Are dinosaurs ruining your workplace?

This article came out over a week ago but I’m still livid about it - on so many levels.

Firstly, the original title ‘Did Women Ruin the Workplace?’, which was offensive in so many ways but, above all, because of the underlying implication that the workplace is men’s place and territory (and would/should remain so without women’s presence).

Secondly, the updated title was maybe even more irritating: ‘Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace? And, if so, can conservative feminism fix it?’ What the hell is liberal feminism and conservative feminism? Feminism is feminism: it is the belief in the equal opportunity for women to do whatever they want to and are capable of in this world. So liberal feminism equals… just feminism, actually. And ‘conservative feminism’, which is based in the re-emphasis of traditional gender roles, is therefore not feminism at all. So if they wanted to rename the article, a more accurate title would have been ‘Does women working ruin the workplace - and can returning them to the kitchen fix it?’

Because that’s what Helen Andrews & Leah Libresco Sargaent (who were the guests on Ross Douhat’s Interesting Times podcast that was the source for this article) would like: they believe that women bring things to the workplace, such as maternity leave, that disrupt and damage it. Given that people have babies and someone needs to take care of them, this can only mean that these people see that as what a woman should be doing: they simply don’t want women in the workplace.

And as for the suggestion that removing these ‘polluting’ women from the workplace would fix it… good luck with that one. They want a return to ‘masculine virtues’ like risk-taking: they clearly don’t know that testosterone-driven risk-taking does not lead to better business decisions and results (see Why Men Win At Work for the proof). Oh, and they want more of the masculine virtue of discipline! Excuse me while I choke on my tea, since when do men have more discipline at work than women?!?!? I could bore you with the data on why that is laughable but instead I’ll just say that if I want something checking and doing thoroughly I know which gender I’m giving it to!

So just to be clear, no, women did not ruin the workplace. Having women in the workplace makes it better because diversity is good for business. Men-only teams miss information and perspective and make poor decisions as a result. Diverse teams bring better input, insights and perspective, they make better decisions, define better strategies, have stronger plans and deliver better results.

If anything is ruining your workplace, it’s the dinosaur men who created it and are afraid to let it evolve and become stronger.

Women can be the making of the workplace, if you let them be.