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Vote on Desiree Davidson's Story
Were they afraid we were planning a coup d'etat?
I spent my first summer during Columbia Law School at a firm in Philadelphia described as one of the best places in the city for black lawyers. I believed that if there was any place where I would have an equal chance at opportunities, be treated fairly and succeed, this would be it. There were three black female summer associates out of sixty that year but any time all three of us were in an office talking, one of the partners would knock on the door to see how we were doing. It happened too often to be a coincidence that sometimes we would purposely agree to meet in so-and-so's office to test our theory that we were being monitored. Like clock work, ten minutes after we would get together a partner would stop by.
Men got enormous raises
- Workplace Unfairness
- Female
- Caucasian
- Computers, Software
- Left & is now Self-Employed
- Management Consulting
- Compensation
- Discrimination
- Disillusionment
- Double Standards
- Meritocracy
- Recruitment
The point was, there was one set of rules for one group and another set of rules for another and it was by gender. Men got enormous raises. And there were several men hired who I knew didn't have the qualifications and there were women who were over-qualified who couldn't even get an interview. What occurred to me was that I could be working 30 years and even at the top of the range, I'd be going nowhere. I would never make the type of money I deserve. Not that I am necessarily brilliant, but I worked hard and cared a lot and realized that there is no way I can do this.