Women deserve better in the workplace

Kailey Krantz | Staff Writer

To any woman who has been harassed at work, you’re not the only one. It’s far too common and it needs to stop. 

A lot of stress goes into working a job from running around doing tasks to being on time and making sure you hit your mark on being a good employee. Unfortunately, these simple standards become much harder to achieve when you’re a woman.

Between 54% and 81% of women reported being harassed within the workplace— that’s more than half of the employees. 

As an online student, I feel unprepared for dealing with a toxic workplace. The horror stories I’ve been hearing force me to put my guard up and be skeptical that the rest of the workforce would have my best interests at heart. 

We can’t continue to oversimplify what women go through daily. While boundaries can be helpful, it’s still not going to deter coworkers and superiors from trampling said boundaries by soliciting inappropriate comments and unwarranted physical touch. 

Laurie Segall has been collecting various stories of women experiencing sexual harassment within the tech industry with stories of male co-workers touching their legs and leaning over them to kiss them. 

Reading these stories can make any woman terrified to pursue their desired career, whether it’s male-dominated or not. 

This sort of behavior is unjustifiable in the workplace. Boundaries are actively being disrespected and women’s valid concerns get thrown under the bus.

“Playful” jokes like “work wives” only romanticize a work relationship and possibly perpetuate rumors of women sleeping with their co-workers for a raise or promotion.

Women are overlooked employees because they tend to take up any work that comes their way with their generosity being taken advantage of causing them to work extra hours without pay and sacrificing their well-being. 

As someone who still wants a social life while having a career, it sucks that your work efficiency is rewarded with even more work that’s out of your job description because someone else isn’t willing to do their part. 

There is always the option to leave a toxic work environment but at what cost?

Leaving a company could lead to ruining our reputations by spreading lies about our performance, inability to afford living expenses and worse which can leave women with no other choice but to stay.

We spend four or more years studying to get to our dream career yet the possibility of it being stripped away from us is the reality we live in. 

It’s devastating that women are subjected to these garbage behaviors and it’s worse because the intimidation can work. After all, some women need their jobs for financial stability or can’t easily move to the next job offering.

Instead of forcing women to fit the standards of male-dominated industries, the men running those industries should adapt to the needs of their female counterparts.

Women have worked too hard to be given anything less than what they truly deserve. The harassment needs to stop if we’re going to feel safe at our jobs.

DISCLAIMER:

The opinions presented on this page do not represent the views of the PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.