As a woman, you may have noticed that the obstacles in your career do not always appear discriminatory on their own. They tend to look like a manager who stands too close, a salary you can’t compare to anyone else’s, or a project quietly reassigned after you shared some news. Each of these examples has a legal shape underneath it, but you can’t use what you can’t name. Here’s more about three common problems women in business face and how they should react.
Report Sexual Harassment Instead of Absorbing IT
If a colleague or a manager has made you uncomfortable at work, you may have spent longer questioning your own reaction than questioning his behavior. A man who behaves this way usually controls something you need, like a promotion, a shift, a client account, or a visa sponsorship, which is why sexual abuse or harassment shows up more often in workplaces with few women in senior roles.
You must understand that your employer cannot punish you for raising a complaint, which is the whole point of the protections available to you. However, only a lawyer can tell you what your evidence shows before you decide anything. These experts will make you understand that you have a second claim if an employer demotes you after a complaint, as retaliation is illegal on its own terms.
The deadlines for filing are shorter than most people expect, so the sooner you ask, the more options stay open to you. Fortunately, most employment lawyers take these cases on contingency, and the outcomes range from a negotiated exit with compensation to a policy change that protects the woman hired after you.
Do Not Accept Lower Salaries
If you suspect you’re paid less than a male colleague doing the same job, you’re unlikely to confirm it by asking your employer. Companies keep pay private for a reason; after all, a gap no one can see is a gap no one has to explain.
Your options depend partly on where you work, as a growing number of states now require employers to post salary ranges in job ads or provide them upon request. Federal law goes much further back, and the Equal Pay Act has required equal pay for substantially equal work since 1963, with job content determining what counts as equal. However, if you want to take action, you should first contact a lawyer. They can compare what you actually do against what your colleague does and tell you whether the pay gap is legal.
Push Back When Motherhood Changes How You’re Treated
If your responsibilities shrank after you announced a pregnancy, or after your caring duties became visible at work, you’ve reached the point where many women’s careers stall. Researchers who study hiring decisions have found that mothers are judged as less committed than women without children with identical resumes.
However, employers who act on this belief that a mother is less committed now stand on weaker legal ground than they used to. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires your employer to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy and recovery, and a refusal is actionable by itself.
To take legal action, you need to keep a dated record of what changed and when. Only a lawyer can tell you whether what you’ve written down amounts to a claim. Fortunately, that first conversation usually costs you nothing.
Endnote
It is common for women in business to experience unique problems, but they don’t have to solve them alone. You don’t have to be sure before you raise a question. However, working with a legal expert puts you in a better position to understand what a realistic outcome looks like before you decide whether to act.