A Mile Marker on Gender

I'm old enough and from enough of a rural area to have grown up around some (thankfully) old ideas about how people should live. Having been born in 1960 my earliest memories of television were news coverage about the Vietnam war and the equal rights struggles of the mid to late 60's.  I heard my family and friends detestation of race and gender equality protests and legislation.  One of the difficult realities I confronted as a young man was that these people that I love so much were (and in some cases still are) wrong about so many things.

This last week I saw first-hand how far we've come regarding gender.  I had to have a series of tests and procedures at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, mostly related to a bad fall I took back in September and some lingering injury.  Every one of my doctors, nurse practitioners, and ultrasound techs were women, and the oldest was probably in her late 30's.  I received excellent, state-of-the-art care from bright young women who would not have been admitted in medical school had they graduated high school in my youth.

So maybe none of this is ground-breaking news; after all, equal opportunity has been a settled issue for how many decades now?  Still, every so often something shows me how far we've come and I take a moment to feel good about our future as a society.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On-Line Streamlining

On Friday of this week I will shut down both my Facebook and Twitter accounts. In place of communicating via those outlets I intend to be a more consistent and diligent blogger. There are several reasons for this move which I will explain just briefly. I usually check all these accounts after dinner. That process entails checking Nelson email, personal email, Twitter updates (both reading and writing), looking at who added or dropped me on Twitter, checking Facebook updates from my "friends", and leaving comments. I could set up a link that combines Facebook and Twitter updates into one process, but that only saves a few moments of what takes about 45 - 60 minutes. My other personal interests, be they gardening or guitar or a few home improvement projects slated for the spring, suffer from the time taken up with living in the on-line world. Every so often my wife would like for me to just sit down and watch TV with her and I rarely ever do. After slacking off for the winte...
Read more

Employer Response to Feb 17 General Strike

If you are an employer and have employees participating in today's called General Strike here are a few tips.  The demands of the General Strike are not employment related: they are political and are not about to your workplace's specific terms and conditions of employment.  As such this is not subject to the "no strike" clause of your collective bargaining agreement (if you have one), and is not a non-union "wildcat strike".  As such it is not NLRB protected concerted activity in my opinion. You can take corrective action in accordance with your policies. But be careful: this "is" protected First Amendment speech so terminating for absences related to this event could prove problematic.  Still you probably don't want people walking off the job without consequences and/or disrupting your workplace. Here is what you can do.  Insist that the strikers leave your premises, not block your entrances and exits, and not disrupt your business. You c...
Read more

Managing Through the Micromanaging Myth

It is the ultimate derogatory comment among the 20-somethings in your workforce. It has replaced race and gender slurs as the lowest form of workplace insult. To be labeled a micro-manager carries with it a level of disdain somewhere just above sexual harasser. It is also largely a myth and an excuse wielded by some on your staff who lack the experience to know mentoring from meddling. That so many middle managers (and higher) buy into this corporate urban myth is disappointing; but it will one day go the way of all other ill-conceived management fads. Let me go out on a limb here and call out that labelling your supervisor as a micro-manager is a handy tool to escape supervision and accountability and that buying into it as a supervisor cheats your new hires out of needed coaching. The theory of the micro-manager is simple; close supervision is equal to a lack of confidence in the person you supervise and is therefore poor leadership. Moreover, if you've selected someone for your ...
Read more