Rod Satterwhite and David Greenspan are members of the Labor & Employment group at McGuireWoods LLP. Both handle employment litigation on behalf of employers, and advise companies on employment issues regularly.
posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008 9:11 AM by Rod Satterwhite

Signs of the Times

The Atlanta Public Works Department, after receiving complaints from the editor of PINK magazine, agreed earlier this month to change all its road signs from "Men Working" to "Workers Ahead."  Read the full story here.  Although, in fairness, half the workers in the department are female, there was no indication that the old signs failed to adequately notify drivers that workers were, indeed, working in the road - regardless of gender.  The new gender neutral signs will cost an extra $144 a piece, but hey, that's a small price to pay for political correctness, right?  The real question:  what does this mean for my favorite 80's band Men at Work?

Employers:  next time you stroll around your office or facility, be on the lookout for insidious sinage that might be Exhibit A (more like B or C) in your next gender case.

 

Comments

# re: Signs of the Times

Thursday, July 24, 2008 4:29 PM by Rae
It is this kind of attitude that allows sexism to live on. "Close enough, good enough" should not be the creedo that is tied with equality.

What most people don't appreciate is that language and associated imagery impact how we view gender roles in society. "Everything we read...constructs us, makes us who we are, by presenting our image of ourselves as girls and women, as boys and men" (Mem Fox, 1993).