Building capacity: Navigating organizational opportunities as if they were a subway system

8th Annual NW Diversity Learning Series (2006)

Why review women's history as a means to understand subtle discrimination today Session Three Summary:
Anticipating the loss of power: Transforming micro-inequities that impede access to opportunities and inhibit relationships

By Monica Ercolano

Some people may wonder why we decided to review the history of women at work as part of our approach to micro-aggressions and micro-inequities. Micro-inequities, or micro-aggressions, are basically subtle discriminations, and sexism is specifically the subtle discrimination applied to women. If we are going to understand the subtle discrimination of sexism today, we need to understand its historical force, where it comes from and why it is so predominant.

Dr. Wesley Profit says that compared to racism, whose concept dates back to the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, sexism may be even more difficult to recognize and to eradicate because it is much older as a concept and more deeply embedded in the culture. In other words, the disparities between men and women and the devaluing of women's contributions have been around a long time.

Two statements that Dr. Profit shared, dating back to the 4th century and the 13th century respectively, tell us about the perception of women from a male perspective:

"Woman is the gate of the devil, the path of wickedness, the sting of the serpent, in a word a perilous object." - 4th Century, St. Jerome

"Woman was created to be man's helpmeet; but her unique role is in conception. Since for other purposes men would be better assisted by other men." - 13th Century, Thomas Aquinas

These two statements clearly indicate the underlying the power relationship between men and women, and the perception of women and their contributions at that time.

Women's and legal rights:

• Throughout most of our history, women have had fewer rights and career opportunities than men; they were mainly seen as wives and mothers, and consequently motherhood and wifehood were regarded as women's best professions.
• Throughout early history women were also legally subordinated to men and were protected only when and if that protection could benefit men as well.
• A married woman gave up her name and virtually all of her property to her husband - a man virtually owned his wife and children the same way as he owned his other material possessions. (In divorce, the husband kept legal control of children and properties.)
• In mid 19th century and beginning of the 20th century that women win the right to vote and can experience increasing educational and professional opportunities. Women begin working outside the home, still labor laws prevents women from working more than eight-hour day and from working at night.
• Some states prohibit women from lifting weights above a certain amount.

Toward more legal rights - Major events that facilitate women's legal status and rights:

Equity laws: emphasize equal property rights for men and women

1839 - law passed in Mississippi

1848 - law passed in New York

1854 - law passed in Massachusetts

Federal laws: improving the economic status of women

• The Equal Pay Act of 1963 - requiring equal wages for men and women doing equal work
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 - prohibiting discrimination against women by any company with 25 or more employees
• Presidential Executive Order in 1967 - prohibiting bias against women in hiring by federal government contractors

Equal rights for women:

The Equal Rights Amendment was written in 1921 by suffragist Alice Paul. It has been introduced in Congress every session since 1923; it passed Congress in 1972, but was not ratified by the necessary thirty-eight states by the July 1982 deadline. It was ratified by thirty-five states. In other words, no Equal Rights Amendment passed.

Dr. Profit's final thoughts on the importance of looking back at history:

"Looking at history has several positive effects. First, it gives us a sense for what others have contended against. The world in which they lived was much more hostile and dismissive of their efforts. Yet in every age, we can find examples of people who fought against the prevailing notions of inferiority and degradation. Indeed, some died for speaking truth to power. Secondly, history gives us a chance to see how people struggled. The lessons are in the details. What strategies did they employ? Who did they try to reach? What appeals did they make? What was successful and what was not. What fed their spirits and gave them the ability to do what they did? Finally, history gives us a sense of movement (forward motion). We can connect ourselves to the efforts of others; we can see where their efforts stopped and ours began. It gives us a context in which to operate and, most importantly, it gives us a sense that things can change and are changing.

History gives us courage to sail in stormy seas. The ancients defined courage as the ability to act on insufficient information. What sustains is not the thought that we are right but the firm belief that we can do better. In times of great stress it is the ability to see small victories that pull us through.

History helps us to see and know what those victories truly are." - Wesley Profit, 2006

Please see other resources from the May 11, 2006, session: Anticipating the loss of power: Transforming micro-inequities that impede access to opportunities and inhibit relationships.

The 2006 NW Diversity Learning Series (now in its 9th year) focused on the theme, Building Capacity: Navigating organizational opportunities as if they were a subway system.

Using the metaphor of a subway system, each of the six-bi-monthly morning seminars explored some of the ways that access to organizational opportunities and career development are hidden and therefore more difficult for women and people of color, as well as people who speak English as a second language, to utilize. The purpose of this Series was for everyone to become more aware of organizational culture and how it impacts building people's capacity, and for everyone, managers and employees, to become better at navigating these cultural obstacles along career paths.

For more information about the NW Diversity Learning Series, please visit the Series section of our website.

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