Ohio women kick ass

In the midst of the ongoing debate regarding parenthood and careers, Teresa Lehman’s $2.1 million successful settlement from Kohl’s department stores demonstrates so clearly that a lot of working-parent issues emerge on the “supply side,”i.e. discriminatory policies in businesses that are punitive towards mothers, both present and future. Despite being a top candidate for a managerial position within the Kohl’s department store chain in Ohio, Lehman watched less experienced men, some of whom were her own trainees, receive promotions while she stayed put at assistant manager. Lehman was also explicitly interrogated and reprimanded for her pregnancies, with one jackass manager in particular, Timothy O’Daugherty, saying to her face “Are you going to get pregnant again?…Did you get your tubes tied?” Well, congrats to Lehman her ability to withstand such obnoxious treatment and come out the victor. She can flip the glass ceiling the bird, having moved up to senior merchandise planner for JoAnn fabrics.

Pundits, amateur and professional alike, spend a lot of time discussing high-powered, highly educated women opting out of the workforce. It’s certainly refreshing in this case to have the Kohl’s managers as the clear villains, and we could leave it at that, a cut-and-dry victory. But we’d be ignoring the true moral if we didn’t ask if women of means and education, along with their partners, make it easier for the O’Daugherty’s of the world to believe sexist garbage with the decision that despite all other qualifications and accomplishments, they are best suited to full-time motherhood. Given such challenges on the supply-side of the workplace, what is a feminist’s responsibility on the “demand side” that is, families expecting and negotiating for true family-friendly workplaces?