Evening Zoom Meetings

[helenabonhamfarter]

I have absolutely had enough of these.
I work in a male dominated profession (in fact I am the only woman).
MST meetings (nothing urgent) are now being scheduled between 6-830 pm on a regular basis after other daytime commitments.
I have started saying "no" to these- it's such a precious and busy time for me. I don't see my children in the morning and I want to have dinner with them and see them in the evening.
Is this just another example of casual sexism where working women are disadvantaged?

So as not to drip feed I work in a professional environment where there aren't set hours- you work until the job it done. Nights and weekends too.

This doesn't sound good OP, but surely if there are no set hours and you work until the job is done, then this is part of your job. Did you know there were no set hours when you accepted the position?

I agree that you work to get the job done if needed, but scheduled meetings should end by 5.30pm or whenever your official hours end.

You are perfectly reasonable to decline the meetings and say they need to be during office hours. Book the time out in our calendar.

your calendar

I was about to say it’s not a reasonable expectation but if your job doesn’t have set hours I think that’s the issue.

Are you able to schedule some of the meetings so they fit in with the time you’d prefer?

What is an MST meeting?

Yes, would book time after the end of your working day out in your diary.

It isn’t sexism, men have children too. If there aren’t set hours then it sounds like it is just part of the job and if you don’t want to work past 5 then get a job that does have set hours.

management & senior team?

Who is doing the scheduling?

How many attend -- I can imagine you're not only one finding the time inconvenient. My H. is precious about family meal times & would be cheesed off at this happening routinely, maybe ok sometimes when working with overseas partners.

I dont think its sexism I do think its unreasonable if happening regularly and you don't get the time back elsewhere

@luxxlisbon

It isn’t sexism, men have children too. If there aren’t set hours then it sounds like it is just part of the job and if you don’t want to work past 5 then get a job that does have set hours.

Men are far less likely to be the sole parent caring for them though. I believe that 90% of single parents are women.

On that basis, if not attending evening meetings disadvantages a female employee, I'd be wondering if it constitutes indirect discrimination.

@Loopytiles

What is an MST meeting?

Yes, would book time after the end of your working day out in your diary.

I think she meant MS Teams...

Don't know why people write that as it's not like MS Word ever gets written as MSW.

How frequent are they? Lots of big organisations have evening Board meetings as that's when everyone is free, but these are usually once a month/6 weeks ish.

@luxxlisbon

It isn’t sexism, men have children too. If there aren’t set hours then it sounds like it is just part of the job and if you don’t want to work past 5 then get a job that does have set hours.

I used to actively clock the men who were "staying late" - made up almost entirely of juniors who were too scared to leave until their boss did, and men of a certain age... (spoiler - roughly 35-45 and had small children at home).

I'm not sure it's sexist as such, but there's no doubt in my mind that men often choose meetings at this time to avoid home stuff.

I have the same thing. I’ve also started saying no. In my experience, these meetings times are suggested by men who don’t have childcare responsibilities (usually because their partner picks up the childcare obligations or because they don’t have children at all). So I think - yes - it’s sexist in a sense. However it simply is not acceptable to schedule meetings at that kind of time. I also work in a ‘work the hours you need to get the job done’ industry.

When I say I have no fixed hours- I should elaborate.
I'm a Consultant Surgeon and you go home once the job is done- you can't clock watch. I do about 80 hours per week including some nights and weekends- it's a profession.
I leave my kids in bed every morning. I am objecting to planned meetings to discuss non-clinical things between 6-830pm as it is an "easy" time for the department to meet.
8% of Consultants are female in this country as it takes a massive toll and now there is no clear division between home and work due to online working (and obviously there always was in Healthcare) this won't help change the gender bias.

I would block out your calendar as being "out of office" appt.

Sure that appt is having dinner with your family but the are clearly working around everyone else's calendar commitments!

To be fair, it must be very difficult to schedule meetings for surgeons if you’re all operating at different times? I wouldn’t want lots of evening meetings either, but is there a reasonable alternative?

@luxxlisbon

It isn’t sexism, men have children too. If there aren’t set hours then it sounds like it is just part of the job and if you don’t want to work past 5 then get a job that does have set hours.

Of course its sexism.

90% of men with children farm childcare out to whichever woman in their life they can lumber it on.

My dh is in the same role and no way he would agree to this.

I think a lot of men would object to this as well. It’s unreasonable to ask you to be available for Zoom meetings after your regular working hours, from your home, where your family is also spending their free time after a day at work / school and expected to adapt (be quiet, stay away from pc etc) just because your colleagues have decided that the early evening is a good time for this. Absolutely bonkers if you ask me and very entitled of the organizers to assume that you’re just having to put up with this.
I would decline every invitation to give off a clear signal that your private life and time with your DC is to be respected.

Could you try and switch the meetings to the morning? If you are leaving your children in bed regardless, then whether you leave them in bed at 7:30am or 6:30am doesn't matter. I would assume (?) that mornings would work for the department just as well as the evenings.

I block out the hours needed for children in the evening in my calendar (so never available between 5 and 9) but after that I often have meetings late into the night. It seems like a good compromise when longer hours are required. Would that work?

YANBU. Yes it is sexist and you and your children have a right to see each other.

Massive drip feed!

Definitely sexist goings on. Who organises and chairs the meetings?

What happened before video based meetings? Were you expected to be physically present or is this just a case of meetings when it should be emails?

The problem with this environment, and I know as I work in it, is the working day seems to have had scope creep. The client stuff happens 7am to 6pm, then internal stuff pushes to outside that. A one off nobody minds but constant evening calls are not on, it's cultural and needs someone at the top to stop it.