It is a HR issue and if you are really concerned I would put in a request for them to investigate. You are not to know if it was a performance issue so I would be keeping out of it and referring it to someone who should be looking at it.
I agree w what Nai said. There may well be other reasons and you dont want to get into the middle of things without the full story. You could talk to HR (esp re the other comments he has made..)
I agree with Nai - take it up with HR and let them look into it especially if you think it might be a gender discrimination issue. I would worry that maybe there are issues at play here that you can't see - like budget cuts and other things. If she was only a temp, there might not have been money to renew her contract or the job description may have changed.
Sorry Starfish - posted at the same time as you. I can understand your concerns about gender discrimination and most workplaces take it very seriously. Have a chat to HR because they might be able to look into ways that they can become a more inclusive work environment.
I agree that unless it fits within your job description then stay out of this particular situation. As an employee however you have the right to bring up concerns about male:female ratios and I think you should do it. I too work in this industry and although the undergrad degrees in my field are dominated by women, the academic positions certainly are not. I think that similar to in Europe workplaces should have policies on the mandatory quotas of men to women.
Thanks so much for your input. I haven't written anything yet and if I do I will certainly look at the language I use (the paragraph I wrote was just my original idea and I was very annoyed when writing it, which is why I asked for advice, as I knew that the wording wasn't the best, LOL).
We have no HR department as such - each academic department is responsbile for hiring it's own staff. And as a previous poster pointed out, usually there are no interviews and Heads of Department just hire their mates. It is really bad practice. Let's just say when I think of how this place is managed, the cartoon Dilbert comes to mind...
I think that it's a good idea to maybe not do anything in writing, so I will wait for a meeting with this particular person and maybe bring it up then. Thanks again for your input. I really appreciate it.
(I have already brought this issue up with another department manager (via informal verbal chat), who has now made a conscious decision to hire a female teacher. And I am also trying to push the development of maternity leave and breastfeeding entitlements, so don't want to be seen as too much of a trouble maker...)
Thanks for your advice. I might wait for a while and see what happens.
I may not have made myself clear before - it is not really about this woman that was not rehired, but the general exclusive environment iykwim?? I just want to alert this manager to something that he most likely hasn't considered before it becomes an issue. But maybe this is not the way to go about it...
I totally agree with the others - unless you're in HR then that is definitely not your job. It wouldn't hurt to send an email to HR or chat to a HR rep about your concerns though.
it is tough to watch & to feel that you're working in a bit of a 'boy's club' but in my experience, saying something to the manager will only make him defensive (and probably reinforce his stupid opinion of women)....if anything, you could have a chat to HR but unless there's a lot of momentum behind it (i.e. other people thinking the same) it's probably not going to change much
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