"We Let the Men Wear the Pants Around Here"

As you probably know, I am a big supporter of the Outdoor Industries Women's Coalition (OIWC) whose mission is to help women advance professionally in the outdoor industries.  At a recent networking gathering, I was talking to one of the founders of the OIWC – and she was remarking that women today don’t know how far we’ve come in gaining equality in the workplace – and it’s important to remember – so that we don’t run the risk of losing what rights we have gained.
 
I thought back on my experience – and have felt pretty lucky in the jobs that I have held. I have felt heard, supported, and equal – for the most part.  Perhaps, this is because I have 5 step brothers and had to fight for my rights at an early age (and just assumed I was an equal party in the family). 
 
But, it was my first job, at a law firm in downtown Chicago where I felt the sting of being a woman in the man’s world.  On my first day of my job, as a legal assistant, I was called into a meeting with the senior partner of the firm.  He sat me down and went through some of the basics of working at the firm.  I remember one thing he said in that meeting, “Lori, we let the men wear the pants around here.” – which, I learned, was a reference to dress code (though could have served as a metaphor for the entire workings of the firm, but whatever)! 
 
Yes, you got it, women had to wear skirts AND NYLONS every single day!  For those of you who haven’t spent a winter or summer in Chicago…let me tell you this SUCKS!   (Wonder why I am a big fan of the sport & outdoor industries?)

In the scheme of things, this isn’t much of a discrimination, I know.  Just consider some of these  women’s rights facts (from the YWCA website):

* 1872 Susan B. Anthony is arrested and brought to trial (denied trial by jury) in Rochester, New York, for attempting to vote for Ulysses S. Grant in the presidential election.

* 1916 Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first American woman elected to represent her state in the United States House of Representatives.

* 1920 The 19th Amendment, which grants women the right to vote, is ratified.  The League of Women Voters is established.

* 1963 The Equal Pay Act requires equal pay for men and women performing equal work.

* 1972 Title IX, which outlaws sex discrimination in education, is passed.

* 1981 In San Jose, California, a strike of city workers wins salaries based on comparable worth for nearly 1500 women, a national first. (1981, people!)

* 1981 Sandra Day O'Connor is the first woman ever appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

* 1982 Ratification efforts for an Equal Rights Amendment fail.

* 1986 The Supreme Court declared that sexual harassment on the job is sex discrimination and a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

* 1989 Lori Harrod is told she can’t wear pants to the office. (This fact, surprisingly, was missing from the YWCA list)
 
Not so distant history, is it?  Take a moment to remember and appreciate the brave battles that were fought so we can be where we are today...
 
We need to remember where we come from...so that we can create the path to where we are going.
 
I'll have you know that I’m writing this from my home office and I’m wearing pants! Ha!

Comments

[Errin]

Amen and hail to women. I too had the skirt/stockings dress code in an early job and hated it. I left that company when finding out there was no official maternity leave policy--in 1994! Interestingly, I find myself trying to transmit the women's rights and women's issues struggles to my 12-year old daughter and she just doesn't get it. Her history (limited though it is) includes her mom working full time, traveling the globe, arguing with her male bosses and colleagues, reigning over a traveling basketball tour and paying the bills. She doesn't now and probably will never fully appreciate the work that the women before me and before her did so she never has to think "if only I could wear the pants around here."

[loriharrod]

Thanks for the comment Errin! :-)