Why am I sooooo upset about this?
Hey!!!!
I can’t stop thinking about that moment…….. why is this bothering me so much?
It started out so well. I loved seeing the men’s hockey team win in the way they did. Just wow.
Then the way the USA team honored their fallen teammate and his family, man!!!
The locker room. Talking with the president, partying with the director of the FBI. Laughing at the fact that the president would HAVE to invite the women’s team as well. Baaaa Haaa Haaaa!!!!
DISMISSED
Felt like a virtual gut punch.
Men, have these things happened to you?
My first job interview at age 15.5 I was propositioned by the restaurant owner.
I’ve done life in a lot of predominantly male rooms. I was one of 2 female pharmaceutical reps in Queens, NY out of hundreds of men. I bet the doctors didn’t proposition my male colleagues.
In corporate life, where the father of my children was told it wasn’t cool for him to take time off when OUR child was sick. His job was now seen as more important than mine.
Leaders, this is a time to take notice. To realize that men and women and also people of color are having a different experience, maybe behind closed doors. Even though everyone is acting nice on the surface.
I literally have been scouring over the internets hoping that the Men’s Hockey Team was going to boycott visiting the white house as well. NOPE they paraded through the State of the Union address instead.
There was regret afterwards, for sure. But listen, this shouldn't have even happened in the first place. You can explain the laughing and the disregard away but the disparity on how women are viewed is real.
If you are a leader and work with groups of people, I have an invitation.
Men, are you listening to how the women in your life are feeling as they hear more and more stories, testimony and information from the women that were harmed in the Epstein Files? Are you listening to their real lived experience in your company or organizations that you're a part of.
Are you in a position that you can leverage your power and stop laughing at how ridiculous it would be to invite women onto the same playing field because of their accomplishments and expertise?
I’m inviting you to listen, my fellow male colleagues. Listen to women you care about, ask about their experience. That’s a powerful beginning.
I’m inviting my fellow female colleagues to use their voice to express their truth, support other women.
Let’s fix this, together.
Diana