For this assignment i decided to to interview a close friend of mines name Caroline. I sent her a couple of questions. I also asked her if she can elaborate more since she was eager to talk about this topic.

These were the questions i asked her via email. Her answers go more in depth.

Job or jobs where you have experienced discrimination?

How were you discriminated ?

When this occurred,  what were your thoughts?

How did this affect you? And did it affect your ability to focus on your job?

Here is her response to my email :

I have experienced discrimination in most of my job experience and and work fields which goes about 13 years. In Retail Management, banking and customer service.

Discrimination of a female in the workplace takes many forms. I’ve been demeaned in my performance because I was on my period and was experiencing cramps. Female workers get mocked and made fun of a lot over this common occurrence in our bodies and we’re often stereotyped by it. I was taken off a project at work in one occasion because my superior who was a male was concerned I wouldn’t be able to do my best because I was on my period. Not really asking if a was well enough or not to do so. That affected my confidence over how I was perceived for quite some time.

We often also get marginalized by how we dress, or how we act with other co workers. A simple compliment can be widely misconstrued or how tight a skirt may look can be seen as provocative, how we do our makeup, how much fragrance we even use. We get constantly scrutinized and it’s quite normal sadly.

And of course, I as many have experienced the fact that I am more than capable and qualified for a higher position but was overlooked because a male banker would be more trustworthy for his intellect, advice and would be more level headed because, he didn’t have to deal with a period half of the time!

I’ve also often been disappointed to realize that my position is underpaid while a male colleague is getting paid a higher rate for the same job and with less experience and credentials.

All of the situations above have affected me greatly over the years. I’ve developed social anxiety, I find trusting my work to a male and being graded on my performance by a male very challenging. I constantly wear clothing that are baggy in certain areas, I purposely won’t wear red lipstick out of fear of being seen as scandalous. I mask my pms and any illnesses I may be having out of fear of being demoted from a job or task out of concern of underperforming because of it. And I mainly keep to myself and not converse much with workers of the opposite sex. I have witnessed a female co worker deal with sexual harassment in our retail workplace by her superior and SHE was laid off another one was given a written warning and the male in question was briefly interviewed about the matter, given a few days off work until the situation died down and resumed later his position as usual. And this is nothing new. I have to work thinking of how to protect myself to avoid these things as other females do.

I would like to be able to have an equal opportunity to a higher position
I would like to work without the worry of my appearance and gender creating a stereotyped.
I would like to be paid accordingly to my credentials and qualifications just as a male worker in the same position is.
I would like to feel safe in my workplace and be in a supporting environment that will ensure women can do their jobs safely and without fear of coming forward if one is being harassed.

When i worked at Metropolitan hospital several years ago, i remember being so happy because my boss was awesome. He was in the Marines, a gamer and was more like a friend instead of a boss. He had a loving wife and 2 beautiful children.  I worked at the hospital police department as a clerical worker. Down the line i noticed in 3 incidents where he would make woman in other departments very uncomfortable. I feel bad talking about it because i did not do or say anything because i did not want to lose my job and also because his boss always had his back no matter what. So i saw it as a lose-lose situation if i spoke up for them. He would go towards female coworkers and rub himself against them. I could see in their face that they were disgusted, embarrassed and humiliated. He then would brag to other officers talking down about woman and how he would do this and that. Whenever he would boost about this i would put my head down and just do my work because i did not agree with his actions or the way he felt about woman. He would then joke around and call me a p###y because i did not want to join in on the convos. Karma did catch on to him. He was caught on camera grabbing a coworker by the waist and trying to kiss her neck in the emergency stair case. It was said that he had done that to her countless of times but she decided to speak up and that was bad ass of her to do so.  I dont know whats he up to now, but i do know he was  definitely fired!