It’s been a long time since I worked in the corporate world so my experience is either dated or second hand. But the most consistent complaint I hear from women, whether it’s related to conference calls or meetings in the conference room, is that men interrupt them. The second most common complaint is that male managers cover for low-performing men under their supervision. I don’t know how prevalent these things really are, but I can attest confidently that there is an impression that is shared by many professional women that they happen with great frequency.
So, let’s stick with the impression. How do you think professional women are likely to feel about Senator Rand Paul’s excuse for interrupting female reporters who are trying to interview him?
In an interview with Iowa talk radio host Simon Conway yesterday, Sen. Rand Paul pushed back against claims that he has a pattern of interrupting and acting rudely towards female reporters, saying that the real sexists are the people who criticize his treatment of women journalists.
“The funny thing about it is that it’s kind of a sexist position to think that somehow women announcers are less capable to handle themselves than men,” Paul said when Conway praised his testy response to Savannah Guthrie’s questions about his changing foreign policy positions. “I don’t think that, but everybody that was complaining about it, thinking it had something to do with gender, basically that’s insulting to the people doing the questioning.”
Maybe it is just me, but I don’t think it’s comforting to be told after someone has rudely cut you off while you were trying to talk that your complaint about it is sexist.
If Rand Paul doesn’t care how he is perceived, then there was no need to make an excuse. If he does care, however, this particular excuse will probably only ramp up the rage level.
