The Wing Is a Women's Utopia. Unless You Work There.

March 17, 2020 11:33 AM

An exposé from the New York Times interviews current and former employees of The Wing, an exclusive women's club and co-working space that presents itself as radically feminist.
posted by serathen (8 comments total)

Previously. Perhaps we can be nicer in the comments to each other then a few months ago.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 11:52 AM on March 17, 2020 [5 favorites]

For those who didn't RTFA: an excerpt:

...a few months later, when the employee emailed Gelman to ask about raising wages, and then began to inquire among staff about their working conditions, a Wing disciplinary write-up signed by Kassan rebuked the employee for “expressing negative views about an event at Audrey’s home,” “sending reactive emails directly to the C.E.O.” and “interrogating staff about their pay and benefits.” The employee was warned that the company wanted to see “a significant improvement” in her “impulsive and reactive behaviors” or face “corrective action up to and including termination.”

Trickle-down feminism doesn't really trickle down, much like trickle-down anything else.
posted by splitpeasoup at 12:38 PM on March 17, 2020 [12 favorites]

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
posted by PhineasGage at 12:47 PM on March 17, 2020 [5 favorites]

I wonder when "disruption" startups will figure out that corporate governance and HR departments are not just big downers but actually exist for a reason.
posted by Anonymous at 1:48 PM on March 17, 2020

Same thing when I see more conservative of my friends argue that over-regulation is getting in the way of things like CV-19 testing. Most of our oversight and regulations have been paid for in blood or failures.
posted by drewbage1847 at 2:07 PM on March 17, 2020 [2 favorites]

Same thing when I see more conservative of my friends argue that over-regulation is getting in the way of things like CV-19 testing. Most of our oversight and regulations have been paid for in blood or failures.

Verging on off-topic but I give you permission to cough the name "Theranos" directly into the face of any such person until they get the message.
posted by Nerd of the North at 7:14 PM on March 17, 2020 [5 favorites]

All these startups are so doomed anyway. The current situation is going to sweep away thousands of bullshit grifts.
posted by spitbull at 5:39 AM on March 18, 2020

Only later did she and many of her colleagues come to think that the Wing’s utopia was built to empower a very particular kind of woman; that it was in fact their job to construct the shimmering mirage of feminism for such women; and that it was routine for women like them to be undermined in the company’s pursuit of feminist P.R. It was “a total facade,” Carter says. “It’s just like any other company that wants to make their money.”

“It was only so that they could exploit my presence and my image for their own purposes,” they say, “to make it seem like they were more inclusive than they actually were.”

the entire having a lot of employees of color combined with white members feeling entitled to treat employees "like human kitty litter"

the stumping for bernie and fundraising for AOC while being so extremely Manager Landlord and crushing unionizing efforts and not paying living wages and intimidating employees and

the gender policy change i can't even think abt because i'm at my limit

to me, this stuff is very, very in character and helps me settle my feeling from the last thread of "this disturbs me but i don't know how to explain why." (will i be able to explain better next time i have suspicions tho? probably not)
posted by gaybobbie at 9:38 AM on March 18, 2020