Gender Speech

Audience: centre-left politically aligned



Topic: Undervaluation/mistreatment of women in the workplace/professional environments

Points to make:
'Mansplaining', Harassment, employment prospects, pay(?), undervaluation of knowledge/experience


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When you think of a large company or corporation, what comes to mind? Most people would think of a high-rise building, office cubicles and an army of suit-clad staff. However, a lot of people would envisage the majority of these staff to be men. Why is it that whenever we think of a white-collar worker we see this popular image of a clean, well-presented man in a suit, when in actual fact many women work in such environments?




There are several reason such an image is so widely believed. One such reason is that up until a few generations ago, the workforce really was made up almost entirely of men. After the world wars, when the value of a female-inclusive workforce was realised, this became an archaic, outdated idea.
Another reason that this image persists is due to media portrayal. We see it everywhere. On television shows and in films, on adverts everywhere and elsewhere besides. It is not surprising that so many people have this image ingrained in their minds after being bombarded with it for so long.






Despite the relative equality on the office floor that we see nowadays, something that still causes much controversy is the inequality in the management and upper ranks of these kinds of jobs.
On executive boards worldwide, women hold only 12% of seats. With such an underrepresentation of women in these powerful position it can be difficult to see how their best interests will be represented fairly and effectively.




Another issue faced daily by women in the workplace is known as 'mansplaining', the act whereupon a man presumes that a woman has little or no knowledge on a certain subject or topic and goes on to explain it the woman, often leaving the recipient feeling patronised. Examples of this include: females who happen to be IT technicians being told how to do their jobs by unaware male workers with far less expertise in the field, and a male worker explaining, in great detail, the intricacies of the structure of the United Nations, while unaware that the woman has just as much  knowledge on the subject as him. This stems from ideas proposed by language theorists such as Lakoff, who believe that women's language was 'deficient'.
As an extension of this concept, for example, if a senior member of management was asking for a member of staff with an advanced knowledge of how a particular administrative system works. Say there were two prime candidates for this task, one male and one female. The female however, is more experienced with the system than the male. Historically, despite this, the man would've been picked, unless the woman had made it very clear that she was the true expert in the situation. This happens in many fields and occupations, especially those considered 'male' jobs or tasks, when in fact, it is just as viable to consider that a female is more than suitable for the task.




In spite of all this, things are improving. With more women CEO's than ever before, and the skills and abilities of women being more and more recognised things are looking bright for the future of gender equality in the workplace.