With 67% of working women describing themselves as the ‘default’ parent during lockdown, coronavirus has only taken workplace inequality and brought it home. Labour MP Jess Phillips explains the importance of speaking up.
With the pandemic seeing redundancies at a record high, and women and minorities bearing the brunt of them, Covid-19 has brought the deep-seated problem of workplace inequality to new light.
Women are not only contending with job insecurity, increased working hours and, in some cases, redundancy, many are also tasked with full-time childcare and domestic responsibilities, too. Enough with this nonsense, says former Labour leadership candidate and MP Jess Phillips. It’s time to speak up.
‘I want us all to speak up about the bullshit in our lives’
A global pandemic is impacting our working lives in ways we could never have anticipated.
I’ve already heard of businesses using the pandemic as an excuse to ‘restructure’ – alarmingly, a woman in my constituency told me how her company had only furloughed female employees. I believe as unemployment rises, and the risk of job losses increases, people will feel the pressure to remain silent on unsafe work practices, unfair decisions or unreasonable demands.
We cannot let a pandemic be used to open the door to crappy bosses and bad stuff in our workplaces. Within my book Truth to Power, I use the stories of brilliant campaigners who took on governments and multinational companies to inspire people. I want us all to speak up about the bullshit in our lives. So how can you take a stand against workplace inequality?
Credit: Getty
How to speak out against workplace inequality:
1. Create a team
First of all, never try and do this stuff on your own. If you can team up with colleagues and agree to advocate for each other, that’s a brilliant first step. Bad bosses will always try to divide and conquer, so create a team. Speaking up for someone else’s benefit is always easier than doing it for yourself. So if you have been working perfectly fine at home and want more flexible hours and arrangements going forward, speak to some of your colleagues about it. Come together to speak up for what suits you all.
2. Get behind a campaign
There is always strength in numbers, so if you can then join a union. Or link up with a campaign. If you believe all the pregnant women at work are being screwed over, join Pregnant then Screwed. If it’s disability discrimination you are seeing, then Disability Right UK can help. There will be others in your position, so look for a campaign and join it to make a difference.
3. Know your rights
It’s also really important to look over your workplace policies and remember there are laws in place to protect you. Read the mission statements and policies of your employer. Make them live by the lovely words they often write in their glossy annual reports. For instance, I’ve come across companies with amazing PR suggesting they’re all about progress and equality. In reality they’re absolutely terrible to their staff.
4. Hold your company to account
Challenge your company on who they say they are. Speaking up is nerve-racking and risky. But saying nothing and living with crap in a job that’s making you unhappy, or unable to manage childcare, or physically unsafe is scarier.
If you want something different, I’m afraid you’ll have to speak up. Of course, slagging off your boss behind their back is fun, but it never changed the world.
*Truth to Power: 7 Ways to Call Time on BS by Jess Phillips MP is out now*
The post Jess Phillips on how to take a stand against workplace inequality appeared first on Marie Claire.
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