{"id":1131,"date":"2016-12-05T08:00:52","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/annelitwin.com\/?p=1131"},"modified":"2016-12-05T08:00:52","modified_gmt":"2016-12-05T12:00:52","slug":"gender-shrapnel-a-new-book-on-gender-based-discrimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/gender-shrapnel-a-new-book-on-gender-based-discrimination\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender Shrapnel: A New Book on Gender-Based Discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"gender-shrapnel\"Gender Shrapnel in the Academic Workplace<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> a new book by Washington and Lee University professor Ellen Mayock, is focused on academia but offers understanding of and solutions to gender-based discrimination in all types of organizations. Mayock\u2019s core concept of \u201cshrapnel\u201d is especially intriguing. She explains that \u201cshrapnel\u201d describes the regular insults and slights that build up over time and inflict real damage. While the meaning of the term \u201cshrapnel\u201d is similar in this context to the term \u201cmicroaggressions,\u201d frequently used in dialogues about the impact of racism, I find shrapnel to be more accurate in describing the potential seriousness of the injuries inflicted by subtle discrimination. Whether it refers to gender or race or is used to describe other group-level discrimination, it is an equally useful concept.\nIn the context of gender, Mayock explains that discrimination occurs when gender-based norms in society that \u201cfollow a patriarchal flow are replicated in the workplace.\u201d According to Mayock, this can take the form of men feeling marginalized for showing emotion at work or taking family leave, of women struggling to be heard and get credit for their good ideas, and of trans women and men being ostracized and insulted.\nMayock offers strategies like training sessions aimed at understanding gender and intersectional dynamics and the importance of sending consistent institutional messages about rectifying gender-based discrimination. It is not enough to write into an organizational value statement that discrimination is not tolerated.\nOne example of an organization sending a strong institutional message about gender-based discrimination occurred recently when the first female president of Harvard University, Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust, canceled the entire season of the winning men\u2019s soccer team<\/a>. Foust acted in response to the male team\u2019s longstanding practice of keeping numbered ratings of the body parts of members of the female soccer team on a spreadsheet. The president sent a strong message that sexual objectification of women, which conditions and reinforces \u201crape culture\u201d in our society, will not be tolerated at Harvard. It seems to have taken a female university president to send this strong message at a major university.\nI highly recommend Mayock\u2019s book to anyone who wants to understand and stop gender shrapnel in his or her organization. What instances of gender shrapnel have you witnessed or experienced at your workplace? How was it addressed?\n \nPhoto: \u201cShrapnel\u201d by Todd Huffman\nLicense: https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/legalcode<\/a>]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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