of students and alumnae. She had not sued for sexual discrimination, in a clear case, due to the future implications on her career. No alum could disagree with her decision; we'd all faced it and made the same choice.

Being "physically appraised" during a job interview seemed to be a common experience among alums. The students were warned about this, though I didn't hear what they were told to do about it.

No one claimed that things are markedly better. In general, professional women are perceived as still being blocked from the power-jobs often disadvantaged by doing the bulk of the housework and taking primary responsible for child-rearing. The glass ceiling is perceived as very real and generally shatter-proof.

Some perceived that sexism had become more subtle. For example, women are being promoted into impossible jobs without appropriate support resources. This can't be proven statistically; we merely observed that men don't get put into jobs like that as often.

Women can be as ignorant and as apathetic as men about sexism in the workplace. Part of the problem is that there is no universally accepted definition of sexist behaviors, be they demonstrated by men or women.

The tricky part of workplace sexism is its vulnerability to perspective. People have a wide range of sensitivity to humor, for example. Managers have difficulty defining standards for appropriate jokes, pranks and office banter. It seems to depend completely on the individuals involved.

To be fair, several companies have made strides in educating employees about avoiding sexism. In one such course, I learned how to hug appropriately by using an "A" frame as a model. I was told to never touch pelvises when hugging in professional situations. It seemed a rather small step for such a long journey.

The president and CEO of The Gathering Place is professionally fighting sexism on a city level. Denver recently received $3 million allocated to its homeless people. All of it went to programs for men. My classmate had a lone voice in pointing out that 60 percent of Denver's homeless are women; one third is children. She did get the decision makers to agree it was an oversight.

None of my classmates expressed feeling beaten by sexism in the workplace; we all seemed to have learned how to navigate by refusing its power. We've built strong networks, acted on our levels of tolerance and maintained empathy for the influences of gender socialization. We missed the opportunity to acknowledge the collective influence we had had in the workplace.

Maybe the most significant indicator of our current views on sexism was reflected in our embracing of a classmate's husband. Dennis has accompanied Mary Ann to four reunions. He participated in our events and inadvertently became a mirror to the evolutionary power of our group. When it came time to vote for Mary Ann as our new class president, we asked Dennis to be co-president.

It was unanimous, the "feminist" class of 1979 had voted for a man as co-class president. It warmed me to see the battles for gender equality had not turned us bitter toward the future. We didn't take an easy opportunity to exclude a man from our inner circle.