Turning the work world clock back

Oct. 4 - File this under "I'm glad it's not just me."

When I read this I tried to write a coherent post but I couldn't get past writing "why did she drag the kids out?" but I knew I was missing something.

It was a relief to learn I'm not the only one aghast at the staging of the children. Tim nails it:

DonÂ’t these idiots have any shame? Sure, people have affairs, but dragging your kids out to a press conference to parade your stupidity in front of the world borders on child abuse. What was she looking for, the child-sympathy factor?

Of course, Pam Coburn is not only a mother she's a single mother so naturally is above reproach. /sarcasm

Then my day got even better. Tim linked to a Christine Blatchford column (just follow the Google link he provides) that is considerably more insightful than my aborted post:

Please make her stop before she completes the transformation to damsel in distress, before she turns the work world clock back even further, before she completely ruins the cherished dream that secretly sustains us all from time to time -- sin without sorrow.

[...]

In the morning yesterday, Ms. Coburn was having a press conference, to which she had inexplicably dragged her two children and at which she did not deny the dalliance but rather confirmed it (so what was the point, exactly?), and by 3 in the afternoon, with lawyer in tow, she was a guest on The John Moore Show on Toronto radio station CFRB, fielding calls from the great unwashed and even blubbering once, when some poor demented fellow, one "David," phoned in to offer his support.

David's support -- he said he was taking off his hat for her, though a crasser mind than mine would suggest perhaps he look lower down on his person -- was based on his view of Ms. Coburn as a courageous lady who was being "honest and open" and was "trapped in a system which does not accept the reality . . . that two people who work together can very easily become attracted to one another."

This was Ms. Coburn's own theme yesterday. (Emphasis added.)

Playing the single mother card was bad enough, but portraying oneself as a woman irresistibly drawn to a colleague and unable to withstand temptation reinforces some rather ancient objections to letting women enter the work force because it would inevitably lead to hanky-panky. How freaking wonderful. Play to the belief that women are guided by their emotions rather than logic and throw in Woman The Seductress and Homewrecker and why? because the executive director of Toronto's municipal licensing and standards department, one Pam Coburn, reveals too much without revealing the one, unassailable fact: she messed up.

If she writes a book I'll scream. I never thought I'd say this, but I actually prefer Wanda Liczyk's unbelievable denials of being involved with Dash Domi or that her past relationship with Michael Saunders made her more easily manipulated. At least it proves that we can stare 'em down and challenge them to prove the allegations.

When we marched in the '70s we demanded equal opportunities because we knew we were equal to the tasks and responsiblities. When we slip up we must take it like a man adults because if we try to wiggle out by taking refuge behind old prejudices the result, in Blatchford's words, is that it "turns the work world clock back even further."

Thanks, Pam. You're a freaking inspiration - to all those who would chase us out of managerial positions because we aren't hard-headed and shroud us in burkas because we are too prone to lead other astray.

(No, I'm not voting for Hillary in any year. She had her eight years in the White House - "two for one" - and we had Sept. 11. Ordering Arafat outside to smoke his cigars doesn't qualify as "taking a firm stand against terrorism.")

Posted by: Debbye at 12:07 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 670 words, total size 4 kb.