Meet The Protection Racket Tax
We pay it with more than money
Every tax we pay (e.g. Glam Tax, Linkedin Algorithm Workaround Tax) takes on different meaning when we’re aware of what’s actually going on.
Awake at 1:00 AM - I know… and Amy Diehl, Ph.D.’s post is in my LI feed.
£10 for the safety of a women-only floor.
I reply:
Amy, I would call this The Protection Racket Tax because it exposes the extortion structure >> Pay up or face the consequences of a problem the patriarchy creates, men refuse to solve and where the mitigation falls on us. 😤
Sure, we do sometimes pay The Protection Racket Tax with money.
But it’s not just a financial tax.
The Many Manifestations of The Protection Racket Tax
Mitch Shepard wrote a series of Linkedin Posts…[fill in the blank] while female.
Aging while female makes us increasingly invisible
Office housework bleeds away our time…and our credibility as partners in the business
We pay it in inconvenience
Don’t jog after work because it’s dark.
Wait for the woman only…bus, Lyft
We pay it in the cost to our careers of the double standards:
Speak up and we’re aggressive. He’s confident.
We have to prove it again. He’s promoted on potential.
Michelle Redfern weighed in with this list.
What would you add? Comments are open.
Not sure about the $$ cost but there sure is an effort cost (tax) to find:
Women ride share drivers, women only train carriages, women only gyms, women medical practitioners/practices.
Each of these environments are where I’ve most wanted to be surrounded by the safety of women.
Why?
It’s the Patriarchy Flywheel in action - a self-perpetuating system that creates the problem, charges us to survive it, and calls that “just the way things are.”
It blames the victim and protects the harasser. It names the norm, tells us to conform to it and punishes us anyway.
Naming it makes it visible. Visibility makes it irrefutable. Seeing it gives us power. (I know that looks like AI, but I wrote it myself - cheeky.)
What’s a Woman to Do?
Keep calling it out when you safely can.
Keep not paying when you safely can.
Keep pushing back.
This is one article in my series about the taxes we pay. Seeing them gives us control over our decisions about whether or not to pay.
Lead ON!
Susan
If you’re following all the advice and it still feels like something’s in the way, I’m telling you, you are not the problem. You are working inside a system that’s withholding something from you. And now AI is making it permanent.
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Built Without You: How AI is Hardening the Glass Ceiling and What to Do About It
The AI Intercept Pack - tool for working efficiently with AI while guarding against its embedded biases. (coming soon)
They Never Told You There Was a Horse in the Barn: The Business Savvy They Never Taught You. Why It Changes How You Work and How Far You Go
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Be Business Savvy articles here on Substack.