What Women Told Us: Pay and Promotion Disparities Are Rampant, Part III

Today, Wal-Mart v. Dukes was argued in front of the Supreme Court. At issue is whether this sex discrimination case against Wal-Mart should be allowed to proceed as a class action. The ACLU submitted a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that class actions are appropriate when employees allege that a company's policy allowing managers to subjectively decide who receives promotions and pay increases has led to gender disparities, even in a company as large as Wal-Mart. Today we're featuring quotes from women who have commented on our posts about the case, with striking examples of sex discrimination they have experienced on the job.

Quotes about the stereotype that some jobs are for women, while others are for men.

"I once had a boss assure me he'd never hire a woman as part of his sales team because he felt no one in the field would take a woman seriously enough to make a sale."— Leslie

"I was working in electronics department of a office supply chain. Regional manager (male) showed up to observe store; pulled store manager (male) aside and said: 'You have a woman working in electronics?' I knew at that moment my days were numbered. Sure enough, over the next few weeks, my hours were cut, then my shifts were split so that I had to both open the store and close it (15 mile commute each way), and all kinds of ways were found to cheat me out of sales commissions so that there was justification for "letting me go" if I didn't quit first. I quit before they could fire me." — Aine

"I think the worst was: An old guy was worried I would (I kid you not) "Hurt my womb" if I carried a table." — Kyra

"By the owner of the funeral home I worked at when asking him when I was going to be taken off the front desk and moved to the back: 'Ladies don't belong in the embalming room. Unless they're dead.' — Mary

Sadly, sex discrimination on the job is NOT a thing of the past. To find out more about our work fighting gender discrimination in the workplace, visit our hub page.

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