Monday, May 23, 2011

Men on Prowl, Women on Guard

Dear Readers,
Madame L has been appalled at the way the media in France are defending former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn and casting aspersions on the hotel housekeeper who alleges he assaulted her sexually. What's funny is that they are appalled at the way DSK has been treated by the media (and the cops) in the U.S. 

It would be easy to point the finger of shame at those decadent French for their sexual mores, but now there's the case of Arnold Schwarzenegger's housekeeper, who gave birth to his son the same week his wife gave birth to another son.

The culture at the IMF, which caused women to fear to wear skirts or dresses to work because of unwanted attention of male co-workers and which officially tolerated sexual liaisons between co-workers even when such liaisons could be the result of pressure by higher-up men exerted on women subordinate to them, is clearly not the only reason for this scandal.

What will it take for women to be treated better by men --- ordinary co-workers in ordinary jobs, and men with some kind of power over women --- in the IMF, in the Governator's home, and everywhere?

Though Madame L claims to be able to answer "all," she hasn't thought of a simple answer to this question yet. For a start, she hopes mothers and fathers will do a better job of teaching their sons to respect women and their daughters to expect to be treated right.

What suggestions do you, Dear Readers, offer?

Hoping for a better future for women,

Madame L

1 comment:

AskTheGeologist said...

Ah! But there IS a simple answer to this problem:

While men can work in these organizations, ONLY WOMEN can hold the top position. The attitude is always set at the top - all management studies show this to be the case.

This is a serious suggestion from someone of the male persuasion: because in different ways men also suffer from this sort of sociopath-floats-to-the-top leadership.

Yes, the logic flaw is that there are also female sociopaths... but statistically they are fewer.

~~~~~