Been there, done it, worn the t-shirt. In my last workplace we were mostly women with a few men amd I felt sorry for my male colleagues being left out of all the important stuff and never getting the promotions or plum projects they wanted cos these went to the boss' 'friends'. The boss didn't even realise she was doing it, it was just that he people she was inclined to turn to to do this project or that with her were naturally... the people she most wanted to foster her relationship with. The politics had been in bad shape before I even started working there, but I found that in its current state, the 'currency' of those politics was the closeness of your relationship with the boss and with the colleagues in her close circle who would stand against anyone who stood against her (and would probably stand against her and leave her without defence, if she dared stand against them!!). The most important communications - the stuff that kept you 'in the running' for opportunities and oiled the wheels of your relationship with such-and-such so you had any hope of her approaching you to participate in her latest project - happened not in the official meetings, but in the lunchroom in between conversations about baking cakes and potty training infants, the sorts of lunches that the men wouldn't think of going to. Also, the unspoken hierarchy of the boss' 'inner friendship circle' never included the men - and only people in that circle would share the gossip (and thus develop their friendship with he boss well enough to be chosen for important responsibilities). It's not like that everywhere of course... but you be the judge of whether it's like that where you work. As I see it, it's tough for a man in a female-dominated workpace as it's tough for a woman in a male-dominated workplace... but in different ways.
Is it normal to love your job but hate your work environment & co-workers
← View full post
Been there, done it, worn the t-shirt. In my last workplace we were mostly women with a few men amd I felt sorry for my male colleagues being left out of all the important stuff and never getting the promotions or plum projects they wanted cos these went to the boss' 'friends'. The boss didn't even realise she was doing it, it was just that he people she was inclined to turn to to do this project or that with her were naturally... the people she most wanted to foster her relationship with. The politics had been in bad shape before I even started working there, but I found that in its current state, the 'currency' of those politics was the closeness of your relationship with the boss and with the colleagues in her close circle who would stand against anyone who stood against her (and would probably stand against her and leave her without defence, if she dared stand against them!!). The most important communications - the stuff that kept you 'in the running' for opportunities and oiled the wheels of your relationship with such-and-such so you had any hope of her approaching you to participate in her latest project - happened not in the official meetings, but in the lunchroom in between conversations about baking cakes and potty training infants, the sorts of lunches that the men wouldn't think of going to. Also, the unspoken hierarchy of the boss' 'inner friendship circle' never included the men - and only people in that circle would share the gossip (and thus develop their friendship with he boss well enough to be chosen for important responsibilities). It's not like that everywhere of course... but you be the judge of whether it's like that where you work. As I see it, it's tough for a man in a female-dominated workpace as it's tough for a woman in a male-dominated workplace... but in different ways.