Broken Ladders: The Myth of Meritocracy for Women of Colour in the Workplace | The Fawcett Society

14th November 2023 ~ mcequality

BROKEN LADDERS: THE MYTH OF MERITOCRACY FOR WOMEN OF COLOUR IN THE WORKPLACEWomen of colour across the UK already know that experiencing racism at work is the norm. That’s why we’ve partnered with the Runnymede Trust to produce our ground-breaking research, Broken Ladders: The myth of meritocracy for women of colour in the workplace.Broken Ladders centres the voices and experiences of thousands of women of colour at work and explores the different experiences of women from different ethnic minority groups and religions.Our research shows that every stage of the career journey, from entering work to senior leadership, women of colour are being locked out of reaching their true potential.

Source: Broken Ladders: The Myth of Meritocracy for Women of Colour in the Workplace | The Fawcett Society

The Ethnicity Motherhood Pay Penalty

14th November 2023 ~ mcequality

The intersection of sexism and racism mean that often women of colour experience compounded disadvantage. A new report from the Fawcett Society, supported by the #EthnicityPayGap Campaign, shows how the ‘Motherhood Pay Penalty’—that mothers with two children take home 26% less income than women without children—impacts on a woman’s income and earning power throughout her working life, and compounds the effects of the ethnicity pay gap.Today’s report is the first of its kind to break down the pay penalty by not only gender, but also ethnicity, and shows that the motherhood pay penalty is affecting the lifetime income of Black and minoritised women.

Source: The Ethnicity Motherhood Pay Penalty

System Update: Addressing the Gender Gap in Tech

12th November 2023 ~ mcequality

System Update: Addressing the Gender Gap in Tech is the culmination of eight months of extensive research, interviews and polling. The report explores the views and experience of women and men who work in tech roles, those who have recently left, and women who have qualifications but are not currently working in the sector.Key findings include:

1 in 5 men working in tech roles believe that women are naturally less suited to working in the sector.

43% of women in the tech sector think about leaving their role at least once a week.

More than a quarter of women with STEM qualifications outside of the sector believe there is more sexist behaviour in tech than other types of work.

72% of women in tech roles have experienced at least one form of sexism at work.

This includes being paid less than male colleagues and sexist ‘banter’ (22%) and questioning of their skills and abilities (20%).

Black and minoritised women have experienced additional levels of exclusion, with almost three in four having experienced racism at work.

1 in 3 Black women have been assumed by colleagues to not hold a technical role

Source: System Update: Addressing the Gender Gap in Tech

Anti-Trans Bills Across the U.S. Are Wreaking Havoc on Teens

26th February 2022 ~ mcequality

At a press briefing Thursday, just two weeks after South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem signed the first anti-trans bill of 2022 into law, a reporter asked why she thought 90 percent of LGBTQ+ youth in South Dakota are diagnosed with anxiety or depression.

Without even feigned introspection or urgency, Noem replied: “I don’t know. That makes me sad, and we should figure it out.”

https://jezebel.com/anti-trans-bills-2022-effect-lgbtq-youth-1848565034

Remote Work Has Seemingly Emboldened Workplace Harassers

10th June 202110th June 2021 ~ mcequality

In some ways, the often informal and unsupervised channels through which remote work takes place can actually enable increased harassment—because of both the lack of oversight and witnesses to employee interactions and the blurring of barriers between professional and personal spaces. “We often hide for a reason, and for many of us, the pandemic made that covering impossible,”

https://jezebel.com/remote-work-has-seemingly-emboldened-workplace-harasser-1847059639

The Challenges of Breastfeeding as a Black Person | American Civil Liberties Union

16th August 2019 ~ mcequality

WEB19-Breastfeeding-iStock-1160×768.jpg

Inequities in access to health care put breastfeeding out of reach for many Black people (iStock)
The fight to protect individual choices about reproductive care, including breastfeeding, is an ongoing battle. The central lesson of the reproductive justice movement is that choice means little without access. That lesson applies equally to breastfeeding.

Though laws, in the workplace and other contexts, are in place to protect the right to breastfeed, many low-income women and women of color face entrenched structural barriers that hinder their ability to breastfeed before they can even consider if it is the right choice for them. This problem is particularly acute for Black women, who have the lowest breastfeeding initiation rate of all racial groups at 69.4 percent, compared with 85.9 percent of white women, and 83.2 percent of women overall. They also have the shortest breastfeeding duration, with 44.7 percent of black women breastfeeding at 6 months compared with 62 percent of white women and 57.6 percent of women overall.

via The Challenges of Breastfeeding as a Black Person | American Civil Liberties Union

Mia Khalifa: Porn contracts ‘prey on vulnerable girls’ – BBC News

14th August 2019 ~ mcequality

Former top porn actress Mia Khalifa has called out pornography companies that “prey on callow young women”.
The 26-year-old says the corporations “trap women legally in to contracts when they’re vulnerable”.
Mia spent just three months working in the porn industry before leaving in 2015 but she remains a highly ranked star on site Pornhub.
Speaking in an interview with her friend Megan Abbott, Mia says she “hasn’t yet accepted [her] past”.

via Mia Khalifa: Porn contracts ‘prey on vulnerable girls’ – BBC News

Sex, lies, and surveillance: Something’s wrong with the war on sex trafficking

12th August 2019 ~ mcequality

Silicon Valley’s biggest companies have partnered with a single organization to fight sex trafficking — one that maintains a data collection pipeline, is partnered with Palantir, and helps law enforcement profile and track sex workers without their consent. Major websites like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and others are working with a nonprofit called Thorn (“digital defenders of children”) and, perhaps predictably, its methods are dubious.

Thorn offers internet companies its content moderation tool “Safer,” and for law enforcement, its separate data-mining and user-profiling tool “Spotlight.” Both use data sources and AI to automate policing of sex content. Of Thorn’s 31 nonprofit partners, 27 target adults and vow to abolish consensual sex work under the banner of saving children from sex trafficking.

via Sex, lies, and surveillance: Something’s wrong with the war on sex trafficking

Missouri Republicans Force Pelvic Exams Ahead of Abortions

12th August 2019 ~ mcequality

In Missouri, where the state’s last remaining abortion clinic is in a legal battle to keep its doors open, Republicans have imposed another invasive and unnecessary requirement for anyone obtaining an abortion: now, patients must undergo a pelvic exam at least 72 hours prior to the procedure.

A pelvic exam “includes putting your fingers and other instruments in the vagina, when really that gives no medical information,” Dr. Colleen McNicholas of the St. Louis Planned Parenthood Reproductive Health Services, Missouri’s last abortion clinic, told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. “It doesn’t do anything to help the patient, or myself, choose what is the best approach for their abortion care.”

via Missouri Republicans Force Pelvic Exams Ahead of Abortions