Guerrilla Girls BroadBand

Dear Employer,

Studies have shown that when elementary school teachers evaluate students with identical grades in reading, science, social studies, art, music and physical education, they believe the attractive students to have the higher IQs, and better prospects of going to college. We know it's fun to have eye candy around the office, but OUR studies have shown that it is often a woman with her nose glued to the grindstone who holds the business together with perseverance, silent competence, and an unassuming appearance. You know better than to make a pass at one of your employees - sexual harassment is an actionable offense, but we wonder if you practice beauty bias anyway.

If you believe you have received this letter in error, consider the following:

--How do you explain hiring the tall, blonde who doesn't (a) know any programming? (b) know how to type? (c) have job experience? (d) know how to take a legible message?

--If you are having a crisis in the office, is your latest hire going to be an asset to you or just provide you with a lovely distraction from your sinking ship?

--List ten reasons for hiring that blonde that you would proudly show to your (a) Board of Directors, (b) attorney, (c) buddies, (d) assistant,(e) Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 6) spouse.

--What are your criteria for giving out bonuses?

Has it occurred to you that there are potential real-life consequences to your behavior? Don't you watch Ally McBeal? You could lose your job, your career, your spouse, your children, end up with a big cut in salary and have to move to some podunk town where you'll be the one looking for a job! You'll be looking down at that paunch and trying to figure out how to make yourself look ten years younger. As you comb your hair over your bald spot, blondie's look alike will be filling out the W2. You've heard this message a thousand times before. You should know...to not judge a book by its cover, that beauty is as beauty does, and that beauty is only skin deep. Stop practicing beauty bias now!

With all due respect,

GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand
(a.k.a. The Equal Appearance Opportunity Commission)

DISCLAIMER: All statements, opinions and allegations are those of the original author, your employee. The GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand, Inc., (GGBB) has not investigated, ascertained or otherwise verified the truth or accuracy of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. GGBB makes no representations regarding the truthfulness of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. The GGBB website is a public service which is provided for the purpose of raising employer awareness while providing a shield for concerned employees who wish to remain anonymous.

Dear Employer,

It is amazing that your office is able to stay afloat when the only one competent enough to get anything done is you. You worry that the minute you walk out the door for a dentist appointment everything will fall apart behind you. Your employees are constantly falling short, falling down, failing to follow through. You on the other hand are a pinch hitter - always able to come in with the home run when the bases are loaded - able to make a slam dunk presentation to even the most skeptical client - going that extra mile to get the job done - able to stay cool under pressure when the stakes are high. (I cannot think of enough sports metaphors to properly describe the extent of your value.)

As you read this does it at all occur to you that this account seems a little one-sided? Isn't it at all possible you are experiencing a case of selective amnesia?

One of your employees has contacted us and alerted us to this situation. They don't find it funny that you seem to get all the glory while they are the ones doing all the grunt work.

If you think you have received this letter in error, consider the following:

-- Ask yourself when was the last time you did anything wrong. If the answer is "never," maybe you should get a second opinion.

-- When was the last time one of your employees received credit instead of you? If again you cannot recall such a situation, consider yourself lucky that they are still working for you.

While you may be the center of your own universe, the rest of your office needs some acknowledgement if your world is to keep on spinning. Try to take a step off that fast track, pull your head out of the sand, step down off your pedestal, and take a good look in the mirror. You are not an island unto yourself so stop acting like one.

With all due respect,



GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand
(a.k.a. The Gold Star Committee)

DISCLAIMER: All statements, opinions and allegations are those of the original author, your employee. The GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand, Inc., (GGBB) has not investigated, ascertained or otherwise verified the truth or accuracy of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. GGBB makes no representations regarding the truthfulness of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. The GGBB website is a public service which is provided for the purpose of raising employer awareness while providing a shield for concerned employees who wish to remain anonymous.

Dear Employer,

While the power lunch may seem a thing of the past, don't think your employees are ignorant of the benefits of lunch with the boss, and the chance to have the boss's ear for a full hour. While it may be a slightly stressful experience for both of you, your employee will do their best to let the time pass slowly, and not overburden you with too many difficult office issues. But you know that eventually, after the food has arrived and perhaps the first glass of wine has been drunk, they will let loose with their pressing concerns. For them to be asked back, they cannot just pound you with questions the entire time. But if they have an issue to discuss, it will likely emerge before the check arrives.

Perhaps it is your latent hostility to this inevitable demand that has caused you to keep stiffing your employees with the check. This is an especially egregious habit given your extravagant tastes.

One of your employees has contacted us and alerted us to this situation. You need to be more aware of who is paying for these lunches. Did it ever occur to you that that bottle of wine you ordered last week was someone's weekly grocery budget? Leaving a dining companion with the bill is bad form in any situation, but in a meal with an employee it is downright dastardly.

If you believe you have received this letter in error, try the following:

-- Count the number of times you have stuck your employees with the bills. If it the number is greater than zero, it's payback time.

-- Like our mothers always told us: learn to read from the right side of the menu. Employees may insist on paying - or evenly splitting the tab, in which case you are still stiffing them if you had the steak and wine and they had club soda and a salad.

-- Lie. Tell them it's on the office and pay for it yourself. The benefits in terms of employee morale and your relationship with your employee will make it well worth the investment.

Perhaps you are feeling like these lunches are work and you deserve to be compensated. Your feelings are correct and that is why you receive twice the salary of your lunchmates. So don't be such a miser and next time try sharing a little of the wealth.


With due respect,


GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand
(a.k.a. Lunch Ladies for a Livable Wage)

DISCLAIMER: All statements, opinions and allegations are those of the original author, your employee. The GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand, Inc., (GGBB) has not investigated, ascertained or otherwise verified the truth or accuracy of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. GGBB makes no representations regarding the truthfulness of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. The GGBB website is a public service which is provided for the purpose of raising employer awareness while providing a shield for concerned employees who wish to remain anonymous.

Dear Employer,

Remember last year when you hired that new employee? You were so proud of your choice; fancying yourself a friend of the underdog. You really put yourself out there, hiring a person of color (gay/lesbian/disabled/female) with equal or better qualifications than the other five white (straight/abled/male) applicants for the job. Don't they realize you really went to bat for them - that if it weren't for you, this firm would be totally white and bright (super straight, a boy's club)? Why don't they show their gratitude every day?

Have you ever had to think of a black person (gay/lesbian/disabled/female) as your peer? Have you ever worked in an office in which black folks (gay/lesbian/disabled/female) were partners, equals, or rather always subordinates, secretaries, the boys in the mail room? When you and human resources toss around the idea of 'fit' and 'appropriate behavior' and 'team player', have you ever considered what those euphemisms really mean? An employee of yours has contacted us and informed us that beyond your liberal tendencies, you are a bit confused about what it means to be an equal opportunity employer. It's the 21st century and it's really too late in the day to be thinking only of quotas or giving your office a bit of color. You are in your comfort zone daily. It's time to reconsider your assimilationist model and think about what kind of commitment you have made to your employees. Is your office a supportive environment?

If you feel you have received this letter in error try the following:

-- When you or anyone in Human Resources mentions affirmative action, do you smirk, nod your head knowingly, ignore it or brush it off as a mere formality? If you've answered yes to any of these questions you might need to sign up for that diversity workshop you've required all your employees to take, but never thought you needed.

-- Whom did you just hire? And how about the person before that, and before that, and before that? If everyone looks, talks, acts and thinks the same, are you really hiring the person most qualified for the job, or do you just want someone who makes you feel most comfortable? How are your assessments of someone's resume or interview biased by your attitude toward their race, class, gender or sexual orientation?

-- How would you feel if you were the only straight person in the office? The only white person? The only man? People of color are often tokenized and expected to answer for their entire race. Women in management positions are supposed to perform 'like a man' in order to keep their job. Lesbians and Gay men often closet themselves. These are heavy burdens to carry.

You add insult to injury when you call upon that person to stand in for an entire population. For example, when in meetings you ask these kinds of questions: "Do you think there is a market for our product in the ghetto?", "Is there a Gay audience for this film?" "What do women think about this issue?"

Sure, we know it's hard to know what may or may not be offensive - and you are correct that it would be more insulting to not consult folks at all. But here's a little test that might help. (a) Do you only invite your out lesbian employee into the meeting when you want the lowdown on new lesbian chic? (b) Does it say anywhere in your Puerto Rican employee's job description that they be well-versed in the demographics of their countrymates, or that of immigrant groups from Central and South America living in the U.S.? (c) If you expect your black female employee to comment upon the needs of her community, do you give her ample time and resources to research a thorough response? Being culturally sensitive does not mean expecting your employees to be experts in their ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. You may feel fine speaking for your entire 'community,' and it seems you do. But that's your choice not your job.

-- Do you have trouble saying: Black, Latino, Asian, Native, Gay? Do you wish folks would just get along, fit in, tow the line? Identity is an expression, and yes it is often a political statement. The next time you complain about your assistant's insistence on wearing rainbow rings, kente or pro-choice buttons, remember all the ways you express your privilege and politics each day: your power ties, suits and lunches, your Wall Street Journal and briefcase.

-- Are you also an equal opportunity firer? During the last round of lay-offs who was the first to go? Under what circumstances were they fired? Was their "behavior problem" really your problem with being challenged by a subordinate of a different cultural background? When you question an employee's attitude, performance or behavior are you judging them upon your personal value system, or that of the company handbook?

-- Look at your payscale. Is it equally distributed among races and genders? Do the math. Does everyone get equal pay for equal work or do you hide behind the national practice of paying women an average of 76 cents per dollar earned by a man.

-- Have you ever looked at the language of that company handbook with a group of employees from diverse backgrounds and considered when and where it is offensive and discriminatory?


So the next time you think to yourself, 'Why does so-and-so have an attitude?' Or 'They seemed so much more amenable when I hired them' or 'Is this person really committed to the company?' or even, 'This person would be so much easier to work with if they had the same background as me,' think again. These concerns have to do with your own cultural biases, and narrow scope of experience with people from diverse back grounds. Don't worry, we don't think you are a racist (homophobe/sexist/discriminating bastard), that's just your own guilty conscience. There are lots of ways to make amends. Hire some more people of color (gays/physically-challenged/women). Consider your expectations for these employees and compare them to those you have for your white-boy buddies. Remember, you're the boss, and your employees will follow your lead. It's up to you to take that extra step to make your workplace a supportive environment for all your employees.

With all due respect,

GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand
(and the E.E.O.C)

DISCLAIMER: All statements, opinions and allegations are those of the original author, your employee. The GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand, Inc., (GGBB) has not investigated, ascertained or otherwise verified the truth or accuracy of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. GGBB makes no representations regarding the truthfulness of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. The GGBB website is a public service which is provided for the purpose of raising employer awareness while providing a shield for concerned employees who wish to remain anonymous.

Dear Employer,

Remember last year when you hired that new employee? You were so proud of your choice; fancying yourself a friend of the underdog. You really put yourself out there, hiring an out gay person with equal or better qualifications than the other five straight applicants for the job. Don't they realize you really went to bat for them - that if it weren't for you, this firm would be not only white and bright but super straight as well? Why don't they show their gratitude every day?

Have you ever had to think a gay person as your peer? Have you ever worked in an office in which anyone was openly gay? When you and human resources toss around the idea of 'fit' and 'appropriate behavior' and 'team player,' have you considered what those euphemisms really mean? An employee of yours has contacted us and informed us that despite your liberal protestations, you are a bit confused about what it means to be an equal opportunity employer. It's the 21st century and it's really too late in the day to be thinking only of quotas or giving your office a bit of color. You are in your comfort zone daily. It's time to reconsider your assimilationist model and think about what kind of commitment you have made to your employees. Is your office a supportive environment?

If you feel you have received this letter in error, try the following:

-- Do you expect everyone to conform to white middle-class values? Is your MO Don't ask, Don't tell? Every time you think it is inappropriate for lesbian, gay or transgendered employees to discuss their personal lives on the job, count the number of times a day you mention your hetero lifestyle. Maybe it's as simple as pointing out what a great dad your husband is, or how your sister-in-law just passed the bar, or how you met this attractive woman at a dinner party and you plan to ask her out on a date, and what about that day off you took last week to attend your best friend's wedding. Not everyone feels comfortable sharing their personal life with the whole office. Think of how many times your gay or transgendered work-mates silence themselves because their personal lives are not accepted as polite conversation.

-- When a close colleague came out of the closet recently did you find that the quality of their work changed? We don't think a person's sexual orientation has any effect on their ability to do their job - why do you?

-- When an employee of several years begins to transition, and she is now a he, do you really put as much time and effort into making sure you use his preferred pronoun and call him John (not Joanna) as you gossip with other employees or your spouse about the changes taking place in his body and life? Are you only worried about his hormone treatments and doctor's visits because of what it could cost the company in health insurance and sick days each year? Or do you just wonder idly how he can begin to afford this expensive process on the meager salary you pay him? John's decision must cause quite a stir when you hand out bonuses each year. Does he still receive Joanna's measly pittance or a bonus commensurate with his new gender identity?

-- When other employees get all in a huff about 'the bathroom issue' and your transgendered administrative assistant, do you call her into your office for a private chat in which you tell her: (a) to make sure no one is in the bathroom when she enters; (b) to wear more gender appropriate clothes so there is less confusion; (c) to apologize to her work-mates, (d) to find a new job? Or do you ask her which bathroom she prefers to use, make a public statement in support of her and be the first to sign up to take diversity training workshops, required for all employees in your office, that include queer and transgender issues?

-- Really, answer truthfully. Why don't you advocate regularly for same-sex partner benefits for your employees? You're a power house - throw some muscle around when it really matters!

-- If your subordinate has a 'partner' or out lesbian friend pick her up at the end of the day, do you treat them the same as other visitors? Do you treat them as you do the boyfriends or spouses of your other employees? Do you treat that employee differently? Is your gay employee's partner, date or family welcome at company gatherings where straight employees bring loved ones? Or is your solution just to prohibit visitors and eliminate family picnics from your company's activities?

-- When you hired that new gay man did you swiftly institute an office-wide dress code to discourage 'flamboyant' outfits?

So the next time you think to yourself, 'Why does so-and-so have an attitude?' Or 'They seemed so much more amenable when I hired them' or 'Is this person really committed to the company?' or even, 'This person would be so much easier to work with if they had the same background as me,' think again. You might consider how many of these concerns of yours have to do with your own cultural biases, and narrow scope of experience with people from diverse backgrounds. Stop using diversity as a code word or a throw-away. Think about the implications of that homophobic joke that circulated via email. If you don't quite know how to handle the situation, bring in some professionals who do.

Don't worry, we don't think you are a homophobe or a discriminating bastard, that's just your own guilty conscience. Look on the bright side! There are lots of ways to make amends. Hire some more out gays and lesbians. Consider your expectations for these employees and compare them to those you have for your white-boy buddies. A gay employee's failure to assimilate to heterosexual norms is not their failure to do their job. Shift the culture of your department. Generally the same sexist, homophobic and xenophobic attitudes that produce uncomfortable environments for your lesbian and gay employees also adversely effect people of color and women in the workplace. Why not kill a few birds with one stone? Remember, you're the boss, and your employees will follow your lead. It's up to you to take that extra step to make your workplace a supportive and safe environment for all your employees.


In solidarity,

GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand
(and the Gay and Lesbian Task Force)

DISCLAIMER: All statements, opinions and allegations are those of the original author, your employee. The GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand, Inc., (GGBB) has not investigated, ascertained or otherwise verified the truth or accuracy of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. GGBB makes no representations regarding the truthfulness of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. The GGBB website is a public service which is provided for the purpose of raising employer awareness while providing a shield for concerned employees who wish to remain anonymous.

Dear Employer,

Have you ever been awakened on a Saturday morning by one of those telemarketers? You fumble for the phone while surfacing from your deep sleep and after a few minutes find yourself talking to a total stranger who is perkily asking you questions about your toothpaste use. Enraged, you mumble profanities, slam down the phone, and try to go back to sleep, but of course you cannot sleep - you are too mad. You are mad because this telemarketer has violated your personal space. They have brought the dirty world of commerce into your home - even into your bed! Think about that feeling for a minute and the multiple fantasies you have after hanging up about beating someone to death with your phone receiver. Now remember that rage next time you call your employees at home.

One of your employees has contacted us and alerted us to your invasive phone tactics. A salary and a contract is not a 24 hour commitment! Even if you were willing to pay overtime for all the times you called your employees at home, it is inappropriate, unnecessary and annoying. Stop it!

If you believe you have received this letter in error, consider the following:

-- How many times have you called any of your employees at home in the past week? If the number is greater than zero, then it is too high.

-- Have any of your employees ever called you at home? Only perhaps in the case of an emergency - and you should follow their lead!

After spending 8 hours a day with your employees with the knowledge that they will reappear in yet another 16 hours, your need to call them at home only demonstrates your own lack of organization and planning. If you have an urgent message that you are worried your might forget, do what the rest of the world does - write it down and give it to them the next day! You can even email it to them at work or leave it on their office voice mail. But do not call that home number. Your employee was not wired with a Global Positioning System when they signed their employment contract.

If you're so hung up on using the phone, maybe you have a problem and ought to get some help. Or get a life. We would recommend the following number as much more productive distraction:

1-800-HOT-BOSS

With all due respect,



GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand
(a.k.a. The Commission for Caller ID)

DISCLAIMER: All statements, opinions and allegations are those of the original author, your employee. The GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand, Inc., (GGBB) has not investigated, ascertained or otherwise verified the truth or accuracy of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. GGBB makes no representations regarding the truthfulness of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. The GGBB website is a public service which is provided for the purpose of raising employer awareness while providing a shield for concerned employees who wish to remain anonymous.

Dear Employer,

Although you shed those 30 hours of overtime which marked your 70-hour-a-week universe long ago, you still think of those first few miserable myopic years on the job as self-defining. Character-building perhaps! Your life had a purpose and that purpose was clear in the never-ending process of chiseling away at the rising mountain of deadlines, requests, revisions, and presentations. Once in a while you might have actually cleaned out that in-box long enough to look around and wonder what it was all for, but before you could get too anxious, the phone would ring and you'd be slaving away until midnight. While you may think you've benefited from all those unpaid evenings preparing for yet another 9 AM presentation, your family and former friends are sure to disagree. And certainly your employees, from whom you seem to demand that same blind all-consuming devotion, are finding it hard to swallow.

One of your employees has contacted us and alerted us to your overtime abuse. While you may not explicitly ask them to stay overtime, when you make a practice of telling your employees at 5PM to prepare for a meeting at 9AM the next morning, how else do you expect the work will get done? (Only Santa has elves). Your employees have a life outside the office - and some even have a family to care for. Mandating 60+ hours a week is anti-family, anti-human, and since most single-parent households are headed by women, it is ultimately anti-women. The 40 hour work-week has been instituted since 1938 - get with it!

If you believe you have received this letter in error, try the following:

-- Look at your employees' time sheets. How many more hours are they working than they are being paid for?

-- If you factor in an average of 8 hours of sleep a night, what is their ratio of waking hours in the office to waking hours out of the office? (1:1? 2:1? 3:1?)

-- Look at staff turnover. What is the longest an employee has stayed with your firm? How many stay longer than a year? Two years?

It's time you break the chains of our society's workaholic culture and allow your employees enough time for a full life outside of the office. You'll find they are more productive, healthier, and more positive about their work. In a recent survey done for US News and World Report, 60% of Americans say shorter work hours would give them incentive to be more productive.

If none of these reasons appeals to you, perhaps you might consider passing on the advice of a popular multi-national Mcfood chain:

'You deserve a break today.'

With all due respect,



GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand
(a.k.a. The United Overtime Abuse Prevention League of America)

DISCLAIMER: All statements, opinions and allegations are those of the original author, your employee. The GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand, Inc., (GGBB) has not investigated, ascertained or otherwise verified the truth or accuracy of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. GGBB makes no representations regarding the truthfulness of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. The GGBB website is a public service which is provided for the purpose of raising employer awareness while providing a shield for concerned employees who wish to remain anonymous.

Dear Employer,

We know how it is.

You had a stressful presentation this morning to some new clients who kept you an hour longer than you planned. You have a report due at the end of the day and three meetings scheduled this afternoon. And to top it all off, tonight is your daughter's birthday and you haven't had time to turn around, let alone pick up that GI Joe she wants. At any minute, like clockwork, your assistant will go out the door for lunch. You yell from your desk, "You don't mind stopping by ToysRUs' do you? Oh, and can you swing by the teriyaki place and grab me some sushi too? Pretty Pleeese?"

Are these small favors really too much to ask? In short, the answer is "yes."

One of your employees has contacted us and alerted us to this situation. You're going a little heavy on the personal errands lately. Have you forgotten their job description? Did you mention "dog walking" "babysitting" and "picking up the dry cleaning" during their interview?

If you believe you have received this letter in error, consider the following:

-- Count the number of personal errands you have passed on to a subordinate. If that number is greater than zero, then it is too high.

-- When you ask your subordinate to help you out with a personal errand, do you think they are (a)doing you a favor which you might reciprocate, (b)saving the company money by making your more valuable time more efficient or (c)probably enjoying the chance to get out of the office? If you answered yes to any of the above, you are in denial. Your subordinates won't ask you for any favors and they don't like running your errands any more than you do!

We know you are busy and corporate culture in America does little to help in your valiant effort to balance home and work. But this is no reason to trivialize your employees' time by prioritizing your laundry pick-up over the multitudinous other tasks they were hired to perform. It is demoralizing and disempowering; your employee who contacted us certainly feels this way!

So get off your lazy ass and walk down the block to the deli for lunch or pick up your laundry at the cleaners. It's a beautiful day out - you'll enjoy the walk. Don't think so? Think you're too busy? Well guess what - so are your employees!


With all due respect,


GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand
(a.k.a. Electors for Excluding Extraneous Errands)

DISCLAIMER: All statements, opinions and allegations are those of the original author, your employee. The GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand, Inc., (GGBB) has not investigated, ascertained or otherwise verified the truth or accuracy of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. GGBB makes no representations regarding the truthfulness of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. The GGBB website is a public service which is provided for the purpose of raising employer awareness while providing a shield for concerned employees who wish to remain anonymous.

Dear Employer,

When I was in sixth grade my family moved to a new city and I had to start a new school mid-year. My way of dealing with the 25 strange faces in my new surroundings was to tell them all about myself and stories of my old school, thinking that if they just knew me they would want to be my friend. This went on for six months before someone finally broke the news to me at a slumber party, during one of those sadistic sixth grade games, that the most annoying thing about me was that I always talked about myself. It turns out to know you is not always to love you, and this is a lesson you should take to heart next time you start chatting about the minutiae of your son's birthday party or your latest relationship problems.

It is not just self-centered, it is also presumptuous. Have you considered you make people uncomfortable talking about your heterosexual paradise? Remember - we are not all members of the same club and not all families look alike.

One of your employees has contacted us and alerted us to the situation. Not everyone in the office has the same space to talk about their private life and you are taking advantage of yours. Next time you start to talk about your daughter's Little League game or complain about flying coach to your vacation in Fiji, try to remember the last time this person told you about their personal life. If the answer is never, maybe it's time to shut up.

If you believe you have received this letter in error, try this exercise:

-- Write down the names of everyone you tell something personal to during the course of the day. Then go down the list and try to name one event which took place in each person's private life over the past day. What about the past week? Month? Year?

You get the point -- sharing should be reciprocal and since you're the one in power, let your employees take the lead on how much to divulge. If they don't seem interested, then neither should you. The only person you should pay to listen to you talk about your private life is your shrink.


With all due respect,


GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand
(on behalf of the American Psychiatric Association)

DISCLAIMER: All statements, opinions and allegations are those of the original author, your employee. The GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand, Inc., (GGBB) has not investigated, ascertained or otherwise verified the truth or accuracy of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. GGBB makes no representations regarding the truthfulness of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. The GGBB website is a public service which is provided for the purpose of raising employer awareness while providing a shield for concerned employees who wish to remain anonymous.

Dear Sister,

Remember all those times when your work was passed over and credited to the guy with his head up his ass sitting next to you? You were the one, always at your desk at midnight putting the finishing touches on those proposals, and never being noticed. But you didn't give up. You plodded along waiting for that glass ceiling to shatter (or at least show a few cracks.) And now all your waiting has finally paid off. Congratulations - you are finally in a position of power - you've become the woman we all want to be!

Now that you've made it, we'd like to ask you to look around - or down, to be more specific. How are you treating your female employees? Have you learned from your own hard path and tried to help those following in your footsteps? Or do you think it's possible you bought into some of those sexist messages along the way and now practice your own special version of internalized sexism? Maybe you agree with all those people who say 'women just don't measure up' and YOU are the exception that proves the rule.

We are inclined to think that this latter scenario is more likely - at least that's what we've been told. And that's why we're writing to you. One of your employees has contacted us and alerted us to your discriminatory practices. She said you consistently give your women subordinates the short end of the stick - passing on less prestigious assignments, not recommending them for raises and promotions, loading them down with administrative work.

If you believe you have received this letter in error, consider the following:

-- How many male and female employees are under your supervision? Who makes the most money, who does the most work, how are positions in the office divided, and who gets the promotions and raises?

-- Who's left at the end of the year? What's your turnover rate? Ratio of men to women leaving? When was the last time you conducted exit interviews?

-- Are employees going above you or around you to get clarity about your instructions, address their needs for administrative support or voice their complaints? Why aren't they talking to you? Maybe because you're too busy giving them MORE WORK to hear them?!

We know it's still a sexist world out there, and that it really is lonely at the top. But that's no excuse for perpetuating every insidious, demoralizing, embittering, discriminatory experience you've ever had. Your employee who contacted us certainly feels this way. What other euphemistic ways can we tell you - you suck! It's time you get back in touch with the young ambitious frustrated you and pay attention to what's going on. Of course, we cannot tell you how to fix this - REMEMBER: YOU'RE THE BOSS!

With all due respect,



GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand
(a.k.a. Doyennes Against Paying Your Dues)

DISCLAIMER: All statements, opinions and allegations are those of the original author, your employee. The GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand, Inc., (GGBB) has not investigated, ascertained or otherwise verified the truth or accuracy of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. GGBB makes no representations regarding the truthfulness of any statement, opinion or allegation contained or transmitted herein. The GGBB website is a public service which is provided for the purpose of raising employer awareness while providing a shield for concerned employees who wish to remain anonymous.