Covert Discrimination In The Workplace Research Paper

As dictated by this assignment I interviewed three women about their experiences in the workplace, trying to identify patterns of discrimination, the age range of these women were between 58 -89 years old. Of these three women, I would describe only one of them as belonging in the generation prior to mine. “In this essay, I will argue that while women may have felt fortunate to be working outside the home, unknowingly they were examples of the most common form of covert discrimination.” According to Michael Kimmel, it “was not surprising that virtually every society has a gendered division of labor” (2008, p.202). Clearly, this societal influence was a factor in the job choices for all three informants. Despite that it was not really apparent …show more content…
Only, working there approximately two years, asserting there was absolutely no workplace discrimination identifiable to her at that time stating, “the owner treated me very respectfully, was a supportive and encouraging mentor/boss.” More opportunities were afforded to her and her brother’s than that of their parents. Furthermore, she insisted that the pursuit of further education was an important value instilled into them by her parents, which would yield an abundance of possibilities for them. Secondly, at the age of 18, her next job choice was to be a cashier in a local supermarket (1966-1968). During her stint there she states that her boss, who was a male, denied her time off for her senior class dinner, with absolutely no explanation. She felt that his decision was discriminatory and it precipitated the action of her quitting the job, sense “he ruined her senior …show more content…
Although, remaining in the state of Missouri, it was a distance from her home, requiring her to live in an all girl dorm, which was the norm; there were no such things as coed dorms at that time. One night, at a college party, there was drinking of alcohol, which she admits to she participating in, as would a typical college student. During this party, she reported to me that she was “taken advantage of by a so called male friend.” Through her clarification of the incidence, it was apparent to me that she was raped. “Sexual harassment takes many forms, from sexual assault to mocking innuendo “ (Kimmel, 2008, p. 225). Initially, she had thought nothing about it, (no one really discussed things such as sexual assault) leaving her to feel that it was a normal occurrence at that time, but subconsciously she knew because she made the decision not to return; another incidence occurring to her while there, was directed towards her by a male business professor. A general requirement for the class was to wear business clothing, and in the 1960’s her business attire was a miniskirt. She attest’s that this professor repeatedly called upon her to write out problems on the board, she had not realized to years later why he did that (while writing on the board in lifting of her arm to write, it apparently lifted her skirt as well). While discussing the incidence with me she realized it’s