How common is it for women to get lighter duties at work for the same pay?

number4ty7 · 2017-08-13T15:07:15+00:00

I was given a verbal warning after a complaint was made against me whilst working in a prestigious large hotel in Dublin. We were setting up a banquet for 3000 people. I was carrying 10 chairs at a time from storage to table when I passed a woman carrying 1. I quipped 'I should be getting paid 10 times what you're being paid, I'm 10 times more productive.'

The next day I was called into managers office for a roasting, I said that what I said was true, I was 10 times more productive. The roasting was escalated to a formal verbal warning.

I wasn't even an mra back then.

icksummerisgross · 2017-08-13T11:12:17+00:00

Just an interesting observation based on my experience as a woman.

I always tried to pull my weight at work with heavier tasks and would constantly get interrupted by men discouraging me from doing those tasks. With them offering to take over. Eventually I found it easier to just allow the help than to get into women's empowerment discussions.

It's like changing a tire on the side of the road. I know how to do it but I get it done so much faster if I let a man do it because when I'm being helped the other helpers stop offering.

Maybe part of the answer isn't from the hiring/ payroll perspective. It's from how men and women choose to view capabilities in each other.

I always found it super harsh when the skinny 15 year old boys were strongly encouraged to take tasks from me that I can handle that they would struggle with because they have a penis.

CuckKnight · 2017-08-13T10:36:21+00:00

When I was in the military, there was a younger lower ranking female and a younger lower ranking male. It was their turn to lightly clean up the office. The female said that she would not empty all the small trash cans and that the male would have to do it because girls aren't supposed to do jobs that are dirtyish. The Chief told her that in the military, men and women are equal and are expected to contribute equally. When he wasn't paying attention she convinced the male to empty out all the trash cans. The remaining year she was there, she either got out of cleaning the office entirely when it was supposed to be her turn, or she had whichever male she worked with take out all the trash alone. This was shore duty. I can only imagine how much more she would have gotten away with if we were out at sea.

iainmf · 2017-08-13T08:51:11+00:00

I've heard a few stories like this. Equal pay for unequal work.

For myself, I've been expected to be 'security' in certain situations.

gloomdweller · 2017-08-13T11:09:09+00:00

I am going into nursing as a man, I already have instructors telling me to expect to be called in for all the heavy lifting.

v574v · 2017-08-13T13:00:11+00:00

In the 40+ years I've been alive I've seen one woman collecting shopping carts one time.

Once - that's it, and it was a mild day.

Freezing rain? Men.

Blizzard conditions? Men.

Heat wave warning? Men.

Pleasant breeze? Still men.

Some of them even have a machine that does the pushing and it's still men.

If women didn't do the majority of shopping I'd be inclined to believe they are allergic to shoppng carts.

aokusman · 2017-08-13T09:48:41+00:00

When I was in the army the more physical the work the more men and less women on it.

IsItTheFrankOrBeans · 2017-08-13T09:04:13+00:00

Very common, especially in factories!

mymraccount_ac · 2017-08-13T14:37:39+00:00

Anecdotally, it's happened at every workplace I've ever been in. One place had KPIs that pretty much all of the women failed to meet every so often, no repercussions. It was instant disciplinary procedure for men though. Now I'm not longer working in a physically demanding job but instead in software, none of the women I work with are in any way qualified to do their jobs. Ex-receptionist turned Scrum master after a 2 day professional cert, lecturing CompSci Masters graduates on what skills a programmer needs. Even the qualified women have degrees in unrelated fields and just wormed their way into the profession for the money. They are given a complete free pass because of the need for diversity.

Cabbagepant · 2017-08-13T17:21:47+00:00

Personal anecdote only, but I haven't seen a woman employee change the office water cooler in my entire life.

Karissa36 · 2017-08-13T10:01:54+00:00

If lighter duties include making coffee, cleaning up the office kitchen, planning and bringing in food for office parties and watering the office plants then yes, it is very common. On the flip side, men lift things that are heavy. Like you said it's invisible. Nobody even notices.

Il128 · 2017-08-13T15:17:25+00:00

I've never seen a woman in any position, in any company, out work her male counter parts. I've been in pharma for 30+ years.

I don't care anymore how sexist this sounds, "If you want a project to be late, give it to a woman."

Jesus_marley · 2017-08-13T12:05:13+00:00

I guess my question here is, Do you do any of the heavy lifting?

You obviously see the disparity, but are you perpetuating it or are you doing your share? More importantly, if you DO do your share, do you tell the other women to do theirs as well? or do you let them slack off?

Swiggy · 2017-08-14T02:14:07+00:00

When I was in the military every female was on some sort of light duty.

oneiorosgripwontstfu · 2017-08-15T01:16:13+00:00

Everywhere I've worked my female coworkers have dumped the dirty, heavy, dangerous, and uncomfortable jobs on my male coworkers. When there are no guys around, those jobs get dumped on me because I don't bitch about having to do them - I just get them done, (or when they entail a skill I haven't learned, admit when I don't know how to do them & ask for instruction, so I don't fuck something important up.)

Probably the dumbest example I saw of that was when I worked at a gas station, and one Friday I went in and the shift leader and a cashier had put an "out of order" sign on the restroom door. I asked what was wrong with it, because there are some things I know how to deal with that they used to call a plumber for. Turned out someone had puked in the sink, and they were too squeamish to clean it up, so they were going to leave that sign on it until the assistant manager (a guy) came in on Monday and let him clean it up.

It took me all of 10 minutes to get the job done. It wasn't even that big of a mess... just unpleasant. You can bet I never let them live that down.

SirSkeptic · 2017-08-15T01:40:07+00:00

I used to supervise a banquets dept (40 staff). And I used to treat all my staff based on their abilities.

We had an eastern European girl (M-). Big girl, quite strong, and I would put her in the team moving walls and dance floors. We had an insulin dependent diabetic guy (H-) and I used to put him on folding napkins. He really couldn't exert himself too much.

Both M- and H- used to thank me for this.

One day I was pulled aside by management and told that there had been complaints about my staff handling. And that, from now on, only male staff were to do the heavy or dangerous work.

Both M- and H- were very upset by this.

There were two militant feminist waitresses (who used to sit and complain about sexist treatment of staff) who had made the complaints. They were complaining that I was treating the staff equally.

I was told at one hotel that the only reason they hired male staff at all was because there was heavy and dangerous jobs that needed doing.

There are some women that actually do equal work - they're great to work with, but even they can be hamstrung by other people.

Mr_MRAnarchist · 2017-08-14T15:54:02+00:00

So go to HR and complain. Either that, or just tell them that you are unable to do those tasks due to a physical disability. If they try to call you on it, you can simply tell them that it's none of their business as it's a medical condition and they don't have the right to know that, and if they have any other concerns about it, they can take it up with HR.

Title	How common is it for women to get lighter duties at work for the same pay?
Author	nforne
Upvotes	61
Comments	40
Date	August 13, 2017 8:19 AM UTC (8 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/6te0qe/how_common_is_it_for_women_to_get_lighter_duties/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/how-common-is-it-for-women-to-get-lighter-duties.915956 https://theredarchive.com/post/915956

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