Gender Discrimination in the Workforce Since 1985 – Renae Bachand

March 3, 2019

By Bryson Bachand

Interview Process: This interview was conducted in person over spring break. It took place in my mother’s living room. There was no one else around at the time, so the only background noise heard was the faint AC running. This was not very noticeable, however. The interview was recorded on my computer microphone. It was working great during my test runs, however I noticed post-interview that at some points, the audio suddenly becomes extremely quiet. This can be heard a few times throughout the interview. While it is not ideal, it does not really affect the interview since it occurs for only a few seconds at a time. The interview was edited using Audacity. The original interview was around 16 minutes long, however I was asked to delete a few minutes afterwards at the request of my mother.

Biography: My mother was born in 1970 in Los Angeles, California. She did not come from a very wealthy family, and got her first job when she was 15. In her early 20’s, she and my father decided to move across the country to Virginia to provide a safer life for their children. She has worked a plethora of jobs since 1985 and has witnessed social change in the workplace from the perspective of a woman. My mother was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer in 2005, and takes medication every day for it. Despite this, she continued to work in order to provide for her children. Her entire life she has wanted to have an education that could further her career choices, and so she has slowly been gaining college credits for the past 32 years. As of a few months ago, she decided that she wanted to go back to college to finish her last semester and finally get her degree. She is majoring in Spanish and is expecting to graduate in May. Due to her health problems and medication, she often as trouble formulating her thoughts or remembering a topic. There are a few parts of the interview where she doesn’t really answer the question, repeats herself, or struggles to get the correct words out. Overall, however, she answers the questions well.

Research:

1) Gender discrimination in the workplace includes discrimination when hiring, firing, promotions, job classification, benefits, pay, sexual harassment, sex stereotyping, etc. My mother mentions how she was often sexually harassed by her male coworkers in her work. The Federal Government made this illegal in 1964 under Title VII. This was obviously before she entered the workforce. California also had the Fair Employment and Housing Act in 1960. My mother briefly mentioned that she thinks the situation has gotten better since 1985 thanks to new laws preventing discrimination as well as more lawsuits. This source doesn’t address recent lawsuits, however federal sex discrimination laws have remained mostly the same since before she was born. She may not be aware of this, however, and has just witnessed men breaking this law for years so she just assumed that new laws have been put into place. Personally, I believe she saw an improvement in sexual harassment due to the recent changing social attitude regarding women’s rights, like the #metoo movement.

“Sex Discrimination At Work.” Fighting for Women’s Equality, Equal Rights Advocates, 2019, www.equalrights.org/legal-help/know-your-rights/sex-discrimination-at-work/

2) I was interested in finding out more about the reasons my mother believes gender discrimination is getting better in recent years. According to the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), 2018 saw an over “50 percent increase in suits challenging sexual harassment over the fiscal year 2017.” Also, they got almost $70 million for sexual harassment victims in 2018 as opposed to $47.5 million in 2017. Changes like these have likely been brought about by the #metoo movement which saw a large number of women come out and challenge male authority figures in their jobs. I believe that statistics such as these confirm my mom’s perspective that the gender climate is changing in the workplace for the better.

“EEOC Releases Preliminary FY 2018 Sexual Harassment Data.” U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, United States Government, 2019, www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/10-4-18.cfm

3) According to the National Center for Education Statistics, women since 2000 have seen a far greater increase in the number of college graduates than the increase seen in men. More and more women are deciding to get an education that will further their careers. At this point, a college degree is almost a necessity for someone entering the job market. It makes sense that my mother decided to finish her last semester and graduate since more women are joining the workforce now more than ever before.

“Educational Attainment.” NCES, National Center for Education Statistics, 2019, nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=27

Transcription:

Me:  I’m here with my mother, Renae Bachand. Do you consent to be recorded and shared with the class?

Renae:  I do, yes.

Me:  Would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself?

Renae:  I’d be happy to. I am from California, born and raised. I lived out there for almost 30 years. I moved to Virginia in 1998,  and we’ve been here for about 21 years. I have three children.  I’ve been married for 27 years, and my family is still out in California. I am currently a student at the University of Mary Washington. I’m studying Spanish, and I hope to graduate in May.

Me:  Could you please list and describe some of the jobs that you’ve had in your lifetime?

Renae:  Yes, I can. I have had many many jobs. I was a paralegal, which is basically a legal assistant for an attorney that worked for car accidents. We used to call them ambulance chasers. We – I loved the job, it was very very difficult. The co-workers were very difficult to work with, but overall it was a really good job. Um, I was a photographer, I opened my own business at one point. I was a preschool teacher many times off and on for the last 30 years. I love working with small kids. I also did in-home daycare and when I was a teenager, I was a babysitter and a nanny. And – let me think – I’ve worked in offices that I managed, so an electrician’s office where I was the office manager, a patio cover business where I was the office manager, and um there was another one which I can’t remember right now.

Me:  Were most of these jobs in Virginia, or California where you used to live, or both?

Renae:  Uh, both. I would say my first five jobs were out in California (five or more), and then I came here to Virginia.

Me:  Now, what was your very first job that you had?

Renae:  My very first job was out in California. I was talked into working for a cookie factory because my best friend at the time wanted a job so she could get gas money. I really didn’t have a car so I didn’t need it, but I decided to do it anyways, and I loved the job, it was great. I got offered a raise right away and then my best friend burned the cookies and she was fired, so then I ended up quitting.

Me:  So having worked since 1985, have you ever noticed any gender discrimination in your workplaces?

Renae:  Yes, definitely. We had, um, especially being in California, we had very male-dominated workplaces as well as working at a law office, very very male-dominated. I can’t really think of any more situations.

M:  Now how has the role of women in the workplace changed throughout the years in your experience?

Renae:  I tend to notice that women now have a lot more opportunity. In one of my first jobs, I was a receptionist, and I was pretty demeanored – treated somewhat, I guess, rudely because I was a girl and it was mainly a man’s shop. Men would come in and out because they were workers. But now I don’t think something like that would happen because I – I worked in a very similar situation nowadays and it’s not the same as it was in the 80s and 90s.

Me:  Could you please go into detail and describe these situations where you felt directly discriminated against in the workplace? Where it personally affected you?

Renae:  Yes, there were several passes made at me, um, harassment, and yeah I would say yes, there was a difference.

Me:  How did this type of discrimination affect you?

Renae:  Well at that time, we weren’t allowed to do much about it. There was no reporting it. There were no harassment lawsuits or anything like that, and we just had to do what the men in the office had said.

Me:  So, have you ever felt that being a woman was an obstacle in the advancement of your careers?

Renae:  It definitely slowed me down at times, but I don’t know that it was a complete obstacle, but it did slow me down at times.

Me:  Okay, do you think that, in the eyes of an employer, being a mother has limited your ability to operate at the same level as a father would in that same job?

Renae:  100% Yes.

Me:  Could you please explain how?

Renae:  Being a mother comes with a lot of extra responsibilities, as well as the employers and co-workers believe that at any moment you’re going to be pregnant again, so they worry that you’re going to leave. So there’s that, and at the time there was no paternity time off like they have nowadays. It was just maternity leave. So I would say yes and also, as being a mom, home was first priority and I think everybody knew that for me.

Me:  So you believe that there’s a general stigma around women in the workplace potentially getting pregnant and being a mother, and so they have less opportunities because men see that as a potential obstacle in the future?

Renae:  At that time, yes, I think that was an obstacle. Nowadays, not so much. I think there’s preventative laws against that and a lot more regulations against that, but at the time, yes. There were often times that if you were a mother, you were definitely looked down upon.

Me:  So you think the regulations nowadays actually help gender discrimination in the workplace?

Renae:  Actually help against gender discrimin-

Me:  Yeah against. Against.

Renae:  Yes. Yes, I do. I think nowadays there’s a lot more laws in effect: sexual harassment laws, male dominating regulations. Women have a lot more opportunities than they had and a lot more availability.  And a lot more education as well.

Me:  You’re currently finishing your last semester at college. What was your main motivation to do so at this stage in your life?

Renae:  The main motivation was probably my children, but also I want an opportunity to go back to the workforce. Without a degree, it’s very difficult to do even what I’ve done in the past. I was a paralegal and I can’t even apply to be a paralegal without a bachelor’s degree.

Me:  My dad also doesn’t have a degree, but he has a very good job. Do you think that that’s coincidental or do you think [that] just by being a male, he has had better opportunities than you would without a degree.

Renae:  I think that he’s a very hard worker and he has worked his way up the ladder, but at the same time there is no way I would be able to have a job comparable to that.

Me:  Because?

Renae:  Because of a woman – because of being a woman.

Me:  Okay, how do you think that an education will set you apart from other prospective employees, both male and female.

Renae:  An education now?

Me:  Yeah.

Renae:  Well, possibly with experience, although the downfall is age. But with experience I can get a little bit of a head start and I know a little bit more. I’m more capable than I was in my teens, or 20s or 30s or 40s [laughs].

Me:  Okay, that wraps up this interview. Thank you. Is there anything else you’d like to say?

Renae:  Uh, nope. Thank you for interviewing me.

Conclusion: This interview went well in my opinion. I was able to grasp a better understanding of my mother’s perspective on gender discrimination. It was interesting that she saw an improvement in workplace discrimination compared to her first few jobs. I am not the most competent interviewer, so I fumbled with my questions at times, however my mother knew what I meant and answered them to the best of my ability. If I could do it over, I would use a better microphone, and try to get my mother to elaborate a little more on some of her answers. It was easier for me to go off script because I felt a more conversational tone with my mother rather than an interview. I wish that I had done this more because there are some points where I seem to be too rigid.