Funny, I just read an article today for work about how women directors of firms are linked to higher returns:

As president and CEO of SBLI USA Mutual Life Insurance Co. and being an African-American woman, Pryor has both the business experience and perspective that many companies seek today as they try to establish more diverse boards.

During the past few years, more companies are trying to disband the old boys' network that used to make up their boards of directors, looking to add more women and minorities to the mix.

And now it seems that companies have an even greater incentive to do so. According to a recent study by New Yorkbased Catalyst, companies with more women on their boards perform better than those with few women.

During the four-year span of the reporting for the study, Fortune 500 companies with the highest percentage of women on their boards saw equity returns that were 53 percent higher than those companies with the fewest number of women on their boards. These companies saw a return on sales that was 42 percent higher than those companies with the lowest number of women. Similarly, they saw a return on invested capital that was at least 66 percent higher.

I am 'bout to pull my hair out.
What is UP with all these women making careers out of bemoaning the fact that women have careers?!!? Do they not see the irony? What a bunch of suck-ups to the patriarchy.

Jesus Fucking Christ.

I'm old enough to remember when "Politically Correct" was merely a nudge-nudge left-wing in-joke progressives used to rib each other when they thought someone's critical faculties/argument was lagging instead of a rhetorical cudgel brought down on people you're trying to bully into STFU. Whenever I have to listen to someone using these words together like this, all I hear is the sound of someone's Central Nervous System smashing to a dead halt & it's 1991 all over again.

If I have to hear this stupid, tiresome phrase being used unironically one more time, someone please follow behind me to catch the marbles that will be spraying from my eyes, nose, mouth & ears.

More women in the workplace means more problems and there is the whole political correctness thing.

Let me see if I can paraphrase that... "More women in the workplace means more opportunity for the sexist, asshole men in our company to say or do inappropriate things."

People like that usually use "political correctness" as code- when they say "people are just being too PC" they really mean "people are being mean and calling me on the sexist/racist/homophobic behaviors I'm engaged in, and I don't like being made to look like the huge asshole that I am".

I especially like how that sentence is a complete non sequitur. It's completely unrelated to any of the points around it, like she just had to squeeze that little nugget in there somewhere.

O poor men. Having to deal with women AT WORK. What is this world coming to?

smartpatrol - seriously, there aren't words to express my wrath at hearing the phrase "politically correct."

A feminist claiming her primary tool doesn't exist. Amusing.

Not too long ago I read an article about women complaining because men in the office don't want anything to do with them.

Well, since the definition of sexual harrassment seems to be: "Anything SHE doesn't like", how can you complain about the fallout from that?

go back under your bridge, bro. no handouts for trolls here.

A feminist claiming her primary tool doesn't exist. Amusing.

Who the fuck is this bimbo?

It makes me want to send these anti-feminism "feminists" a copy of the Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

People tell me I'm being "politically correct" ALL THE TIME because I use words like partner instead of boy/girlfriend or husband/wife,or pointing out the difference between burqa and hijab.
It makes me a little stabby.

Nice, two comments so far, both using shaming tactics (troll, bimbo) to try and silence me. Shaming is a PC tool.

Keep it coming ladies.

nerdalert - that is one of my all-time favorite books. i love the crap out of margaret atwood.

Waiting for AMMAN to be deleted.......

Clearly it's much easier to denigrate and marginalize people without negative consequences when they're not actively in front of you.

It's a simple concept and most people get it on a one to one basis. You CAN talk about what an asshole Joe is, but if you do it to Joe's face, there's going to be conflict. Most people recognize as that being the fault of the guy that insults Joe. Even if the insulter was non-specific and said tall blond guys in red shirt are assholes, and Joe is a tall blond guy in a red shirt, few people would fault Joe for taking exception to that.

Why is it so fucking hard to extrapolate that to other classes, races and genders?

Of course you are waiting for me to be deleted because feminism never has been open to honest debate. It's understandable though since feminism can't survive open debate.

Heh. I had read that article earlier this morning, and was reading through some of Lucy's "agony aunt" (don't even get me started on that phrase) advice. It's...ah...interesting? I'm so proud I found something to get irritated by before it appeared on feministing. :)

Funny thing is, while the spirit of that quote is awful, the letter is actually correct. More women in the workplace means more problems *for the archaic, ridiculous system we have in place*. Poor, poor archaic system. I'm looking forward to your slow, but inevitable unheaval.

For the record (not to feed the troll, but...), sexual harrassment sure as hell means "anything she doesn't like." It also means "anything he doesn't like." Do I need to define harrass for you, or do you have the capability to use a dictionary for yourself?

Nice, two comments so far, both using shaming tactics (troll, bimbo) to try and silence me.

Someone call the Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaambulance. AMMAN is covered in 3re-digree stupid, & there's internal bleeding coming from the ruptured entitlement.

AMMAN: People aren't advocating your removal because we're not interested in debate. We actually debate in here all the time. Check out the thread about high heels if you don't believe it.
We're annoyed because most of the staunchly anti-feminists that come in here don't provide any new or (for the most part) relevant arguments. It's usually just a load of sarcasm and insults. If you want to start a healthy debate on a particular subject, most of us would be willing to bite, but we don't waste our time on unwilling ignorance.

Nice, two comments so far, both using shaming tactics (troll, bimbo) to try and silence me.

Someone call the Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaambulance. We've got AMMAN covered in 3rd-degree stupid with internal bleeding coming from ruptured entitlement & bone shards from a horribly shattered ego are penetrating the nerve endings. Subject also seems to be suffering from a severe case of assumtive-itis

Love when anti-feminist trolls complain that "feminism doesn't tolerate open debate" or some nonsense.

This website is not "feminism;" it's a safe space for women (and men) to discuss feminist issues.

We put up with misogyny day in and day out, personally and politically. We are not obligated to enterain your batshit insanity here.

Are we actually supposed to believe that the mean-spirtited one-liners from anti-feminists are an attempt at open, honest debate?

"Oh, pardon me; I interpreted your invitation to open, honest debate for bratty rudeness."

When people complain about things being "politically correct," they're really complaining about needing to have common decency. "You mean having women in the office means I can't wash my balls in the water fountain? I hate this politically correct bullshit!"

FEMily, so true. "political correctness" = anything that requires straight, white, affluent, christian dudes to think before assuming that the world is not exclusively populated by straight, white, affluent, christian dudes.

That's what I don't get, FEMily. How hard is it not to call people names once you're out of fifth grade, for Pete's sake? I'm pretty sure before the so-called "PC" era you didn't have a bunch of guys in suits ordering in strippers or throwing feces at each other, so what's the big damn deal?

Did anyone watch Madmen? I'm convinced that some men would love to still be working in that kind of atmosphere, in which they and their cronies are at the top of the pile and everyone else is there to serve and be happily objectified.

It turns out everyone else wasn't happy with that arrangement though, and expected some basic courtesy and respect. Poor menz with their lost priveleges! Bad feminists with their political correctness! Wah!

Heh, I recently got called overly PC for suggesting that maybe dressing up in blackface and a prison outfit wasn't appropriate for a company party. (In reference to this: DHS employee put on leave after wearing 'offensive' costume). I swear to God, next time somebody uses the phrase "PC" with me, I'm going to punch them.

No, no. Kellaway's got it wrong. The problem is with men in the workplace. If we had fewer men in offices, we would have far less sexual harrassment. Men are ruining the workplace for the rest of us!

"More women in the workplace means more problems and there is the whole political correctness thing."

This should really read "More men who can't control their behavior in the workplace means more problems" and then something about how the office shouldn't be a "daily minefield" in the first place. If that was how I viewed my work I'd quit.

EG: I'm going to write a song about it called Mo Men Mo Problems.

I really need to make those "PC police" badges and wear one. It'd drive away all the whiny assholes and I won't have to deal with them.

Anybody have design suggestions? Right now I'm thinking something gaudy and rainbow colored...

And yet you, honey, are a product of women in the workplace.

Her comment is about as stupid as Ann Coulter saying that women shouldn't have the vote or have a voice in politics. Hypocrite much?

Why does it have to be "PC" to get guys in the workplace to NOT act like impulsive, bratty children?

In my workplace, there are a lot of men and not so many women. So the men get this idea that they can say whatever they want, and they get very comfortable with this. I've heard guys saying things that I thought were inappropriate, but EVERY WOMAN I HAVE TALKED TO in this company has said to me that they would never complain about a man's behavior for fear of being the one singled out. "No one wants to be known as the one who complained."

To explain it another way, I told a guy who was a friend (not anymore) that I thought it was ridiculous that guys in this company can talk about their dicks or banging our clients (students), but if a woman was talking to another woman about her period, any guy in the room would go, "EWWWW!!!"

He gave the dumbest, most ... I dunno ... privilege-dripping answer, which was, "Well, if she doesn't like what he says, she can tell him to stop. If a guy doesn't want her to talk about her periods around him, he'll tell her to stop and she'll do it. But women don't say anything."

So when I told him that they feel intimidated into not complaining about anything, he said that it's because women are "sneaky" and complain to a supervisor rather than complain directly like "a man would."

Yeahhhh ...

1. First of all, that wasn't a piece by Kellaway - that was a piece by Reuters' Paul Majendie, shamelessly picking and choosing quotes from an interview. Did he ask her what precisely she meant by 'more women means more problems'? No. Should he have? Obviously. Taken out of context, of course any quote can be utterly sexist. You of all people should know this.

2. So what did Kellaway mean by 'more women in the workplace means more problems'? Of course it means more problems - but it's not that women are the sole cause. We know very well that women in the office are perceived differently from men in the office (see studies posted on this very same website about women negotiating, getting angry, etc.) But it's not our problem. It's a problem with sexist, misogynist assholes in the office - both male and female versions exist - who haven't yet adjusted their points of view, half a century after women entered the workforce in large numbers.

3. Of course, what Kellaway says might be true only up to a point. When women *outnumber* men in the workplace, I think the problems will cease.

To be in all honesty and reality, this arguement is ridiculous. There will always be racist, sexist, and religion-bashing comments in everyday you will be alive enough to breath. Bashing the guy who wrote that comment, and generalizing it to all men makes you no better than the guy who wrote it. Why not just accept this happens, and when you see someone assaulting (verbally) you or someone you know, then tell that person off and make a difference in the world, rather than complain in a comment room?

Why not just accept this happens, and when you see someone assaulting (verbally) you or someone you know, then tell that person off and make a difference in the world, rather than complain in a comment room?

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but it is possible to both complain in a comment room and make a difference in the world. The two are not mutually exclusive.