Our Word Choices Matter — Just Ask the Girl in the Office
My house has a pool in the backyard. Every week a pool boy comes to service the pool — check chlorine levels, brush the tiles, vacuum the bottom, etc. Wait. What? A pool boy? Who says that? The pool service company calls their employees “pool techs”. When was the last time you heard someone refer to the person who services the pool as a “pool boy”? Likely never.
So, when someone refers to the person in the office who does necessary administration, why do they refer to the employee as “the girl in the office”?
Its not about word choice. Its about how we see people. If you view the employee as “the girl in the office” you will likely never consider her for promotion. You may never consider her as the point person of important work or as a manager. Because she’s just the girl in the office.
But its not your fault. You didn’t come up with this name. You’ve heard it before and you know it means the female in the office who does the paperwork and scheduling. So, where did you come to use this phrase and see employees who do this type of work as “the girl in the office”?
What’s Black and White and Biased All Over?
Recently I watched a video compilation of old black and white tv commercials. I hate to say they’re old because many of them were from my childhood and I’m only in my 50’s. But when I watched the video, I was shocked at how we used to see women in the workplace.
The commercial that stunned me the most showed a woman complaining that her antiperspirant was keeping her dry and “sweet smelling” but her boss still hadn’t asked her out. Another commercial showed a secretary applying mascara as she said she was indispensable to her manager even though she can’t take dictation or type. Then she cooed about her ability to push a copier button to make up to 6 copies a minute. She finished by dumbly saying that she can’t tell her boss which is the original and which are the copies.
Its hard to believe we viewed women like this — especially women in the workplace. They were brainless eye-candy. Or bad wives because they couldn’t make a decent cup of coffee — really!
It wasn’t just women that were portrayed this way. I watched a vintage commercial that offered the game “Pow”, a war-game toy for boys and “Wow”, a pillow-fight toy for girls. Boys were encouraged to be warriors while the girls were encouraged to have pillow fights.
Perception Cascades Through Society
When we subdue people’s worth, we make it harder for them to achieve. Our bias makes it harder to view them as able to hold a position of responsibility or influence. We might be losing out on bringing the best people into the C Suite or to our social network. We might be heartbroken to know someone we love didn’t get an opportunity because of how they were perceived.
I don’t know how much impact those old commercials had on me because I took every opportunity to blaze a trail towards success. But I wonder how many more opportunities I would have had, if the hiring managers, leasing agents, loan officers, volunteer coordinators and potential partners had not been exposed to those commercials or public sentiment.
