Discomfort Alert: On Why We Must Protect Our Women in the Workplace.
Too many women are consciously or unconsciously operating out of fear.
Fear.
Fear of retaliation.
Fear of consequences.
Fear of not getting the next job.
Fear of standing out.
Fear of rocking the boat.
Fear of ruffling feathers.
Fear of walking to our car even at work.
Fear of not getting invited out to company events.
Fear of getting invited out to company events.
Fear of being found guilty of sounding like a woman at work.
Fear of 'His' retaliation for not succumbing to his advances.
Fear of finding out the woman in HR you trusted is so engaged with management that she is no help at all. Quite the opposite.
Fear of not being enough support to the women around you, but barely being able to save yourself.
Why do I speak up? Why do I take the risk in a predominantly male wouldn't it lay male environment?
Because I have to.
These are my morals. Women aren't seen in automotive the way they should be the way they could have been all of these years.
Why did I not get farther faster in my career my career? Read all of the above.
Why did I start my own company? Read all of the above.
When too many men are allowed to be average or actually reprehensible in the workplace, why would they help strong, articulate, capable women?
Why was I told in 2001, very early in my auto career, that women women couldn't be managers in automotive retail, that it didn't work out?
Why was I pressed against a wall and kissed hard as I turned my head by my married superior who I thought was being a gentleman and walking me to my room at the same hotel at the last large automotive retailer that I worked for-then suffered lack of visibility and promotion?
I was a problem. And I wasn't willing. And then one of his comrades had the balls to say I needed to stay in my lane.
I know what their lane looks like.
Why was I left out of male based work events? Because we all are.
I'm not special, I'm just female.
Why do I advocate for women so powerfully?
Because it's my responsibility.
Why do I appreciate good men who are committed to the right things more than I should have to?
Because it's too rare out here.
The alpha males climbing and crushing their way to the top on the backs of women must stop.
The reason you don't have more women? They're not attracted to the environment because of these behaviors.
The reason they don't get ahead is not because they're not capable, it's because they're 'problematic'.
When we don't even have bodily autonomy, why would we be treated better?
Yes, not ironically at all, the place I was pressed against a wall was in Texas. All the guns, all the alphas.
No women in leadership.
Anywhere. Besides HR.😅
You can't paint your company pink and call it a culture. Not when this is the reality for your hard working women even in the management and director ranks.
If you perceive me as a strong person, what do you think others are facing?