What do you think to this statement+ are you as confused as me?

[SaffySaffron]

How would you interpret the following statement? Does it make sense?

Jo works as part of a team. They often cause problems for another member of the team by failing to clean up the shared kitchen after they have used it. Jo knows their behaviour represents a lack of concern. Jo is blameworthy for the problems they cause to others. Jo is the only woman in the team and though others are blameworthy for the same thing she is singled out for blame. Is this fair?

Sounds like it was designed by a committee with no editor.

is Jo a woman? Sounds like she’s getting the rap for male behaviour?

Sounds like AI

Repeated use of they/their makes it confusing.

Jo works as part of a team. She often cause problems for another member of the team by failing to clean up the shared kitchen after she has used it. Jo knows her behaviour represents a lack of concern. Jo is blameworthy for the problems she causes to others. Jo is the only woman in the team and though others are blameworthy for the same thing she is singled out for blame. Is this fair?

It's a slide from a training session.

Jo works as part of a team. They often cause problems for another member of the team by failing to clean up the shared kitchen after they have used it.

Is 'They' Jo or the team? Its not clear if Jo or the team are failing to clean up?

I would interpret that to mean that Jo is messy and inconsiderate in using the shared space.

I would further surmise that she’s not the only messy and inconsiderate person but is the only person singled out because she’s a women.

I feel sympathy for the misogyny she no doubt experiences in other parts of her working day but no sympathy for someone who deliberately doesn’t tidy up after themselves.

Jo should stop leaving her mess for others. But she should not be expected to do everyone else’s dishes.

It takes too much effort to understand, it's not a clear use of language.

Jo is the only woman in the team

Fwiw Sounds like Jo is a bit crap and so is everyone else.

Yes it makes sense. It describes an unfair situation.

But everyone should clean up after themselves. Others’ laziness is no excuse for being lazy too.

I read it as Jo is unhappy because the rest of the team leave a mess. Which is why I was confused why she was being blamed when everyone else is making a mess, when in fact it's the opposite.

The statement is contradictory: I believe what is actually meant is Jo is one of the team members who causes issues for others by not cleaning up the kitchen after herself.

Everyone needs to clean up after themselves. Singling out the woman and suggesting she clean up after herself and others is obviously wrong and sexist bullshit.

Are you Jo OP?

I think it's ambiguously written.

One interpretation is that they've deliberately used a name that could be male or female and referred to Jo as "they" until the end to make the reader uncertain and challenge their thinking once they realise that Jo is female.

The other interpretation is that Jo is part of a team, several of whom leave the kitchen in a mess, but it's just Jo, the only female team member, who is blamed.

@Fast800goingforit I'm not. She's hypothetical (I hope!). It's from a training session.

‘They’ as a singular pronoun is really annoying & confusing. Ok if someone genuinely doesn’t know the sex of the person they’re talking about but in general it just doesn’t work.

Which bit made you think that?

They are trying to have a "gender" reveal at the end to test the bias of the reader.

Broadly, Jo and everyone else is messy. It's problematic for all. Jo is the only one being told off for this and/or is the only one expected to clear up because she is a woman.

It may be that Jo is a messy woman in a team of very neat men who fastidiously tidy up after themselves. In which case, Jo being asked to tidy up has FA to do with her being a woman.

Blameworthy? Represents a lack of concern? What bungling language.

Here’s a rewrite:

Jo knows her behaviour shows she doesn’t care and she is to blame for the problems not cleaning up causes. But others can also be blamed for the same offence but are not. Only Jo, the only woman, is blamed for an ongoing group offence of not cleaning up.

Answer - Is this fair? No… it implies that as the only woman in the office the cleaning is her sole responsibility rather than a shared responsibility. All those who do not clean up should share blame.

It's woefully unclear. I'm not the only person to interpret it the same way, which was incorrect! What the heck is it supposed to mean?

It really doesn’t

So Jo makes a mess and doesn’t clean up after herself, same as the rest of the team but Jo is the only one who gets pulled up on it? Sounds quite normal and is a classic example of bullying

It’s written in what I would call ‘unfriendly English’ where you have to decode it because it uses unusual words that are mostly jargon.

Or

Jo works as part of a team. That team often causes problems for members of the team other than Jo, by failing to clean up the shared kitchen after the team have used it. Jo knows the team's behaviour represents a lack of concern. Jo is blameworthy for the problems the team causes to others. Jo is the only woman in the team and though others are blameworthy for the same thing she is singled out for blame. Is this fair?

So was there a question you had to answer st the end of the training scenario OP?