Tech Support Issue #4: the guillotine comes for the girl bosses
*cheerily salutes a greeting from hell* hi, happy Juneteenth, you’ve reached TECH SUPPORT, how can I help?
Dear Tech Support,
In this charged BLM moment, accusations of racial bias, appropriation, and unsafe workplaces feel like they’re disproportionately hitting women and women-run businesses (just look at all the #girlbosses who were pushed out or resigned last week). From where I sit, female founders are more likely to have a socially conscious mission and make a more concerted effort at hiring a diverse team but are also less able to actually make structural change (especially if you are venture backed and under huge growth pressure). Is the solution to run your business more like Goldman Sachs so no one expects anything better? Those dudes don’t seem to be getting called out.
Pls advise,
White Female Founder Reluctant to Admit It
Dear Ms. Biz,
I feel a bit like I’ve been reluctantly pulled onstage for a discussion of Feminism itself, a topic on which I have a not-especially-well-fenced bundle of thoughts, mostly formed by reading articles like “All The Times Emily Ratajkowski Fought the Patriarchy” and being like “hmm I don’t THINK that’s it…but I could be wrong!” then laughing nervously. But here goes nothing!
White women don’t really have a place on the “structural injustice 2020” bingo board (except in a sort of adversarial capacity: a Karen, a suburban Trump voter) but I think what you’re saying tracks. I don’t doubt that there are undercurrents of sexism in the widespread backlash facing brands, or that paroxysms of pent-up rage/frustration/disappointment are more likely to be flung at female totems of capitalism than male (we are nothing if not gorgeous blank canvasses!!!). Plus we single out female founders in a particular way: we exalt them, exoticize them, saddle them with enormous expectations to make capitalism function more equitably for everyone. (fwiw I believe that some female founders capitalize on this dynamic–#girlboss feminism/fame is nothing if not a big marketing opportunity).
There’s no richer turf on the topic of glossy female founders and corporate feminism than The Wing, which stunningly imploded last week. I stared at the #IconicGirlBossKween magazine cover of Audrey Gelman for a full minute today, edges of my mind softening–it only came out in September but already feels like a quaint relic of another time (celebrating “the women building America’s most inspiring businesses!”; just generally wondering if coworking spaces will ever exist again). The most interesting aspect of The Wing news cycle last week was the employee uprising, which reportedly specifically demanded Audrey’s ouster. “Simply put,” the newly-organized employees tweeted, “The Wing couldn’t practice the intersectional feminism it preaches.” And: “Audrey Gelman is not a feminist.”
Still, I personally liked The Wing, and I tend to assume good intent: I don’t think The Wing’s feminist vision was a bunch of hot air to make a buck (though I could be wrong! *laughs nervously*). So as I watched this all go down last week in a sort of nose-pressed-to-glass rapture, I couldn’t help but wonder: how bad WAS it there? Pretty bad in a number of ways, according to the former Wing employee I asked (I refuse to type “Winglet.” Wait.). But mostly, she said, it was the gap between the anti-racist, feminist, progressive mission in the front and the inevitably shitty labor practices of a high-growth startup in the back.
Ah, yes, the old “foisted by your own batard” effect that seems to so define ~this moment in capitalism~: nourish your workforce on the dream of a more equitable workplace, empower them to speak up when it doesn’t live up, await revolt. See also what went down at Pinterest–who’s really cultivated its image as the virtuous, values-driven social media network–this week, with one of its main Policy spokespeople(!), no less:
What’s exciting (if hellacious for management) is that these ostensibly mission-driven companies–The Wing, Pinterest, Google, whatever–could end up being profound catalysts for social and economic change (just definitely not in the way that tidily fits into shareholder #goals).
But also, and I pose this earnestly: why is it so hard to build a non-toxic workplace? I literally have no idea if “intersectional feminism” can co-exist with capitalism but is a fair, equal-opportunity workplace such an impossible dream to deliver on? I’d work toward that if I were you, Ms. Biz. Whoever can figure that out, well…that’ll be our #IconicGirlBossKween.
Have a query? askclairest@gmail.com (and not to the “tip the invisible hand” [should I just lean all the way into market humor?] or whatever but welcoming questions on pay equity and leveling!!!)
Bless all of your hearts equitably,
Claire