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A Mad Men Labor Day Lament ? Some Things Never Change

By Joe Consumer

Oh yes, we?re back!  And just in time for a brilliant Mad Men episode that some are calling among the best ever.  In honor of Labor Day, we?d like to recognize SCDP copywriter Peggy Olsen for her excruciating journey down acutely sexist Madison Avenue, and while we?re at it, here?s to the woman on whose life Peggy?s character may be loosely based.  Her name is Myra Janco, who ended up marrying real ad guy Draper Daniels, under circumstances that seem weirdly chauvinistic.  We?re glad things worked out for Myra.

I bring this all up because it?s worth taking a small look at how far women have come in the workplace since 1965.  On the one hand, last week we saw release of a startling new study, based on Census data, which found that in most of the country, ?unmarried women between the ages of 22 and 30 without kids are making 8 percent more than men in the same demographic.?  Take heart, Peggy.  And take that, jerky new art director Stan!  

On the other hand, here comes Kara Jorud, who worked for Michaels Stores Inc. in South Florida.  Kara was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, and later had a double mastectomy. As the Miami Herald wrote,

[S]he was pressured to return to work early [while still undergoing chemotherapy] during a six-week medical leave because she was expected to fix the high-volume store's failing operations.

``They accused her of theft,'' McPherson said. ``And district manager Skip Sand harassed her because she missed so much work. He claimed he saw her theft on video and claimed she violated company policies that didn't even exist.''

He said Jorud hurriedly married her fiancé to get on his health insurance plan after losing her insurance with her job.

Her daughter, Courtney, split high school classes with a full-time job to help pay the bills.

On Wednesday, a jury awarded her $8.1 million for her unjust firing, including $4 million for pain and suffering, $4 million for punitive damages and $100,000 for lost wages. "'It's really been awful, beyond awful,'' Jorud said, 'They made a difficult situation almost impossible.'"

And just when you thought things were on the upswing ...

Full post as published by ThePopTort on September 06, 2010 (boomark / email).