This is an interesting topic and one I've been quite interested in lately.
I cannot say the author did a good thing or not. Yes, it will be difficult for him to stay at Google or get a job elsewhere but perhaps the satisfaction of not being bullied by a corporation is worth it for him.
Every morning, most of us get up and go to work in a job we may not love for a company we may not love. We do it because there are few other options. We stick to our agreement to do a certain amount of work for a certain amount of compensation. We dont go there for friendships, or political change, nor to change the world for the better.
We submit to our managers authority on work-related matters as that is part of the contract we enter into. If we are told to do our job in such and sucb a way most employees will not argue and will do as told.
The problem occurs when said employer starts to believe their authority extends into the employees personal life. This would include all non-work related topics such as cultural values, family values and political values.
Each worker has a reasonable expectation (right even) to be treated witbh dignity and respect at work. However, once an employer tries to interfere with your personal values and beliefs then this is an attack on personal dignity.
I respect the author in this case, as he did not sit there and take it up the ass, not yet anyway.
In the past I had worked for a company that routinely sent out emails about Womens Networking events, even to me, a male. I never saw a single email about male netwroking events, but thats not even the point. The point is, the company could of easily sent those mails out only to women, so why send it to men too? I seemed to me they wanted to get inside my head and just fuck with me. Because everytime I saw it just brought back all the feminism bullshit we talk about. I dont wanna get distracted at work and think about that stuff. Perhaps its a form of mind control for them.
We also had a regular emails and promotions for a LGBTQ Ally program, whatever that was. I have my own views on sexuality and dont want some corporation telling me whats right and wrong.
I used to see this person every day. A 6 ft well built blonde man in a dress, saying he is married with two children. I dont judge but it makes me feel sick and I dont wanna to deal with seeing/thinking about that shit everyday, becuase the office environment is pretty depressing as it is.
At the end of the day we all have to go to work. Mo employer has the right to bash cultural or religious values into our heads. They are not an authority on that and all employees should be given sufficient dignity such that their personal views are not challenged, because this is not part of the job.
This is going into the space of authoritarian mind-control, and at work to where we cannot ignore it. It is a misuse of power and should be fought by the thinking man.
If I was this guy I wouldnt have written what he write. I would simply have said that though I treat individual on their own merits, I have my own views on male/female characteristics, and there could be any number of reasons why women are under-repped, though I do not wish to discuss my private views with the company. I do not agree that women are necessarily discriminated against and I do not consider Google management to be sufficiently qualified to have an authoritative position on this topic.
Really what should happen is if some manager at work tells you about your cultural values or beliefs, they should get a swift slap.to the head. Because culture is upstream to economics, obviously. This is an affront to basic dignity.
