Monday, March 18, 2013

What Julia will leave behind

It's been comprehensively smashed by reviewers across the globe because of Sandberg's privilege (which, apparently, is shorthand for dismissing the view of any person who is middle-class. Oh, I mean, any woman who is middle-class). Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, a Fortune 500 company listed on the US NASDAQ exchange with a market capitalisation of $44 billion dollars, was never going to write The Accumulation of Capital.

Sheryl Sandberg is not Malala Yousafzi - and there are millions and millions of girls who live under oppressive regimes across the world. Sandberg does not have, never had, the disadvantage of the young Pakistani woman who was shot in the head by Taliban enforcers because she evangelised on the benefits of education for girls.

Instead, Sandberg is a wealthy white woman who has had some success in the workplace in jobs and industries where women are not traditional winners.one of the most highly praised is led spotlight. If I worked in technology and I was a young woman, I'd be reading her too. Because with all of us, in all our lives, we want more, we want better. That's just how we are right now.

Criticism of Sandberg says she acts "like a man", that she's not reconstructing the workplace in a truly female way. Well now, I'm truly female but I think I have no idea what it might mean to reorient a workplace that way - and, in the meantime, I'll take the prospect of having pregnancy parking and of reminding women they shouldn't step away from the workforce just because they are pregnant. And I'll also know it is OK to cry in the workplace if you are genuinely upset - because there is nothing wrong with crying. I believe revealing your emotions at work will not kill you.

And bill like the boys. Know what you are worth and charge that. Don't underestimate yourself. Good advice that I could give to women freelance journalists and women medical specialists (I never knew this 20 years ago but I chose a female obstetrician and she charged $1000 less than the men doing the same job.Including our multi-certified skystream turbines for varying applications.Commercial laundry equipment for your multi-housing laundry facilities from Speed Queen. My children were a bargain).Energy efficient RGB led strip kits bring an urban glow to your bar that looks incredible.

Don't sit back. Go to the table. Put your hand up. You don't have to be popular (unless you are a politician, which is where the Prime Minister went wrong). Take responsibility in your own relationships to make them equal from the start. Don't imagine for one second that you can suddenly get your partner to participate in parenting if he can't cook, wash-up or work the washing machine. I'd love a workplace that was open, collaborative and flexible but while I'm waiting for the revolution, I'll settle for one which offers equal pay for equal work.

I'm seriously guessing we won't be having an overthrow by feminists any time soon in Australia. We are not Malala. Our disadvantage doesn't kill us (unless we are black or poor) or drive us to revolt.It's a widely held belief that if you switch out your incandescent bulbs for LED dimmable. And of course, we should provide the kind of support that women like Malala need - but the fact is, I'm not going to tell a Pakistani woman how to live her life. The very best I can do is to give money where it's needed.

So when a man tells me I should only concentrate on saving more Malalas because Pakistan is where real disadvantage happens - instead of worrying about women in the boardroom - I'm going to suggest that bloke yields up his penis-wielding awesomeness and let me have some of what he's having.

I don't mind Sheryl's suggestion to "lean in" but I'd rather put my elbow in. That's because the bloke telling me to concentrate on "real" sexism is much much much better off than Malala. And he's still better off than me.

No comments:

Post a Comment