Workplace sexism is no myth, but to many men, it isn’t as visible as we’d like it to be. A recent story caught the eye of the Twittersphere and has people talking about sexism in the workplace and how it’s blatant presence is obvious to women while seemingly invisible to men.
The true story about a female employee, told by a male co-worker, explained how even via email women are discriminated against. After accidentally using his female co-worker’s signature, Martin Schneider realized that clients were unreasonably rude and difficult when they thought they were dealing with a female employee. When he and Nicole Halberg (the female employee) brought this about to their boss, they were met with denial and resistance.
Nicole wrote her own piece chronicling the event from her point of view and the many instances of workplace sexism she had to endure day in and day out just trying to get her work done. In a piece she wrote for Medium she explained how even upon being hired she received sexist comments–one from her boss being “I wasn’t going to consider hiring any females, but I’m glad I did. You should be proud, I had thousands of applications but yours stuck out to me, and made me decide to give hiring a girl a try.” Comments like these, along with being effectively ignored and talked over in meetings and plain conversation, drove home the sexist attitude of the office to Nicole.
After the email signature incident and countless other sexist jabs, Nicole decided to leave her job and pursue her own business–one where she doesn’t have to deal with constant sexism–but her story and the way she and her friend Martin shared it inspire us to stand up against workplace sexism. Read the whole Twitter story here.
Top photo via Creative Commons
More from BUST
9 Women’s Strikes That Came Before A Day Without A Woman
Male Marines Share Nude Photos Of Female Colleagues
Dear Dad, Why Aren’t You Listening To Me?
