Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio has forced a construction crew to stop working after workers put up a warning sign reading “Men Working.” According to the report below, the college declared that the sign was “sexist and non-inclusive” and had to be removed before any further work resumed.
A female college employee complained that she found the sign offensive. Sinclair’s director of public information Adam Murka explained that the college takes “quite seriously” its “deep commitment to diversity. I am not sure that this particular battle reinforces the serious nature of that commitment. I do think that the construction company should go with gender neutral signs like “Construction Zone” but the necessity of stopping such work over such a sign seems rather over the top to me. The concern may be that “construction zone” does not remind drivers of the presence of workers and “workers working” is a bit awkward.
What do you think?
Source: Daily Mail
More than likely only one person is actually working…..then it should be at that point changed to accurately reflect the situation….. “MAN” working…… You see if you women there and they are working while the men stood around you’d have a gender bias lawsuit or and EEOC claim….. You’ve opened the door now Darren….
Thing is, “men Working” is usually inaccurate anyway, and should probably be “Persons sometimes working/often just standing around with hands in pockets”
E sims,
You’ll probably have issues with that one…..
Blouise contributed:
“Why didn’t she just pull out a magic marker and put a “Wo” in front of “Men”?”
~+~
She probably gave up because she couldn’t erase the “e” and make it a “y” as in Womyn
Catering to frivolous complaints does nothing to promote diversity. If anything, it makes it harder to get people to acknowledge serious issues. We need to stop allowing the craziest person in the room to run things.
Hopefully the construction company billed the college for the shutdown. The sign was probably one pulled out of a shed sometime just before work began. There was no conspiracy to subjugate anyone. I can guarantee that no worker on the project thought this prior to the griping of that employee.
She needs to get a life and stop her crusade to clense the world of all things she considers to be bad and to stop grandstanding at the same time. I agree with Blouise on if there were all men working on the construction project, the sign would be entirely accurate. If a woman was present so what! What’s the practical implication, would a driver run over the woman because the sign did not accurately warn to be wary of female construction workers?
Just use the old sign until it wears out and buy another one that reads “Workers Present” (or does the word “Worker” subjugate the underclass by tying it to the perjorative “working class”?)
A bunch of chickens start the fight then let the real people finish what needs to be done.
given the story its difficult to tell if there was much more than a complaint to which they over reacted. It makes for a nice sensational headline grabber and makes us all feel better than those darn feminazis.
Fix the signage & move on
You know, I think “MEN WORKING” is dated, is sexist, and doesn’t matter much. Don’t print up any new “MEN WORKING” signs but don’t throw away the old ones; who has money to throw away? Male and female taxpayers?
I agree with you Blouise. This is nuts. And it really doesn’t help the “cause” when someone takes “offense” to this extreme.
“Workers Ahead” is what I have seen in several jurisdictions, but I am not offended in the least if I see a “Men Working” sign, even if there happen to be women working on the crew as well.
If women were working in the area, then the signs should not just say men working. It is unsafe for the women workers. Change usually begins with the students so protesting and stopping the work sounds like a plan.
The obvious question is:
How many women were working on the construction?
How about:
“People of various sexes and sexual orientations working”?
We have to be inclusive of gay, bi and trans-gendered people and particularly those who are part way through the trans process.
What if the people are all on a lunch break?
So how about:
“If there are any people working here, they are of various sexes and sexual orientations”.
was the sign inaccurate? if not, then i dont see how anyone can be offended. i understand the need to be includisve, but if the sign was accurate, what is the problem? i am a man and would not be offended to see a sign that said “women working” if, in fact, women were working on the road ahead.
OS,
One of the comments in the newspaper about this incident mentions seeing a “Men Working” sign as a child but the words “in bed” had been sprayed painted on the sign … he was young and didn’t understand the meaning.
Speaking of politically incorrect signs. There is a pickup truck driving around town with a bumper sticker that says,
“I go into the woods with my gun,
Hunt down animals and kill them,
Eat their flesh and wear their skins.”
Needless to say, PETA is not a strong presence in our area or the truck would probably have been vandalized already.
“A female college employee complained that she found the sign offensive. ”
So what?!
Were there no men working there? Was the crew all female? If only men were working then the sign was totally descriptive. Why didn’t she just pull out a magic marker and put a “Wo” in front of “Men”?
Honestly … people are just plain nuts!
OS,
Exactly, but to stop work because of a sign I a little extreme…..don’t you think?
They should cover the sign now….. And put on it “NO ONE WORKING”……. Or move it to Mexico…..
This is really good PC….. Hmmmmm……
Stopping work for a sign is a little excessive. I used to work constriction to help pay my way though school and if they think the sign is offensive, then they shouldn’t go near the workers. What comes out of their mouths is WAAAAY worse. Myself included. When in Rome…
Our highway department has signs that say “Workers Ahead” and also that speeding fines are doubled when workers are present.