A Look Back

After a 45-year career, mostly in Strategic Sourcing/Procurement, I have retired.  I managed to climb to upper middle management but never to the executive level.  This made me look back and to take stock in what women had to deal with in their careers that began in the 70’s and 80’s.  My guess is that the men in my Colgate University class didn’t have to deal with some (much) of the nonsense that the women did.  I have written some articles published on my LinkedIn account that address the nonsense. 

Both the men and women in our class were, and are, intelligent people.  We all proudly graduated from this elite university with our bachelor’s degrees and either moved on to graduate schools or the workforce.  I opted to go to work.  

In my first role, I was subjected to wage discrimination that was ultimately corrected by the EEOC several years later, after I lodged a formal complaint.  Imagine a man fresh out of Colgate with a degree in mathematics being told to multiply columns of numbers using a calculator and, oh by the way, “honey, this calculator might be different from the ones you’re used to so let me show you how to use it”.  Nope, a man would never be on the receiving end of this.

Imagine a man being told we can’t give you a raise even though you’re being paid 30% less than others because “they have families to support and you don’t”.  Nope, a man would never be on the receiving end of this.

Imagine a man being asked to “get me a cuppa coffee, honey”. Nope, a man would never be on the receiving end of this.

Imagine a man having his chest or rear-end grabbed without consequence to the grabber.  Nope, a man would never be on the receiving end of this.

Imagine a man being invited to a job interview and then, when he arrives, being told “um, that job has been filled but we DO have a clerical role open”. Nope, a man would never be on the receiving end of this.  They’d assumed my resume was a man’s or I’d never have even been offered the interview.... C.J. Schneider, with a degree in math from a school that only recently had been all male, shocked them when I arrived.  “We expected Mr. Schneider” I was told.  Surprise, you got Ms. Schneider (and, yes, I purposely used only my initials to see if it made a difference....and it did).

Imagine a man being asked “why do you want this job...all you’ll do is get married, have kids and stay home”.  Nope, a man would never be on the receiving end of this.

I could list many (many) more examples of how men and women were treated differently in those first 20 years following our graduation.  Many of the women I know from the “olden days” have similar stories.  We all kept on keeping on so that our daughters and granddaughters don’t have to be subjected to the same kind of discrimination.