Is being a woman even a disadvantage at this point? Much ado is made about the gender gap in pay, but that seems to reflect differing choices instead of discrimination. By that, I mean if you start controlling for things like occupation, time spent working, external responsibilities like caring for child, etc. the gap narrows and essentially vanishes. If you compare women and men across a broad spectrum of objective measures the men almost invariably lose. Women are academically more successful, far less likely to be in prison, and less likely to have a drug problem.
Anyone who has not learned the facts about discrimination against men knows that men are privileged oppressors.
You do realize that people discriminate against protected classes all the time, right? Just because something is illegal doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. (As all the speeding drivers outside my window can attest to).
And it is against most HR policies to harrass coworkers for any reason, including their weight. And at most workplaces, you can be fired for telling an innocent knock-knock joke. You can be fired for no reason at all.
But yes, overweight women have it harder than slender women. Overweight people in general have it harder than slender people.
What is interesting to me is that overweight people are so stigmitized even though the majority of Americans are overweight. I can only imagine how awful anti-fat discrimination was back when fat people were a minority.
well, about 6 months before I quit my former job, my boss (who appeared to be female based on appearance and preferred mode of address) informed me that they were promoting a man, who had been with the company for less than one year and had shown no talents whatsoever and had the lowest performance rating in the department, solely because he had a penis and therefore some of the overseas clients would be more likely to listen to him over a far more qualified person with a vagina. Yes, in those exact words. She seemed rather bitter about it.
In this particular company, 100% of upper-management were persons who appeared to be male. 50% of middle-management were persons who appeared to be female. Around 75% of employees were persons who used the bathrooms designated for women.
There may or may not have been overt discrimination going on. I know if they had offered that job to me I would have refused it because it required assuming a truly unpleasant lifestyle.
I’m a white woman; I definitely have it easier than black men. But not as easy as white men.
There are gradations here that as a foreigner who spent several years in the US find interesting.
In terms of making it past the threshold of routine employment, women have it easier than men from certain visual minorities.
However, once past that threshold, women have it tougher then men of all colours and are expected to do more for less pay, and will be given fewer opportunities for career advancement.
Simply put: women find it easier to get in the door, but men will have an easier time once inside.
My wife of color who worked as a VP Wall Street investment banker tells me that her gender is much more of an albatross than her color, for what it’s worth.
Since they are disadvantaged in different ways, it’s hard to say for sure which is worse. Black men are imprisoned and victims of violence at a much higher rate. White women have much harsher social constraints and a very difficult time reaching the higher echelons of success.
If a deity appeared to me and said “in your next life, you’ll be born either a black male or a white woman”, I’d chose white woman, and it wouldn’t be a hard decision.
Perpetual threat of sexual harassment and assault could be seen as a fairly big disadvantage.
I think I failed to specify things very well in this thread. In this thread, it is a comparison of a black man vs. a white woman with all factors considered and taken into account.
In other words, a black man, regardless of what disadvantages or prejudices he would/will face, would never have to deal with such issues as pregnancy or menstruation, etc.