As if there aren't enough obstacles to women in the workplace, a handful of men in Congress have had to come up with another one:
refusing to be alone with female staffers.
In an anonymous survey of female staffers conducted by National Journal in order to gather information on the difficulties they face in a male-dominated industry, several female aides reported that they have been barred from staffing their male bosses at evening events, driving alone with their congressman or senator, or even sitting down one-on-one in his office for fear that others would get the wrong impression.
What wrong impression is that? That they're professionals with access to powerful people? These policies aren't just window dressing. They can hold women back:
One male Republican staffer said that when he worked in the House, one of his bosses declined to meet privately with female aides or have them staff him at evening events at the request of his wife, who thought it was unseemly. "There was never any doubt about the staffers and their behavior, or the member and [his] behavior," the staffer said. But his boss's wife worried what others would think, particularly back home in his Southern congressional district.
As a result of the informal policy, the male staffer remembers being asked to accompany his boss to an evening reception with a group of defense contractors, even though he was much more junior than the female staffer who covered the issue. "I'd say, 'she has more experience, this isn't my area.' They'd still say, 'we need you to staff him tonight,'" he said.
As a result, women are kept out of important meetings and kept from developing the kind of professional relationships that are so crucial to advancing on Capitol Hill. Not because they've done anything wrong, just because someone might think it looks bad.
These policies are in a minority of congressional offices, but they're also not a one-off thing. Such policies are discriminatory and illegal—yet they're coming from members of Congress tasked with making the law. Talk about inspiring absolutely no confidence.
