It is August 2024. It’s been nearly four years since my shero, the Honorable Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, died.
It’s been 53 years since the Supreme Court ruled, for the first time in history, that any law that discriminates against women is unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment (Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71). It’s been 50 years since the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional for women to be forced to take unpaid maternity leave after their first trimester due to the unfounded belief that pregnant women do not have the ability to work (Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur, 414 U.S. 632). It’s been 38 years since the Supreme Court held in ruling that sexual harassment that creates a hostile work environment is a form of discrimination based on sex (Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57).
READ: Thank You, Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Over the last century, many laws have been passed, court rulings have been issued, and dissents have been written on the issue of women’s rights. While progress has been made, much more is still to be made.
Progress has been made to establish, uphold, and expand laws that are intended to protect women from unfair human resources policies and environments that allow for overt harassment and denials of success because of their sex. While yes, things are better than they used to be, the reality is that the discrimination that we face as women is still alive and well today. Discrimination remains pervasive whether it’s in the workplace, an educational institution, medical facilities, criminal justice settings, etc.
How is it possible that, with the legal protections that have been put in place, there is still such a high level of inequality? Well, the answer to that is perhaps one of the most complex yet straightforward answers I’ve given to any question. The reason is that while institutions have taken steps to formally address the aspects of inequality that could land them as the defendant in a discrimination lawsuit, the day-to-day culture of these settings is driven by individual people. And the reality is that there are a lot of individuals who hold personal beliefs and values that are oppositional to the legal progress that’s been made.
Women continue to face discrimination day in and day out. It just happens to look different than it used to. Historically, there have been blatant actions like refusing to hire someone because she’s a woman, forcing girls to take home economics while only allowing boys to take physical education, firing a woman because she is pregnant, etc. that made it easy to point out the discriminatory acts. In current happenings, discrimination is more covert, subdued and passive — making comments about a woman’s attire at work, dress code differences, not including women in conversations that their male counterparts are included in, etc. These more subversive actions are far more difficult to address and end because they aren’t the type of thing that a policy can fix. They’re rooted in the much bigger and deeper issue of cultural norms that individuals hold and place on others. The biggest way that I’ve experienced this inequality is in questions and expectations unrelated to my job function.
Picture this: You walk into a professional networking event, to which you were invited because of your qualifications. Instead of being greeted with “Hello, we’re so glad you made it. How’s it going?,” you’re met with “Hey, you made it! We assumed you would’ve been at home for dinner and bedtime. Who has your kids tonight?” If you’re a woman with children, I’m sure that scene isn’t very hard to conjure up in your mind because it’s probably a scene you’ve been in before yourself. If you’re anything like me (and honestly, I hope for your sake, you’re not), your response to that comment was probably professional, yet direct. Maybe it went something like this: “Oh, yeah, well I’m able to adjust my calendar when I need to. The kids are at home with their other parent (or guardian, babysitter, etc.)” On the surface, that question isn’t harmful or exclusive, but when it’s asked on a recurring basis to women and not to men, what’s being communicated is that you, as a female mother/guardian, shouldn’t be at that event because you are supposed to be at home with your children. It’s a perpetuation of the belief that female parents shouldn’t be sacrificing any of their time with their children for their professional aspirations — but it’s okay for men to do so.
It’s these small but incessant comments and questions that are directed toward mothers, but not fathers, that perpetuate a culture of women’s inequality in the workplace. It’s not the same type of blatant discrimination that the generations before us faced, but it’s discrimination nonetheless and it’s pervasive. The number of times that a mother is excluded from opportunities like travel, networking events, etc. because their peers assume they’re unable to participate because of motherhood duties is high. The number of times a working mom is left off of meeting invites because they have to work pumping into their schedule is substantial. The issue is so common and widespread that there are, minimally, two terms that are used to discuss it: The Maternal Wall Bias and The Motherhood Penalty. Both terms explore the explicit and implicit bias toward women in the workforce. And the commonality of experiencing these terms play out in real life is the base of an opportunity that we have right now.
READ: Embracing My Feminist Side
I believe that if we start calling out these more subdued forms of bias in the same way that we call out the explicit and loud versions of discrimination, we can change these things. I’m not saying we have to call people out aggressively or put ourselves in oppositional stances against the people we work with. Alternatively, what I’m suggesting is that we use our intelligence, confidence, professional decorum, and expertise in conflict resolution (a skill that motherhood makes us distinctly qualified for) to ask direct questions and provide honest answers when we are being questioned. I believe that, as I write this post in August 2024, we can use the progress that has been made by former generations and icons like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to push equality for women in the workplace to an entirely new level. And if we do so, we will be issuing a ruling of our own that will benefit our daughters, our sons, our granddaughters and grandsons, and generations to come.
