Women in the workplace?

[steve-in-kville]

older children, teens, need mothers at home just as much as toddlers.
their needs are much different! but just as important.

wife, mother, “keeper of the home,” is valuable, respectable, honorable work.
our culture fails to adequately recognize it.

I'm seeing the value of that as my teen girls struggle with growing up. I'm not saying my wife and my girls always see eye to eye, but it helps!

[Josh]

Personally I worry about some of the "men" in the workplace too

One can be as much of a threat (predator?) as the other. I've worked with women who tried to "score" with about any man with two legs and a pulse. After that incident, my workplace adopted a very aggressive policy on workplace romances.

I would indeed support such a policy. Everyone knows sayings like "Don't fish off the company dock"; the workplace is not an appropriate place for people to try to look for dates. The rest of us just want to get our work done.

[mike]

Beings we have a pretty diverse crowd here, I thought this would make for an interesting topic to discuss. Some groups have written statements on the young ladies as well as married women working away from the home. Others have unwritten guidelines. So where do we draw the line? Are there certain jobs/positions our sisters should avoid? Should they have the same opportunities as a man?

For sure a hot topic in todays culture!

Wow Steve, we must not be sending enough returns your way.

The majority of my employees are female, ranging from teens to retirement age. Most of my managers have been female. I employ my teenage sons and will employ my daughters when they're old enough. I have more concerns about the character of the employees I hire than if they are male or female.

That said, I would prefer that my wife would not work outside the home. I can understand why some do, whether because the income is needed or they just enjoy working. My wife worked part time until we had children. I have women managers that I work closely with, and I appreciate their strengths, but it is not a position I would recommend for my wife and daughters.

[steve-in-kville]

Wow Steve, we must not be sending enough returns your way.

Don't, please! I have enough work to last me until next February!! When the system runs slow and I'm waiting for the handheld to catch up, I bounce on over to MN. Amazingly it helps to distress as well. Listening to forklift and jacks beeping all day gets to me eventually.

[steve-in-kville]

"Don't fish off the company dock"; the workplace is not an appropriate place for people to try to look for dates. The rest of us just want to get our work done.

I never heard that before but makes total sense. I'll have HR add it to the employee handbook

[CorneliaH]

I have a question on this matter that I haven't found an answer too.

If a Mennonite woman has a strong interest in business and would prefer making money than to bearing children, would that be encouraged or discouraged?

Also to note, women don't neccessarily have to enter the workplace to make money. There are plenty of working from home jobs nowdays.

Personally, I enjoy the game of business, marketing fascinates me, and I learn everything I can about it. I have quite a few financial goals that would enable me (if I work hard and stick with it) in about 20 years, to reach my goals of funding numerous charities and travel without limitations. However, many of my Mennonite friends, women, have no such ambitions and are in fact, discouraged from finding jobs.

One friend in particular leads a rather bleak existence as she has little to no money to attend the few events in her life that she is allowed (Bible Schools) and no means to make the money after the one job she was allowed ended badly. She had been working for a Mennonite farmer, with numerous other girls, and he had been sexually harassing them so she quit. I asked her if she reported this, she hadn't, was scared to, and apparently had no knowledge of sexual harassment laws in the workplace. This was very concerning to me. In my experience in a secular workplace, if a man so much as utters a suggestive comment to me, he will be fired when I report it. Obviously, this hasn't always been the case, but due to the rising awareness of such matters, the laws are there. I do hope this is an isolated case and most Mennonite women are aware of the sexual harassment laws that are there to protect them from predators.

[steve-in-kville]

One friend in particular leads a rather bleak existence as she has little to no money to attend the few events in her life that she is allowed (Bible Schools) and no means to make the money after the one job she was allowed ended badly. She had been working for a Mennonite farmer, with numerous other girls, and he had been sexually harassing them so she quit. I asked her if she reported this, she hadn't, was scared to, and apparently had no knowledge of sexual harassment laws in the workplace.

Unfortunately, this happens more than it should, and I am no expert on the matter. My workplace has an entire HR department that handles such things, and its not taken lightly.

Can I ask what church she is with? That would determine the support she may or may not get from the leadership. I have known of such issues in some *very* conservative circles where a victim talked to a minister's wife and that got things in motion to contact law enforcement. You can't mess around and keep sexual harassment all hush-hush anymore.... the law can get involved really fast!

[QuietObserver]

One friend in particular leads a rather bleak existence as she has little to no money to attend the few events in her life that she is allowed (Bible Schools) and no means to make the money after the one job she was allowed ended badly. She had been working for a Mennonite farmer, with numerous other girls, and he had been sexually harassing them so she quit. I asked her if she reported this, she hadn't, was scared to, and apparently had no knowledge of sexual harassment laws in the workplace.

Unfortunately, this happens more than it should, and I am no expert on the matter. My workplace has an entire HR department that handles such things, and its not taken lightly.

Can I ask what church she is with? That would determine the support she may or may not get from the leadership. I have known of such issues in some *very* conservative circles where a victim talked to a minister's wife and that got things in motion to contact law enforcement. You can't mess around and keep sexual harassment all hush-hush anymore.... the law can get involved really fast!

Sexual harassment usually isn't a criminal offense, more a civil unless it crosses the line to assault, abuse, stalking, etc. Unfortunately, I've heard about some mild sexual harassment by Mennonite employers (i.e. inappropriate jokes, etc.). But I think Cornelia is comparing apples (farmer) with oranges (large business). Any woman working for a small business has limited recourse against sexual harassment unless it's very serious.

[JimFoxvog]

Yes, I believe women should have the same opportunities in the workplace as men.

I also believe it is better for preschool children to be home with a parent. A father or a mother can do an excellent job in parenting.

Would you extend this to, say, doing cement footers or flat work?

Do you think men and women are identical with no differences at all in ability or aptitude?

Certainly, there are differences in the distribution of abilities and aptitudes. But these averages do not determine each individual. For example, the average man is stronger than the average women. That doesn't mean that there are not some women that may be stronger than most men.

Opportunities in the workplace should depend on the individual's ability and aptitude, not that person's sex. I'd still expect heavy construction work to be mostly men and kindergarten teachers mostly women.

[temporal1]

Yes, I believe women should have the same opportunities in the workplace as men.

I also believe it is better for preschool children to be home with a parent. A father or a mother can do an excellent job in parenting.

Would you extend this to, say, doing cement footers or flat work?

Do you think men and women are identical with no differences at all in ability or aptitude?

Certainly, there are differences in the distribution of abilities and aptitudes. But these averages do not determine each individual. For example, the average man is stronger than the average women. That doesn't mean that there are not some women that may be stronger than most men.

Opportunities in the workplace should depend on the individual's ability and aptitude,
not that person's sex.

I'd still expect heavy construction work to be mostly men and kindergarten teachers mostly women.

i don’t agree with Affirmative Action, either.