Seeing Red, Feeling Blue

You may have seen that the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) has sued Coca-Cola for sex discrimination over a women-only networking event, because male employees were not invited.

When I first heard this I saw red, I was livid. How can they so incredibly miss the point that women are discriminated against in the workplace every minute of every day - and always have been. That the male dominant culture in virtually every workplace on the planet favours men and works against women in so many ways. That the male network is so big, powerful and established that men don’t even notice it and take it for granted. That significant interventions are needed for women to get close to level the playing field with men. How can they so incredibly miss the point? - because too many men who benefit from being a man in a man’s world don’t see or realize or appreciate what an easy world it is for them versus women: they are like the spoilt children of millionaires who have a tantrum when another child gets a biscuit.

And then the more I thought about it, the more it made me feel really sad. Here is Coca-Cola, one of the world’s greatest companies, clearly ‘getting it’ and understanding the gender equality issue and that their talented women need some extra support to win in the male dominant workplace. Seeing the benefits of doing this and caring enough to invest time and money in it. And this is what they get.

So I’m angry for Coca-Cola. And I’m sad for Coca-Cola, but I’m even more sad about all the great people in companies who know they and their women need gender equality interventions and programs like this but may be put off by this ridiculousness from the EEOC - who after this do NOT deserve their name.