Men Afraid to Hire Women After #MeToo

Headline: 21% of men say they’re afraid to hire women after #MeToo...

“You’ve got to be kidding me” 

That was my immediate thought after reading that headline from CNBC.com. They interviewed Women’s Soccer World Cup champion Megan Rapinoe and she commented on that very headline, which is from a 2018 study. 

This didn't sit well with Rapinoe. “I don’t want to hear that you don’t know how to act..You know how to act. You know how to be respectful…”

The study also said 27% of men avoided one on one meetings with women. This so-called “fear” that men have over hiring women, allows them to avoid accepting responsibility for their actions and as Rapinoe said, “puts all of the responsibility and emphasis on women."

While badly behaved men fear potential lawsuits and liability, Rapinoe pointed out women’s fears in the workplace. “Women are afraid to be raped, sexually assaulted, sexually harassed, kept out of jobs, fired from jobs, moved laterally their entire career.”

She’s right. Women are afraid for their lives. They’re afraid of being violated. They’re afraid of retaliation for rejecting unwanted advances. They’re afraid that retaliation will result in a job loss. 

The only men who are afraid to hire women are men who are predators. And they should be afraid because women have had enough and are no longer going to remain silent and afraid. Unfortunately, the reality is men do most of the hiring in almost every industry and can make decisions as to whether or not they want to hire women. It's unfair and it's an clear example of gender inequality. 

Rapinoe had much more to say in her interview with CNBC. Read more on that interview here.