What is Fair?

Last week I interrupted a conversation between my supervisor and my co-worker friend. Our supervisor had come over stating one of us (there are three of us in the department) would need to go to a training to become a tester for the new IEP (Individual Employment Plan) form being added to our computer system. The supervisor was basically going to voluntell my co-worker friend she needed to do it and it might involve traveling and staying overnight. The reasoning was, our male co-worker did not want to make the drive (how nice that he gets that option? He is the newest, but also her current favorite because he’s kind of a yes-man) and I had kids. So, here is where I butt into the conversation. Yes, I have kids and yes, it would be a logistical nightmare for me to work it all out, but the bottom line is I *could* work it out and my status as a parent should not eliminate me from any job-related tasks. I have done trainings an hour away and managed to make it work. Luckily, our daycare is accommodating that way, plus Primero can drive so that helps as well. I was pretty angry that our supervisor would just turn to the only single, childless member of our group and make her take on this task due to her personal life. She was also flabbergasted. I insisted all of our names could be tossed into a hat and have one picked out to make it fair. Of course my name was chosen, but we don’t have to do the traveling, as previously thought, so no logistics to work out.

 

A few things to note, my supervisor is a woman. She has an adult daughter my sister’s age. Our male co-worker was allowed to “not want to” based on his dislike of driving. He is married but has no children. His wife (they were both married previously to other people) has grown children. My co-worker friend has a dog, so if she needed to go away she would need to find someone to watch her dog. Sure, it’s not as much as children, but still the male co-worker has no pets and lives with his wife. The entire exchange made me very angry and extremely frustrated. Here we are in 2018 and still dealing with the same feminist issues. I’m glad I stepped in. I could have sat back and stayed out of it, but that would not have been fair for me to do. I needed to speak up, to call attention to the false and unfair assumptions being put upon my friend and women in general. She is single and has no kids, therefore her time is expendable, she should be inconvenienced more than a parent or someone with a partner? We do the same job, all three of us, how is singling her out based on her personal life even remotely fair? When it comes to work, I won’t let my children be used as an excuse, whether it be to my advantage or disadvantage. And I have little respect for anyone who does use their parental status in that way.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.