Passed over for promotion and other stuff

[FrameyMcFrame]

At my work the new guy became our boss within weeks of arriving. None of us women on the team were notified of the new position and he was interviewed over the phone and then it was a done deal. This was a few years ago. Fast forward to now and another new man is on our team. The big boss obviously loves him and I heard him talking about the guy.., saying what are his ambitions as he's so obviously great. Fact is he's not and the women on the team have brought in all the innovations and are frankly superb.
Was so sick last night with anger about all this. Dunno why I'm posting, just need to tell someone

That does suck. Is it a big or a small company? Just wondering how formal the processes are.

I hoped I would have something valuable to say but tbh I am really annoyed about your situation. Too many times I've seen males having their work/contribution over-inflated in value and women's depreciated. And the majority of women have this bias too. So fucking infuriating - it's like the Emperors new clothes, except in reality the kid who points out the Emperors nakedness gets accused of maliciously fabricating things because he has an axe to grind.

Didn't it used to be the case that employers had to advertise any new job? I really dont know how some companies expect to be able to retain staff.
I'd start with a way to publicize and reward staff who come up with new ideas that are implemented.

So the team is almost only women?

Why don't you all find new jobs for yourselves? Ideally at the same time.

That's terrible, will you complain under the grievance procedure?

I'd be looking for another job and be encouraging my female colleagues.

Does boss know you have ambitions to go further? I think the first thing is to make sure you've told him - 'I want a promotion, what do I have to do to get it?'

The other thing I've heard about and thought was really smart is women empowering and promoting each other in the workplace. So if Brad cuts off Amy, Jen says 'actually Brad I'm really interested in what Amy was saying - go on Amy'. If Big boss Steve is banging on about what a great job Brad did on the new inovation then Amy says 'Actually Steve it was Jen's idea and Sue ran point on that project'. If Sur did something amazing maybe Kate raises it before big boss Steve gets confused and assigns it to his mental Brad is awesone list - 'before we start our meeting let's congratulate Sue who doubled her sales figures this week by doing X and Y - Sue let's put something in the calendar for you to teach us all about that'.

The idea is it affirms the people doing the work/saying smart things but they are never 'attention seeking' by asking for recognition (something studies show men are rewarded for and women punished for).

I think those are good points, Catinthecorner. Men may compete with each other but they also give each other a leg up, often deliberately to bypass women. If women made a deliberate effort to advantage other women whenever possible it would go some way to redress the balance at work. This is one of the tasks of feminism.

Perhaps because I've never had a sister, I have always had a strong sense of sisterhood with other women. I was hurt and disappointed when I realized that women are encouraged to see each other as rivals. Being sisterly to other women is key, in my mind, to our progress in the workforce.

Thanks for the messages. Yes the team is mainly women and they're all great. I sometimes feel like I'm the only one to notice this sexism though. When it first happened 2 years ago a number of us did complain formally and the upshot was that big boss blamed it on his PA who left just before it all kicked off, she was supposed to notify all of us about the new position. So it was all her fault. Infuriating. I just see it all about to happen again and it makes me sick. I'm not particularly ambitious myself but I can see how good others are and it just doesn't get noticed. Really don't know what to do about it.

Is there a HR department? They should be enforcing that these roles are advertised internally. Anyone in the organisation should be able to apply for the role. Otherwise, they're just bringing people in externally and the current employees are not getting a fair chance at promotion.

Yes there's an HR department. It's a big organisation of which we are a small bit.
We spoke to them originally and got a formal response but it didn't go anywhere. At the moment there's nothing concrete to complain about, I just see the way the politics are moving and that the young guys coming in get recognition for what they do and everyone else is kind of taken for granted...

There is something concrete: promotions were not advertised internally and people were moved in without competition.

Putting oneself forward and helping other women is great, but people in positions of authority - usually men - have primary responsibility.

Yes, I agree with Dozer and think you've also got a shot at another point if there's a pattern of selecting men "with potential" over actually experienced women.

Ok I’m so angry after reading this. You ladies are the majority here. Work together to bring this misogynist down or all go on strike and demand him and his male stooge are fired. Male privilege has to be vigorously destroyed whenever it rears its ugly head.

If only women would unite more we could beat them back.