News Flash Update to Post Below[Updated] Sherry Yennello (Texas A&M), who has been pronounced gender equity queen by APS Physics, has the audacity to ignore the gender lawsuit against ex-exec Judy Franz in her "good-bye Judy allegory." At this link (page 7) to the
Gazette, Yennello thanks Franz for furthering goals of women succeeding in physics, "without causing unintended consequences." On its face, what a strange comment. Or Freudian slip. How can one make such an assertion, unless one is utterly arrogant or omniscient? (Is it the white male physicist that one must protect?!)
When you consider the facts uncovered during the lawsuit (and Part 3 below, where Franz speaks just as bizarrely), legal expenses, years of litigation, it is blatantly dishonest. What credentials does Yennello have in gender issues? Does Yennello have the threat of being fired based on discrimination over her head ? (No, she's tenured.) Does she have a certificate or degree in
any type of social studies?! The plaintiff in the lawsuit does and she has physics environment work experience; perhaps she should be asked to join the committee...
Franz's recurring, inappropriate and well-known behavior was never contradicted by APS (Franz's frequent temper tantrums, Franz claiming she did not have to follow harassment law, Franz telling the plaintiff to hire women with children because they take less pay, etc.). Most importantly, Franz's advice to the plaintiff, a manager of support staff females, that she would be fired for not managing in a way that was appropriate for a female (and then having the plaintiff fired when she refused) is now the core of the Court's records. APS Physics admitted in the lawsuit that Franz, who was not the victim's direct supervisor (a male was), did indeed have a "counseling session" with the plaintiff and collaborated on the plaintiff's firing, even though others testified the plaintiff was always professional. Of course, Franz never put those demands on another male Education department manager, when he was in the exact same situation to the plaintiff. This is also confirmed by APS on the record.
Lastly, APS failed to inform NSF of the ongoing federal EEOC claim (as is required) so that it could obtain the grant to start this "gender equity" farce in the first place, where they then pat themselves on the back for the poor showing of females in physics: Such as male leaders claiming negligible 4% increases in some gender rate that's close to zip as "pretty good." Or they use these "we need to find what women want" sessions as excuses for inaction, when everyone knows what women want: equal pay, flexible hours and respect, not more luncheons for commiserating with "buddies." Look
here, Yennello gets funded to tell
others what recipient duties are under EEO laws, when her own organization was not in compliance with reporting.
Of course, Yennello is FOR the voice of females when the harassment and discrimination are elsewhere or aimed at a scientist, but if the discrimination claim is made against APS Physics, that woman speaking up must be a crackpot!
One guesses that the victim's pain in losing her livelihood and thousands of dollars of pay (on false APS promises that lured the plaintiff from another job), the emotional stress, the nasty reference, all at the hand of Franz and her male minions, are not unintended consequences. Perhaps because it was
on purpose, because Franz knew it would be hard for her to get caught (under the guise of her gender). The victim's voice in this situation has been ignored and minimized out of existence BY OTHER WOMEN.
Power corrupts ALL; the model is still male. When the leader needs something, such as a (female) "assistant" to type her expense reports, etc. well, those gender idealisms go out the window.
Part 2: Sister Protests APS Physics "Female Friendly" Site VisitsAPS Physics is sending a "female friendly" site-visit team to a Texas-area (? not sure, APS is trying to keep these things mum) university this month, in efforts to attract women to physics. This blog stands in protest against the hypocrisy. Barbara Whitten, Peter Sheldon and Sherry Yennello, members of the team, should admit to the "visitees" that APS is a defendant in a gender lawsuit, before being holier than thou, and furthermore, should be embarrassed to represent the gender inequity of APS Physics headquarters.
There are numerous issues with this effort:
-APS Physics has done nothing to reprimand the discriminators within its own headquarters.
-APS continues to be a defendant to a gender discrimination lawsuit, one that touches on an emerging legal theory that expands the major McDonnell Douglas framework with the "mixed motive," so that employers can't just make stuff up and get off the hook. (So APS is ground-breaking in a negative way and refuses to admit this conflict of interest before making visits.)
-Singling out women for luncheons, etc., makes them targets for firing or retaliation as troublemakers, if they speak up (in a down economy, with more women not being protected by tenure.)*
-Victims of discrimination or bias, ie, women, should not be saddled with coming together and fixing this and every other "interpersonal" problem (that's more bias!)
-Women are not the cause of the bias or lack of attractiveness of physics; men, women in high positions (like Kate Kirby and Cherry Murray, APS leaders) and the institutions are. How about getting them together for lunch instead.
-How you treat your support staff and other female professional staff says a lot about what you really feel about women in the workplace when no one is looking (the general public is the pool from which future female interest in physics may come). And APS Physics treated the plaintiff in this lawsuit in a humiliating and hostile manner, even with a female figurehead, Judy Franz, at the helm.
-Increasing the numbers of women, especially as bluff and fluff figureheads or at powerless lower levels, does not automatically clear bias from the situation. You must change the overarching model.
*It appears APS has removed the prior obvious targeting of the wording at women (because of blog protest perhaps), but is still having its announcement circulated among "women's" groups on campus. What is fishy is the lack of PRIOR PUBLIC announcement on the APS Website: We are for gender equity, if you would just keep it amongst the wimmin' please, while we work with all those white male faces in government and powerful places. (Note: A small note was eventually buried pages down into the site where no one but the "choir" will see it.)
Part 3: Women can be Neanderthals, tooJust to show readers how neanderthal the female leadership of APS is, here is past-exec Judy Franz's advice to leaders about how to combat gender inequity (from the
APS Website): "..
if you publicly chastise those that [sic] make demeaning or snide comments, you will find the rewards are great." Out of all the possibilities of what to espouse in regards to gender inequity, this is the pull quote set in a super-large type. An eye for an eye, the male model. And there is no expounding by Franz for "better" context.
It is not clear who could do this (it's doubtful an offender would offend in front of someone in power or what if the exec is the offender?). Does APS want the victim to spearhead this descent into public pillorying? It is less clear who would be rewarded: perhaps it's APS (or an employer) for not having to investigate or deal with the problem in an official, professional or confidential manner. (The exec can say, "well at least I feel better now"!)
One guesses from the lack of official removal/amelioration that the offender then gets to keep his job after he gets his tongue-lashing, and he would just immediately become a perfect gentleman, rather than some retaliatory pig bent on retribution, who harasses when no other witnesses are around. If this remedy is based on gossiping up the chain of command (from HR or an ombudsman presumably), well let's not even go there for ridiculousness and privacy violations...
The worst aspect is the prospect of escalating a situation in public (rather than taking it into the confines of HR), which would most likely further victimize the victim, give her a reputation of being a passive-aggressive, "bitchy troublemaker" and give rise to potential violence. (It could also harm the male employee who is unjustly targeted.) If the harasser has supervisory control over the victim, her reviews and her employment, what then? Would this exec then protect the female victim every minute of the day?! Doubt it, what is APS thinking (or not thinking)?!
Labels: APS anti-gender platform, Barbara Whitten, hypocrites stay home, Judy Franz, sexism, Sherry Yennello