Woman Claims She Was Fired For Asking A Male Colleague To Stop Interrupting Her In Meeting
The collective hypocrisy of people against women is appalling, and sadly, there's a long way to go before the situation gets better.
Despite achieving the same level of success, men and women are treated differently in society. Gender disparity is prevalent; sadly, it all begins at home. Women are asked to serve everyone before they finally sit down and have a meal. For many of us, sadly, as kids, we have seen our mothers do all the work in the kitchen, while we assumed that dads are supposed to 'work in the office.'
The collective hypocrisy of people against women is appalling, and sadly, there's a long way to go before the situation gets better.
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For instance, do you remember a scene from the "SATC" movie where Miranda, a level-headed and strong woman, faces sexism at work and how her colleague shows her a hand every time she attempts to speak?
HBO
Miranda's story accurately depicts how corporate misogyny operates and keeps women down, even when they are extraordinarily skilled.
Miranda's case was highly unfair because she worked hard to become a partner at her firm, only to be mocked for working long hours and giving herself entirely to her job.
Corporate Misogyny
In the film SATC 2, she has a sexist boss who disregards her opinions and takes her cases away from her. While Miranda was able to put her foot down and afford to leave, many women in her position obviously could not.
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While it was fictional, the reality doesn't appear far from it. To share one such instance, a woman named Janneke Parrish took to Twitter to share her ordeal.
In a series of tweets, Janneke alleged that her company fired her after she asked a male colleague to stop interrupting her while she was speaking.
I lost my job because I spoke to a man the way men speak to me.
¡ª Janneke Parrish (@JannekeParrish) July 20, 2022
This is why women leave the tech industry.
A couple weeks ago, a male colleague made changes to a project I was running while I was offline that dramatically impacted the scope and timelines. I asked to talk to him to understand why and how we could set up a way to solve issues in the future.
¡ª Janneke Parrish (@JannekeParrish) July 20, 2022
During the meeting, he kept interrupting me and cutting me off. I wasn't getting anywhere, so I just started talking, politely telling him to "please let me finish" every time he tried to jump in. I said my piece, then let him talk.
¡ª Janneke Parrish (@JannekeParrish) July 20, 2022
On Monday, I got called into a meeting with HR, where I was told I had been incredibly rude, that my communication skills were abysmal, and I was being fired.
¡ª Janneke Parrish (@JannekeParrish) July 20, 2022
I was fired because I wouldn't let a man talk over me. This is what it's like to be a woman in the tech industry. It's brutal and it's toxic, and it's where your gender determines your fate before you ever have a chance.
¡ª Janneke Parrish (@JannekeParrish) July 20, 2022
Following Janneke's tweets, many other women shared how they face sexism at work.
These issues are not peculiar to the tech industry, it's global, across varied sectors.
¡ª The Radical Feminist (@Agwabuo) July 21, 2022
Male senior execs can throw tantrums during corporate meetings & everyone is fine abt it.
But, if a female exec raises her voice above the 'norm', they will convene 2 plan her removal.
Was he your senior?
¡ª John Today John Tomorrow (@kiddakowalski) July 21, 2022
Was the project failing and needed to be charged to meet a business demand?
Was a disciplinary process followed before sacking?
If these are all no then this behaviour is not only unacceptable it is unethical & illegal. You should see a solicitor.
I was once reprimanded because a male customer said I'd been "blunt and condescending" to him. I was on a 9 hour job shift, and simply answered his question + follow up comment with facts, explained clearly. He didn't like me talking to him that way. Expected smiles + giggles.
¡ª Clare ? (@clarelusher) July 21, 2022
Apologies if I¡¯m misunderstanding your position here, but are you suggesting that asking someone not to interrupt you is akin to lecturing them? I¡¯ve always viewed ¡°don¡¯t interrupt people¡± as pretty basic communication etiquette not just in a professional setting, but in general
¡ª Kiersten (she/her) (@bookshelfblooms) July 21, 2022
I'm angry that this happened. I'm not sorry for you because you didn't do anything wrong, you're obviously qualified and highly competent, and don't need my pity. I am sorry that as a society we still can't value women's work, intelligence and that men handle themselves so poorly
¡ª Circa1971Vintage (@Circa1971V) July 21, 2022
I was told I had a ¡°temperament¡± for being assertive in meetings.
¡ª Georgia N. (fiercekittenz) (@fiercekittenz) July 21, 2022
When male clients msg me using abrupt/condescending language, I mirror their tone in my reply. I¡¯ve been told to ¡°be friendlier in your emails¡± by colleagues, which infuriates me no end. Women are expected to dot their i with little hearts (not literally) but men can be shitty.
¡ª tamara m (@tamara_mbz) July 21, 2022
OH! And I couldn¡¯t even speak in meetings without my manager messaging me privately to tone police me. Eventually I stopped talking.
¡ª Georgia N. (fiercekittenz) (@fiercekittenz) July 21, 2022
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