Essay On Labban

The news has recently reported that a female executive, Nadia Labban, claims that she was a victim of gender-based discrimination at the corporation she worked at, a national chain of pest control services called Quiet House Pest Control. Furthermore, Labban claimed that she was passed over for promotion to vice president of financial operations, was also frequently subjected to sexual harassment, with male employees and executives commenting about her appearance, and her tendency to wear short skirts, and frequently told jokes that depicted women as mainly worthwhile only because of their sexual availability to men. My colleague Brant and I discussed about Nadia Labban’s case. Brant explained 3 arguments to me. Overall, Brant claims that Labban

Labban was skilled for the promotion and her performance excelled more than the man that was promoted. So was Labban a victim of gender-based discrimination? Brant states, “It’s not discrimination, because I heard the president of the company say on the news that they would have promoted her, except that the employees who’d be working for her wouldn’t take a woman seriously. So in this case, it matters that she’s a woman – she’d do a worse job because of not being taken as seriously as a man”. Frye would respond by stating, “The term “sexist” has to do with cultural and economic structures which create and enforce rigid patterns of gender-marking, dividing into superior and inferior” (Frye Marilyn, “Sexism”, p.850). In other words, Frye would say that the president of the company made gender important when the president choose to promote a man over a woman who was a much better candidate for the position of vice president. Since, the president of the company made sex a significant role for the job position, he is creating and promoting an irrelevant marking of the distinction between the sexes (Frye Marilyn, “Sexism”, p.845). In addition, the president of the company is endorsing that men are superior and women are inferior because the president stated that the employees would not respect and take a women seriously. On the other hand,

Brent argues, “Nadia Labban is being oversensitive about the sexual jokes. I hear that kind of thing all the time at work, and some of the women at work flirt with me, and I just laugh it off. I like it, actually.” Frye would respond to Brent that sexual jokes may not be offensive to him, but for a women a sexual joke might make her feel that she is seen as a sexual object. Frye would explain that Labban felt her work and performance was not being recognized, because the jokes depicted women as being important only to have sexual relationships with men. I think that Labban is not being oversensitive, because being women and hearing jokes that make women portrayed as useless is hurtful. Also, I feel that sexual jokes are interpreted differently by everyone, I personally find it insensitive because there are high rates of rape and sexual harassment. I think a women would feel it is disrespectful if a co-worker is flirting with them during work hours because it sending a message that women can only be seen as a people that they can potentially have a sexual relationship with rather than seeing their achievements in the work field. Therefore, I think the insult is not the sexual joke, but the framework and structure of the