Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/09/15/how-obamas-female-staff-ampl.html
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Mom always said: Toot your horn, because nobody’s going to toot it for you.
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This is actually a brilliant way of combating “male pattern deafness.”
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You’re have a 5 star day. Yes you are.
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Grazie, but I cannot take credit for that one, in all honesty; it came from either @milliefink or @Missy_Pants, unless I’m mistaken.
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Regardless of where the credit belongs I’m a guy who wants to amplify what you’ve said here.
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Most appreciated.
Not being heard just on the basis of what is or is not betwixt one’s legs is beyond frustrating.
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I look forward to a day when what’s between the legs doesn’t even factor into ignoring women (/s), who can have anything there.
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I feel like I must live in a bubble. I work in the corporate arena in one of the largest computer companies in the world (~100K employees globally) and never once have I seen behavior I would characterize as sexist or misogynistic. (And I’m not blind to such things when they arise in other avenues of life). I’ve been at the company 10 years and have never heard any of my coworkers involved in a complaint, on one side or the other, about such a thing either so it isn’t that it’s happening and I’m simply not privy.
Most of my bosses here have been women. Different from working for/with men? Non issue (for me). I see nothing different about it. Anyone making an issue of it is projecting their own small-mindedness. My best/favorite boss of my entire life was a woman here. Qualified is qualified and she was/is the bees f’ing knees and I saw her get nothing but respect from all avenues. I’d follow her to Mordor.
I know that these things do exist though, I’m obviously just lucky enough to work at a place where that crap isn’t part of the culture. Really irks me that any of you ladies have to put up with that bullshit.
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I get talked over by females and males alike. I suffer from vonboboism.
As a counterpoint anecdote, when I worked at one of the larger computer companies in the world (AAPL) I discussed salaries with women I worked with (a no-no, but that rule needs to die). I was usually 20% higher in the same job, with less seniority. One of them actually had a manager (now retired) mention he didn’t like to hire women since they’d get pregnant and leave. I also saw some epically hideous sex discrimination in the way women’s ideas were treated compared to men’s, though usually only when the women who suggested things pointed it out, since I can also suffer from male pattern deafness (thanks @Melizmatic). Currently I have no female coworkers on my team.
I’ve heard stories from other places (eBay, EA, et al.) that curl my toes.
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Yeah like I said… I know it exists… 
I’m just really happy it doesn’t exist where I am (actually in the big “lone star state” south, but a very liberal “island” in the sea of red).
I can’t speak to salary discrepancy though, since that isn’t something I discuss. So it very well could be that women are getting juked by my company there… but I’ve never gotten that impression either and I’m sure if it were happening I would have heard about it via complaints from other people who do discuss such things with colleagues.
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It’s easy to be blind without realising it. Once, while stood with a good friend and colleague at the opening reception for a workshop, she looked around and said ‘Finally!’. She had just seen the second woman enter the room, out of around 100 people. I hadn’t even noticed the gender imbalance. When I surveyed the room I saw friends, acquaintances, and people I didn’t know. I’m sure it feels different when you’re the minority.
That said, I’m happy that you work for such a sensible company, it’s sadly rare.
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Fabulous!
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Did you see the news about Apple today?
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No, missed that - thanks. I wish I could be shocked, but the place is a huge corporation like any other, and is full of people as human as any others.
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And now at Apple you can’t even plug your headphones in to get people to leave you alone any more!
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One of the most competent people on my former IT team at a U15 Canadian university constantly had to fight to make her voice heard. The ossified gentlemen who were stuck in a VMS world were given way more weight in arguments than she was, and I often helped her by supporting her (which shouldn’t have been necessary… my penis does not make me a better Linux guru than someone who lives/breathes the OS) in the inevitable arguments. She knew her shit.
Incidentally, since our salaries are public record, I went and checked once. She was the lowest paid phase 3 in our entire department of over 300 people (we have 3 phases, 1-3. I’m a 2. I should NOT have had more say than her, but penis). I’ve moved to another group, and she’s started to get the recognition she deserves, but damn, it really made me realize how much I’ve been playing on easy mode my entire career.
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