Woman, How is THE OFFICE Treating You?

I recently overheard a conversation about this girl who was not happy about her job anymore. She holds an above rank-and-file position at company downtown. Well, it wasn’t THAT, actually. But she wanted a raise since she was given extra work and she seriously thinks she deserves it. Because she can’t blatantly tell her boss to give her a raise, she started taking absences from work and she expects the rest of the people in the workplace to get what she’s trying to convey. Surprisingly, her female coworkers got the message but the men from the top floors of the organizational chart accuse her of truancy.

My question: why can’t she just write a sincere and courteous letter about her concern? Are women nowadays too afraid to ask?

This glaring situation made me realize of a lot of things that women, I general, miss out on in the office because they were too afraid to ask.

First, the raise. When we’re working at a company for quite sometime and we believe that we have contributed a lot of the things that the company accomplished, then we sincerely believe we deserve a raise. THAT, or we suddenly are given extra responsibilities and the management seem to treat us like the same. (Evidence: the payroll.) Statistics show that women generally earn less than men because we were too afraid to stand up and ask for it. Less women “compete” for promotion against men, and also, less women DEMAND the salary that they think they deserve. When women don’t get what they deserve, usually, they just suck it in and pray that the next time will be better. When men don’t get what they deserve, they usually talk to their bosses about it and they’re even more cunning when competing for a promotion.

A reputable statistics company in the US also held a study which focused on new employees. They interviewed 1000 men and women for the same position. Every one was asked the same set of questions and each interview ended with “How much salary do you expect to receive in this job?” The ending? The average salary that the men quoted was around 20% higher than the average salary that the women quoted.
The thing is, women may dominate a lot of offices lately, but we’re still too afraid to speak out in the office.

Another interesting fact: more men ask for cash advances than women. Well, I told a friend about this and she just said that maybe it was because men are more pressured to provide, so they ALWAYS have to have money. My take on this is that women always had a shady relationship with money, and that is why women are not encouraged to really talk about money outside the bounds of family.

Men have always been trained to become go-getters and that is why in the office, they rise faster. Women, on the other hand, are being socially rewarded for being cooperating and having an easy-do-deal-with attitude, that is why women are not likely to stir legitimate corporate intrigue.

What do you think about this phenomenon? I’ve only been in the corporate world for months and I can these sad things actually happen. Should the bosses reach out to women more? Are workplaces and organizational charts simply not women-friendly enough? What about other forms of abuse? Like sexual and verbal assault? How long should the women keep mum?

Woman, how is the office treating you? Woman, email me at live_out_loud@ymail.com.