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Things NEVER to Say to Women Executives
DiversityInc ^ | 8 July | Zadya Rivera

Posted on 07/08/2008 7:50:56 AM PDT by flowerplough

"Sometimes, a term of endearment can be anything but endearing.

"I had this manager who … started referring to me as 'honey,'" recalls May Snowden, former chief diversity officer for both Starbucks and Eastman Kodak Co. (one of DiversityInc's 25 Noteworthy Companies), who is now a consultant for Creative Wealth Alliance. "[It was] when I took my first director position. I was in a male-dominated job in the telecommunications industry and I did not want to embarrass him in front of his peers, so I invited him to my office and indicated that 'I won't call you sweetie if you won't call me honey.' We had that little conversation and he stopped. He was really embarrassed, [and because] he calls his wife, his daughters and other women 'honey', he did not even think about it."

"We all come to the table with biases and histories and upbringings in life that give us a perspective that may have 20, 30 years behind it," says Sherry Nolan, vice president of diversity and organizational capabilities at Pepsi Bottling Group..."

(The List:

Any kind of sexual comment

"You don't really want that promotion. You'll never see your kids."

"You'll get the job because you're a woman" or "You must be the token woman"

"What's the matter, is it that time of the month?"

"You're very attractive [or pretty, or beautiful, etc.]"

"You look great for your age" or "Do you use Botox?"

"You do that so well … for a girl."

"When are you due?")

(Excerpt) Read more at diversityinc.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: workplace
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To: caseinpoint
Nowadays, women who dress provocatively at work wonder why they are not respected.

If a woman isn't for sale, she shouldn't advertise.

141 posted on 07/08/2008 11:58:35 AM PDT by Christian4Bush ("In Israel, the President hit the nail on the head. The nails are complaining loudly." - John Bolton)
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To: IamConservative
I don’t recommend this:

Do you know why it is called PMS?

Because Mad Cow Disease was already taken.. LOL..

I'll have you know that the temperature in my office just went up 20 degrees, from laughing so hard after reading that!

142 posted on 07/08/2008 12:05:43 PM PDT by Christian4Bush ("In Israel, the President hit the nail on the head. The nails are complaining loudly." - John Bolton)
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To: flowerplough
"Maybe if I was really really drunk."
143 posted on 07/08/2008 12:10:32 PM PDT by Manic_Episode (Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps...)
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To: Christian4Bush

Quite correct. If you mean business, dress for business. It might not mean the same severe three-piece suits I used to wear but even with all the latitude of women’s clothing, there is appropriate and inappropriate fashion.

When I was a second-year law student I attended a Women in Law convention in San Francisco in about 1980. I should have been a bit less naive but I didn’t even check into the sessions. It was a school trip and about ten of us were packing into a university van and traveling to California so that was enough. I packed my nifty blue 3-piece suit, white button-up shirt and sensible pumps and showed up so attired at the opening session. I thought I’d mistakenly walked into a hippie convention. The dress was slovenly. The hair and makeup (what there was) was slovenly. The attitudes were even worse. This was the anti-feminine era. As a warm-up act, the moderator asked participants to stand up as characteristics applied to them: practicing? students? Californians? Out-of-staters? The shocker for me was when she asked the lesbians to stand up and it appeared that a third to half the audience stood and cheered. Turned out that was how the convention sessions were proportioned. Most were either advocating gay rights or agitating for passing the Equal Rights Amendment. Since I was fulfilling an assignment being there I attended the most innocuous and professional sessions I could (although I checked out the ERA harridans also out of curiosity and to know the enemy) but out of sheer rebelliousness I wore my three-piece suit the entire time. I enjoyed being a temporary radical.


144 posted on 07/08/2008 12:12:03 PM PDT by caseinpoint (Don't get thickly involved in thin things)
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To: Retired COB
"You don't get your meat where you get your bread"

I was told "you don't dip your pen in the company ink."

145 posted on 07/08/2008 12:12:25 PM PDT by NeoCaveman (Now get out there and spread some liberty.)
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To: Lee'sGhost
5) Why are you so angry?

This one is more often directed at Black males, thanks in large part to the media, which often portrays Black men as being angry and/or criminals.

146 posted on 07/08/2008 12:14:29 PM PDT by maggief
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To: wideminded
Her job title was "vice president for external affairs".

Yeah. Lipstick on a pig. Her "job" was "diversity extortion".

147 posted on 07/08/2008 12:20:55 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: flowerplough; gonzo; ExTexasRedhead

Thanks, and bump for later .................. FRegards


148 posted on 07/08/2008 1:45:53 PM PDT by gonzo ("Shall Not Be Infringed" - The SCOTUS got it right ... for now ... FRegards)
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To: flowerplough

Many years ago, I went to a job interview and faced an all-male panel.

The first thing they said to me was, “We were expecting a man!”

(I have a gender-neutral name)


149 posted on 07/08/2008 1:49:12 PM PDT by Alouette (Vicious Babushka)
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