Jill Abramson, the executive editor of the prestigious, New York Times, was booted on Wednesday, fired by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr., owner of the Times.
Our long tenured Co-op president, was unceremoniously deposed from her seemingly impenetrable throne on Wednesday, as well.
Oh, how the mighty women have fallen all on a humid Wednesday in May in the Big Apple.
Dean Baquet replaced Abramson, less than three years after she was appointed the first woman in the top job at the Times. Baquet is the first African-American to lead the paper.
The apparent scoop behind the upheaval is that Abramson discovered that her pay and her pension benefits as both executive editor and, before that, as managing editor were considerably less than the pay and pension benefits of Bill Keller, the male editor whom she replaced in both jobs.
She confronted the powers that be and was privately deemed “pushy,” a characterization that, for many, has an inescapably gendered aspect, especially to women at an institution that was once sued by its female employees for discriminatory practices.
I can totally relate as I recently posted about my dealings with a similar situation, except I was earning a lot less than Ms. Abramson https://ifthedevilhadmenopause.com/woman-now-pay/…but it deals with the same issue of why men are valued more highly than women for the same job and responsibilities.
Apparently, Sulzberger’s frustration with Abramson was growing and she had already clashed with the company’s C.E.O., Mark Thompson. Clearly, Abramson had ruffled feathers and was perceived as not only pushy, but ambitious and possessing a brusque manner.
Yet again, this begs the question of why these character traits are heinous in a woman and deemed normal behavior in a driven businessman.
Regarding the Co-op overthrow, it was time for change. The president had what appeared to be a stronghold on the building, as well as a tough demeanor (would a man be called out for this?), but a revolution was brewing after a few Board members broke rank.
The coup was organized by a person of many personalities. If I had know Sybil was moving into the building, I never would have voted to approved all of them living in one apartment.
That be as it may, it was done in a covert manner. Why can’t people who agree to disagree do it with an open agenda, rather than splitting the ranks, causing rancor and creating an unnecessarily uncomfortable and toxic environment?
We all need to get over gender discrimination and just be a kinder more direct society. Put down the knives and communicate.
And, don’t forget about equal pay for equal jobs…women unite, after all our tailoring, accessories, haircuts and clothing are more costly than our male counterparts.
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