I have grossly offended a group of people who are dear to me, which was completely unintentional.
I used the term ‘Stepford wives’ in my recent blog “Why women are paid less”– in my mind I saw this term as meaning ‘perfect woman’, think ‘Grace Kelly’ as in the movie. It was brought to my attention this morning that if you do a Google search on the term, that is not in fact the definition that comes up.
I had no intention of causing offence – as some said ‘self promoting at the expense of others’. I don’t know this group of women well at all – I had used dramatics to create contrast. An exaggeration of an idea to illustrate my point. It does not in anyway reflect on those individuals themselves. But I can see how the misunderstanding and offense has occurred and for that I take full responsibility and apologise.
The simple message of my blog was that I would like to live in a world where woman(and men) have the power of choice – and that each may choose their contribution and pursue it single mindedly. It is not for any person or organization to discriminate against them because of that choice.
I have re-edited the blog to leave my opinion because I think it is an interesting debate to have.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention – without it I would not know – what is the saying, I often “fire ready aim.” Forgive me. I have learned my lesson.
Thank you very much Naomi for your honesty and insight. In a new business where I am still new at recruiting and managing staff, it is great to know that the same excitement and challenges are faced by organisations at many different levels. I appreciate reading about your ideas and experiences on how to manage growth in business, as well as maintaining a fun and entrepreneurial work environment.