Discrimination at work

[FunnysInTheGarden]

where is the thread in here discussing this? There is a thread on AIBU (I think) with many women saying that oh it's fine. Surely it's a prime discussion for this topic.

Ooh like what? I mean, obviously discrimination at work is bad. But is there a specific question being asked?

Funnys - Was I on that thread with you towards the end? I think I killed it . I am still thinking about - I can't sleep - it has really made me think about what hope is there for equality with attitudes from women towards women like that. It was really depressing if it's the same thread I'm thinking of (in Chat).

I got trounced off it for not being a small business owner and had to PM someone further details to try and give some context/background to my experience and where I was coming from (do understand about trolls/recent media interest so didn't begrudge that) but basically, it was the viewpoint that in order to survive as a small business it was a necessity to discriminate and not employ women of child-bearing age because profit margins of small businesses are so small they can't cope with that. Any argument to the contrary (unlawful/other ways to manage ML/irrational due to long term sick leave being possible) - and my view in particular - was denounced as naive/idealistic/young/obviously inexperienced and finally I was dismissed, I think, as a troll. Hence resorting to a PM (my first using the side bar - well at least I learnt something!). I just couldn't get over how short-sighted it was and was trying to argue that just that way of thinking was enough to limit a business/reduce its resilience/cut its competitive advantage e.g. to discriminate was not only unlawful but that it also didn't make good business sense.

Bet it wasn't the same thread now I've ranted on! Right - truly bedtime now. Will be namechanging tomorrow! I hate having run-ins even though I will be pretty vocal and strongly opinionated I hate it when it suddenly turns personal and goes all playground - a good heated debate doesn't need to stoop that low.

Sarah, yes thats the thread. Have just caught up from last night - it took me about an hour!

There are truly some shocking attitudes from women on that thread towards other women. LeQueen in particular is a real charmer. I too am a lawayer and that 'the law is an ass' nonsense really made me laugh.

Glad to see that you are still flying the flag though, although you must be exhausted by now!

Not exhausted - just horrifically behind.

Hmmm...maybe this is what's keeping 50% of the board places in the UK from being filled by women - MN addiction. Apart from Xenia of course! I always imagine her dragon dictating her posts into some bluetooth headset while simultaneously conducting a board meeting.

Am going to be MNing working well into the wee hours tonight in order to catch up with what I should have been doing at work today! I had to PM two of the posters a potted history of my CV and how I came to be where I was - apparently I am too young/can't possibly have had a previous career/qualified when I did/have been a lawyer AND something else in 34 years. Most lawyers are 24 now when fully qualified (post training contract), 23 for barristers. If you're put up a year at school you're 22 and shitting yourself representing someone in court.

It's like saying well just because I'm not Nicola Horlick (and believe me, I am in no way saying I am - one child is enough to contend with atm thanks as well as work and with nowehere near the success, money or finesse!) Nicola Horlick doesn't exist! I can't do it/haven't done so no one else can and anyone who has is lying! (Troll suspicion permitting due to recent influxes atm).

Chipping was very gracious and I felt we met midway - she pushed me for details and I provided as much as I was comfortable with in a PM. I also shared my love of PopBitch and hope she enjoys come Thursday's mailout! B2B I have also PM'd - no PM response - but her most recent post suggests a reconsideration.

I know it's fucking tough out there atm, but to be pretending like lady of the manor you have created a business to give these poor good people (not to profit for yourself, oh no) a job and then they gulp have the temerity to use their employment rights - what a load of crock. Sorry but the attitude was way off mark! If the only way to run a business turning a profit is outside the law, well drug dealing is great for that or join the mafia or the triads, they seem to do quite well. And then the sob stories started - I have to tell my DD she can't have this etc - but it turns out it's not her DD. It's a friend's DD. The sob stories phrased as being her position are not her position at all - they're her "friends'" sob stories. Yet I'm the one who's unbelievable and being ridiculed because no one can be a lawyer and a small and then medium (yes it's quoted in fucking euros - can you tell how much I hate exchange rates at the moment - yes businesses grow, well you hope they do) so I must be lying. Pffffffft. Right I'll stop now. And maybe get over myself a leeeeetle bit!

ps. The Law is an Ass is always great shorthand for I don't have to comply but I'll sue the fucker who doesn't! And...breathe.

Laughing at your post Sarah in a 'I can totally understand you frustration' kind of way. I have been there and let MN discussion get to me far more than they ought to have done. Gone to bed fuming and got up the next day feeling the same. Just remember, you don't have to justify yourself at all, and some people are just dicks, fullstop!

I mean the DD story was laughable as was the I was shit hot at A Level drama and so talked my way into every job.......TBH a total knob, and not someone you would want as a member of the female sex, nevermind as an employer.

Don't get too drawn in. Remember these folks are just on the internet and you have your own life and child to worry about!

Glad other people were really depressed by that thread. I'm not sure I believed that the OP could be true - it would have been middling convincing if she'd said they had 3 staff, but not 16/17 - but true or not, some of the attitudes on there were awful.

And am I the only one who gets furious when someone says selfish women who behave badly over ML spoil things for everyone else? If they said "oh, I hired a black man but he was useless and lazy and brought a spurious employment tribunal claim, I'm not hiring any more black men because I've had my fingers burnt", everyone would jump on them, wouldn't they? (At least, I hope they would...) All kinds of people behave badly at work in all kinds of ways, but men get to be just themselves, women are somehow taken as representing other women .