Please read this article before you read this blog post…..
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43655299/ns/business-personal_finance/
OK, deep breath….First, I’d like to clarify what I just read….a CEO in New Zealand thinks that ‘menstruation makes women less productive in the workplace than men”. AND, he’s the CEO of New Zealand’s Employers and Manufacturers Association?
So, let me back up for a second. This man, Alasdair Thompson has probably picked up a plethora of tidbits throughout his career, including workplace trending and patterns, issues, concerns, and many more. He must have some sort of insight into the behaviors within the work place, right?
Mr. Thompson asserts that women earn less because ‘once a month they have sick problems’ and that women take time off to go home to look after their children. Wow. Not sure what to say about all that. Actually, he’s right in part. Women do go home to look after their children when necessary. And most have a monthly cycle (I am certainly not going to assert that they miss work due to it, heck, dare I suggest we are more productive and make quicker decisions then?). But to equate that with earning less because of it? No way, buddy.
Interestingly, he also says that women take the most ‘sick time’; presumably to care for their family. I have a suggestion for Mr. Thompson……maybe you should take a look at the amount of time men take off for things like golf weekends, or sporting events, or hunting/fishing trips, or ‘guy’ weekends, or because the fantasy football draft will take hours and they need to get started at 3:00, or to BABYSIT their kids because the wife is gone. Oh dear….please don’t get me started.
I’m not picking on the men, mind you. I just wanted to suggest that the ‘time off’ scale would be equal, if not swayed the other way, if we include ALL time off, not just ‘sick time’. Regardless, as is stated in the last line of the article, that organization needed to take action to ensure ‘businesses understand discrimination is not in their interests and needed to be addressed.”
Mr. Thompson was subsequently fired from his position. His company was right to fire him. I just hope it wasn’t too late; the damage may have already been done.
Afterthought……In irony of ironies, what if his new boss is a woman? Would his biases come into play here? More misconceptions, maybe? Demi Moore in Disclosure, perhaps? As long as it’s not Michael Douglas in Falling Down, I think we’re OK.
Exactly how far away is New Zealand, anyway?