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One reason it's not OK, at least in tech, is that women are so hugely under-represented. If a male employee not in a position of hierarchical power innocently
by stfp 9y ago
One reason it's not OK, at least in tech, is that women are so hugely under-represented.
If a male employee not in a position of hierarchical power innocently expresses his interest to a single female coworker in the entire course of his career, is he evil? Is it harassment? Probably not... But from their female coworker's perspective, that's enough to create a pretty steady stream of random attention.
I think even that best case "only once" scenario creates a sort of crowd-sourced harassment baseline, on top of which you have to add repeat offenders, ones in a position of hierarchical or effective power, those who deal badly with rejection, the fact that the same thing happens in the street, the subway etc...
- politician 9y agoThis crowd-sourced harassment issue needs more attention. Offering guidance to men without acknowledging the cumlative effect of these random interactions is an oversight. Due to the statistical imbalances of men and women in various workplaces, a slightly better rule than "ask once, and be polite if they say no" might* be "roll d20, on 20 ask once..." *just a strawman, this isn't actually a good solution; nor are prediction markets, lotteries, drawing straws, competitions of fitness
- throwaway_quux 9y ago> One reason it's not OK, at least in tech, is that women are so hugely under-represented. How are women hugely under-represented? Quick look at data. Google tech: 80% male, 20% female. [0] CS bachelor degrees 2014: 77% male, 23% female. [1] CS bachelor degrees 2014: 82% male, 18% female. [1] https://www.google.com/diversity/ https://www.google.com/diversity/ [0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/rampage/wp/2015/01/27/women-falling-behind-in-stem-bachelors-degrees/?utm_term=.b859c7758b8b https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/rampage/wp/2015/01/27/wo... [1]