NASCAR and the Down Side of Gender Equity
Posted on 24. Feb, 2010 by Brian Reid in gender equity, work-like balance, workplace
It seems like just yesterday that I was lamenting the continued discrimination against moms and would-be moms, warning that social forces that punished women for having children (or even looking like, maybe, someday, they might have children) would eventually come around and punish guys for the same thing.
Not, via the Wall Street Journal, comes the news that people are assuming that high profile men such as NASCAR’s Jimmy Johnson and tennis’ Roger Federer will get knocked down a peg or two by their impending paternity. The blog post by Sue Shellebarger has a telling headline: “Johnson, Federer and the New Dad Stereotype.” Kudos to the WSJ blog folks for the headline. The idea that parents suddenly lose their mind (or their career drive) when they have children is a pervasive and generally wrong stance.
While I suppose you could cheer that dads are slowly being held to a similar standard as moms, I’m not sure that’s the kind of gender equity we need. Maybe we should move in the other direction, and just start treating moms in the workplace the way we treat dads.
(As usual, the WSJ comments are pretty interesting on this one.)