(2016-2020)
“Gender shrapnel” is a series of small workplace explosions that occur when no one person or organization is purposefully discriminating against women based on sex, but when the gender norms of our homes and of our public interactions that consistently follow a patriarchal flow are replicated in the workplace, entrenched in the workplace, and then become the fabric of a pattern of sexual discrimination. This pattern is normally not consonant with the organization’s professed values and is often in direct opposition to Title VII and Title IX law.
The book that inspired this blog, Gender Shrapnel in the Academic Workplace (Palgrave, 2016), provides narratives of gender shrapnel–often intersecting with race, class, and other intersectional categories–, researches its root problems, and offers solutions and case studies.
I maintained the Gender Shrapnel blog each week for two and a half years, and monthly for another year and a half. Read on to see how gender and its intersectional categories of race, class, religion, sexual choices, and parental status operate in the workplace. Sample workplaces include the White House, the shake-up at Fox News, the lack of response of the Baltimore police force to sexual assault complaints, international gender incidents, and coverage of Olympic events. Posts also occasionally address local and regional workplace issues. The idea is to raise awareness about damaging workplace events and to work toward solutions.
Here’s a sampling of Gender Shrapnel posts. Enjoy!
Ellen Mayock 