This issue was brought into the news this week when the Washington Post ran a piece on Karen Pence, the wife of
our current vice president, and reminded readers of something Mike Pence said
in 2002: He does not eat alone with a woman or attend an event where alcohol is
being served unless his wife is present. The Twittersphere lit up like a
Christmas tree with jokes and rants about Pence’s wife-rule. It’s not clear
whether Pence still adheres to this practice, but there are men who do.
The Atlantic reports, such arrangements are especially
common within marriages between religious conservatives of various stripes. (It
need not be only men who follow such strictures, but the emphasis is often on
male temptation.) On Capitol Hill, where the work days are long and individuals
spend long hours away from their families, some Congressmen will not travel
alone in a car with a female staffer, the National Journal has reported. Some politicians set
gender-neutral rules that have a side effect of keeping them from being alone
with women — such as excluding any staff from the office before 7 am or after 7
pm — but others clearly apply special rules to women.
Employers are not permitted to classify employees on the basis of gender
without proof that sex is a bona fide occupational qualification for a
particular job. A Pence-type rule could never satisfy this test. A male boss
cannot casually separate certain jobs, tasks, or opportunities for men only.
Women have been shut out of equal employment opportunity for all of
history. It’s long past time the doors to power and opportunity were opened,
whether after hours, on a trip, or, in Pence’s world, working dinner with a
male boss.
7 comments:
This is incredibly interesting. I know Pence wants to inhibit the idea of "Correction Camps" for gay people. And this just makes him look even worse. Equal opportunity is being absolutely disregarded by him and this hurts his credibility as a Vice President for our country. It almost makes people kind of nervous for what is going to come next for our time of tension in the United States.
I think that this article is extremely interesting to read. I guess I have never thought about such things because I am not married so I don't worry about being alone with a female. This could be very interesting to see what people think about this because the number of females in the workforce is growing so the chances of having to travel alone with the opposite sex is very likely.
This issue sheds light on less overt types of sexism and sex discrimination in the workplace. Pence and others defend this policy with a claim that they are respecting their wives and setting boundaries, but it has wide effects that are not positive at all.
This article brings out the problem of gender inequality and sex discrimination which is so bluntly present even today. This article shows one factor which is the reason why there is a strong gender gap present in the economy today. Mike Pence is the Vice President of the United States, a country which believes in freedom and equality however his illegal "rule" does not show any equality.
I agree with the above, this article is quite interesting and Mike Pence's stance will have dire repercussions which could potentially include the isolation of women in the workplace. It is already a known fact and there are statistics to back it up, that a majority of top management and executive positions are held by men. This is a prime example of systematic gender inequality. It deprives women opportunities to sit in on informal business meetings and similar events. This limits their ability to climb the corporate ladder.
This is an intriguing article as it doesn't seem that Pence is intentionally trying to shut women out of employment opportunities though that can undoubtedly be the ultimate effect of adhering to a gender-based determination when it comes to time and place restrictions on female staffers. In the end, a Pence-type rule seems like a paternalistic and harmful approach to dealing with the problem of extramarital temptation.
This is an interesting article because I did not know this about Pence. I agree with Emily, other males claim to be doing this to respect their wives but this goes beyond that. You should be able to respect your wife at all times. By no means is interacting with another women in the workplace disrespectful to their wives.
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