Guys n' Dolls

“When men and women are treated the same, it means women are being treated as if they were a man; when men and women are treated differently, the man remains the norm, against which the woman is peculiar, lacking, different.”

Humphrey held his head atop his little squeaky doll as he contemplated that quote by Anne Philips. What could it mean? Usually, he liked to chew on rawhide on lazy afternoons, but now he would chew that idea. 
A very wise student tipped him off later that day.
"It's just like the Canada Post union negotiations about 'equal pay for equal work' not too long ago in the news," she explained. "At the time I thought to myself, 'of course, absolutely! Women should be paid the same amount as the men.' But you can see what this quote brings to it."
"What's that?" Humphrey asked.
"Why did I automatically think this meant women should be brought up to men's pay? Why didn't I think that the men were being paid less money, or that the men's wages should be reduced or increased to meet the women's wages.  Why did I think of the men's wages as 'normal,' and that the women needed to meet that standard? I've been programmed by society to assume that the women's wage is not the norm and I didn't even realize it."
"Thank you!" Humph said to the wise student, "I get it. Now I can get back to my rawhide."

EPILOGUE: Kim Schaefer, CEO of Great Wolf Lodge was on Undercover Boss recently (this episode aired on W January 4, 2012). In the introduction, she was talking about her leadership style and getting to be in position. She mentioned that people are often surprised to see a female CEO. Quite astoundingly, she made a statement something like, “I didn’t let aspects of being a female affect my becoming a CEO” – wow.