Gender and whistleblowing

Katherine Gun, Clare Short, Jane Turner,* Sherron Watkins,** hundreds of female service members now in the Gulf…
What do all these people have in common?
They are all female and they have all been whistleblowers on major abuses of the public trust that have been undertaken by supposedly responsible people in their own workplaces.
Is this a trend? How might we account for it?
I raised this question over our morning coffee today with Bill, the spouse.
“Maybe women are more honest?” he speculated. (What a sweetheart!)
“Or maybe,” I said, “many of these abuses are things that are done in some kind of a good-ol’-boys culture in the workplace, and the women have never been invited to become part of that? In fact, I’m sure a lot of women in all these organizations have had major battles of their own trying to deal with the good ol’ boys… So really, you wouldn’t expect them to have any investment in good-ol’-boy culture, would you?”
Anyway, it’s an interesting question. What do you JWN readers think?
—
* FBI agent, reported on a theft by another FBI agent from the wreckage of the World Trade Center. FBI responded by trying to dismiss her. (Today’s WaPo, p.A11. Hate their new registration system so not putting in link.)
** Revealed some of Ken Lay’s misdoings at Enron

6 thoughts on “Gender and whistleblowing”

  1. Interesting question. I left a high-paced, high-paying career in high-tech after I realized that my bosses were asking me to cross ethical — but not legal — lines. Later, the company came under SEC investigation. I have no idea if I would have had the presence of mind or guts to blow the whistle had I known definitively about some of the financial fudging I suspected. But the fact that I never was able to adjust to the boys club meant that I never felt any particular loyalty or ownership. I suspect that’s true of a lot of women.

  3. What an embarrassing question.
    My first thought takes me back to grade school, where the girls were less likely to be “bad”.

  4. Vivion– what an intriguing story. maybe you cd write a bit more about it (for well-remunerated publication!!) including the ‘boys club’ aspect of it. I’m sure there IS a gender dimesnion to this worth exploring…
    MG– hi! Thanks for putting Karen K into the mix. Yes, of course she belongs there! I shd write something w/ some links to some of her stuff sometime but never get the time to. Maybe I cd just link to a couple of your posts about her.
    No Pref– I’m guessing wildly here, maybe a male poster? Kindergarten, yes, I bet it does all go back to there somehow, but yr view of the girls there as “goodie-goodies” is interesting…

  5. Helena,
    Are you serious? I am trying to establish myself as a free-lance writer as we speak — what suggestions might you have in this regard?

  6. One contributing factor might be differences in the way parents respond to girls and boys who “tell on” siblings.

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