Abstract
Mayock provides here nine case studies on Gender Shrapnel, with a discussion guide. The Appendix includes sample answers as an instructor’s guide.
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Gender Shrapnel in the Workplace is, in and of itself, a series of case studies. Each chapter tells stories that illustrate the specific components of gender shrapnel outlined in that chapter. This chapter offers eight additional brief case studies in order to show how gender shrapnel concepts can be applied in the contexts of law, business, medicine, higher education in a military context, and secondary education. These brief case studies can be used in conjunction with the Training Principles outlined in Chapter 14.Footnote 1
For each of the case studies, consider the following questions:
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Has something inappropriate happened? If so, what is it? Is this inappropriate action also illegal under Title VII and/or Title IX law?
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What are the gender components in the case? Consider the sex of the individuals involved, the degree of power tied to their professional positions, the overall work environment and the visual and audio messages it sends about gender, and the vocabulary used in the interactions among the individuals involved in the case.
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Has gender shrapnel hit in this case? If so, how?
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List the problems in this case.
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Discuss potential solutions for all involved.
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What other questions surrounding these cases need to be asked?
A female law associate in a large Boston firm is working toward making partner. She attended Yale Law School, has a master’s in public health policy, and has gained recognition at her firm for working long hours on big cases. While working toward making partner, she has two children who are under three years. After the associate has had her two children, two of the law associate’s performance evaluations state that the associate seems “frazzled” and “frenetic.” Three years later, the law associate is denied partner and moves to another firm.
FormalPara 2. Business ModelA large, well-known, and long-standing Washington, DC, business sells commercial real estate. Charisma and “face-time” really matter in order to attract and maintain steady clients. The headquarters of the company boasts ample office space, a room to play billiards, posters on the walls, of young, scantily clad women and a small basketball court out back. The company’s president regularly smokes cigars, plays basketball, and goes fishing with his employees. A total of 25 of the company’s 28 employees are men. Two of the three women are administrative assistants, and the third is a commercial real estate agent who likes to play basketball and shoot pool. The company hires a fourth female employee to join the ranks of the agents. This employee issues a formal complaint about the posters and the jokes that are made about them. Nothing is done about the complaint, and the employee leaves the company within one year.
FormalPara 3. MedsA large pharmaceutical company in Charlotte offers a women’s leadership program to a handpicked group of up-and-coming women managers. The program includes in-house workshops on women and leadership, funds for program participants to travel to pertinent conferences on the topic, an assigned mentor, and regular social gatherings for program participants. The participants “graduate” from the program and take on higher-level managerial positions in the company. One of the participants becomes one of the company vice presidents. She discovers that the other company vice presidents, all male, have a long-standing Wednesday night poker game, at which some of the business conversations of the week take place. She is not invited to join the game, nor does she feel comfortable inviting herself. She attends a business dinner with colleagues and clients, and her supervisor asks her if she was a “party girl” in college. The new VP soon finds that not as much work is coming her way and that her male subordinate is being consulted on matters meant for her. She stays with the company and never complains about the incidents.
FormalPara 4. Military CollegeA public military college in Texas is required to co-educate in the 1990s, and the institution’s president responds by saying publicly that he is extremely dissatisfied with the decision. The institution co-educates and, within 15 years, 10 % of its student population is female. The chair of the computer science department repeatedly makes sexual comments to female colleagues in the biology department. He asks them “to sit on his lap” and “to warm him up,” and he comments on various parts of their bodies. The female professors issue a formal complaint. The institution denies wrongdoing, but states that the female professors are allowed to avoid the male employee by not attending formal events, such as faculty meetings, convocations, and graduation. The female employees file a formal case with the EEOC.
FormalPara 5. High School DisciplineA female high school administrator in Alabama with two years’ experience as a classroom teacher and two years’ experience as an assistant principal takes over as principal of a medium-sized high school. After two years with the new principal in charge, teachers, parents, and students complain that the principal does not state clear goals, runs over in meetings, is unaware of curricular changes, and disregards disciplinary needs. After four years, the principal is dismissed. Several parents speak vociferously about the need to hire a man in order to get the discipline question in order. A man is hired and is perceived by the parents to be stating clear goals, running meetings well, and instituting a degree of discipline.
FormalPara 6. Member of the ClergyA female minister in Nevada is called to visit an elderly, ailing patient at the local hospital. She arrives soon thereafter at the information desk of the hospital and states her business. She is told that the patient will wait for her (the female minister’s) husband. “But I’m the minister. I have been called to visit with the ailing patient,” states the minister. “Please just wait a moment and we’ll see if we can clear this up,” says the woman at the front desk. Fifteen minutes later, the receptionist returns with a manager, who then asks the business of the minister. The minister patiently restates her business, but also relays that she is concerned that time is passing and the patient is awaiting her visit. She is finally allowed back to the patient’s room. The next day, she is called back to the same patient and confronts the very same situation with a different front-desk receptionist. It takes her 25 minutes on the second day to get to the patient’s room for the visit.
FormalPara 7. RadioactivityA wife and husband work at the same carpet factory in North Carolina in different departments. The wife works on the factory floor, where there are 42 male employees and 18 female employees. The husband started out on the factory floor, but now works as the assistant director of public relations for the company. Over a period of six months, the floor manager tells the wife and four of her female co-workers that he wants to take them out for drinks. He loudly “grades” their physical features and occasionally pats them on the buttocks and massages their shoulders. After six months of putting up with the manager’s behavior, the wife and one other woman report the manager’s behavior to the director of human resources. The director tells them that she will look into the matter. The floor manager is removed from the floor for one week’s time and then returns. The floor workers are not given a reason for his absence. The two women who reported the sexual harassment receive no feedback on their case. A week later, the assistant director of public relations is demoted.
FormalPara 8. Mommies and DaddiesA female surgical resident at a large, urban hospital in Los Angeles gives birth in January and returns to work eight weeks later. A male surgical resident’s partner gives birth in March of that same year, and the male surgical resident returns to work four weeks later. All residents in the program receive their annual evaluations in mid-June, just before the end of the fiscal year. The performance evaluation for the female resident states that, “she has exceeded expectations, despite the time off for parental leave.” The performance evaluation for the male resident states that “he has far exceeded expectations.”
Notes
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For an instructor’s guide with possible responses to questions for each case study, see Appendix.
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Mayock, E. (2016). Gender Shrapnel Case Studies. In: Gender Shrapnel in the Academic Workplace. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50830-0_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50830-0_15
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