Western Railroad Discussion > UP's Beth Whited on Men and Women

I'm just quoting her (or quoting from the linked article--maybe they misquoted her):

“Women won’t call themselves ‘proficient’ until they’ve done the thing with excellence,” she said. “If the job posting says ‘proficient,’ we’ll get way more men who are unqualified for the job than women who are qualified.”


Beth Whited: Union Pacific’s First Female President is Leading with Purpose

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/25 01:20 by Bandito.

She sounds like a great leader.  Over 30 years experience within Union Pacific.  And she values diversity, equity and inclusion.  Smart lady.

Dave

Not really a misquote, I think the original post should have included the paragraphs before and after the one quoted.   She has had varied roles at UP and hopefully has and continues to be a good leader.

"One step toward gender diversity was reviewing the language used in job postings to advertise positions. For example, when a job posting required someone to be “proficient” in a specific skill, women were less likely to apply, Whited found.“Women won’t call themselves ‘proficient’ until they’ve done the thing with excellence,” she said. “If the job posting says ‘proficient,’ we’ll get way more men who are unqualified for the job than women who are qualified.”She said using neutral words like “experience” draws a more diverse field of candidates, including qualified women. “We try to make it a more welcoming posting for everyone.” 

RSD5 Wrote:
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> She sounds like a great leader.  Over 30 years
> experience within Union Pacific.  And she values
> diversity, equity and inclusion.  Smart lady.
>
> Dave

Exactly. The word proficient is a subjective adverb.

Can we just stop with the DEI nonsense.  Here is what Whited should have said, "Our intent is to hire the best qualified people for the job without regard to gender, race, or ethnicity.  Period."  Hiring people based on DEI and not merit always guarantees a substandard outcome, every time.

Companies miss out on hiring a lot of good people by not being clear on what is absolutely necessary and what is desirable in a candidate.  That's one reason why achieved life experience may be more important than paper certificates / degrees in many areas.

"They would never hire somebody like me, so  I won't even apply"

WW Wrote:
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> Can we just stop with the DEI nonsense.  Here is
> what Whited should have said... 

Brace yourselves. This thread is about sprial out of control with keyboard warriors who are most likely white male boomers that never lost a job offer due to their race or gender. 

And it will spiral out of control because any number of us "white male boomers": have been not hired
or passed over because we were white and male. 

Out 

Not if you're a truck driver.  Women hardly ever apply, and the 2 who did and got hired at my company quickly quit.  They wanted equal pay, but couldn't do equal work.  They were always asking other guys to move heavy pallets for them, help load their trucks, etc.  Sorry, it doesn't work like that.

I also don't see women roofers, or doing garbage trucks, or digging holes with a utility company, etc. along with many other professions.

WW Wrote:
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> Can we just stop with the DEI nonsense.  Here is
> what Whited should have said, "Our intent is to
> hire the best qualified people for the job without
> regard to gender, race, or ethnicity.  Period." 
> Hiring people based on DEI and not merit always
> guarantees a substandard outcome, every time.

I'm pretty sure the full quote provided explains why it's both important and necessary.

coach Wrote:
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> Not if you're a truck driver.  Women hardly ever
> apply, and the 2 who did and got hired at my
> company quickly quit.  They wanted equal pay, but
> couldn't do equal work.  They were always asking
> other guys to move heavy pallets for them, help
> load their trucks, etc.  Sorry, it doesn't work
> like that.
>
> I also don't see women roofers, or doing garbage
> trucks, or digging holes with a utility company,
> etc. along with many other professions.
I do! I have a cousin who's a woman that started out building houses with her dad and is now a project manager for one of the larger construction companies in Minnesota. I could care less of you're disabled, gay, lesbian, trans, a woman, whatever. If you can do the job, you should get hired and for equal pay!

Mark Kennebeck
Saint Paul, MN

Bandito Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> “Women won’t call themselves ‘proficient’
> until they’ve done the thing with excellence,”
> she said. “If the job posting says
> ‘proficient,’ we’ll get way more men who are
> unqualified for the job than women who are
> qualified.”

Which is a nice way of saying men in general tend to be way too bragadocious and FOS, or just flat out lie...

JG
 

1st of all....You get in to a lot of trouble when u generalize and say or imply "all men"  or "all women"  or all of any non homogeneous group.
2nd....anyone know who the audience was when this was quoted.   She could have been catering to the audience.  If it was a womens group....well there u go....

jgilmore Wrote:
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> Which is a nice way of saying men in general tend
> to be way too bragadocious and FOS, or just flat
> out lie...

When everyone regardless of "outward appearance" can participate in white collar crime, then there has been a real improvement in equity.

I remember an example in 2010s when a "minority" guy got caught in a relatively large Wall St. scandal. He didn't play the race card - he defended himself based on "merit" which means he used the same tricks that was exclusive to the "Old Boys' Network" decades ago. He got convicted and paid some penalties, but good for him.

Some of my best bosses were women back in the 2000s, as the Silicon Valley was enjoying a culture of meritocracy due to desperate venture capitalists seeking real talent wherever necessary to earn obscene returns on their risky investments. All before "DEI" and today's political B.S. In recent years, I've worked for bad bosses regardless of gender or ethnicity, so that means mediocre folks are now able to get promotions just like the mediocre "Old Boys' Network" losers from previous generations. Hurray for equity.

I'm virtually barfing at some of the naive posts in this thread, but I think my cynical/realist comments are far more relevant on this topic.

pdt Wrote:
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> 2nd....anyone know who the audience was when this
> was quoted.   She could have been catering to
> the audience.  If it was a womens group....well
> there u go....

Beth Whited has been consistent on this kind of advocacy, as Bandito's previous discussions about her many months ago was on a similar topic. I like consistency in a person.

WW Wrote:
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> Hiring people based on DEI and not merit always
> guarantees a substandard outcome, every time.

Always and every time?.... Wow, that's quite a lot...