Phyllis Fletcher talks about how women can stand up for each other — and for themselves

This is our second bonus episode of Battle Tactics for your Sexist Workplace.

You'll note that there is no audio to listen to here. That's because our bonus episodes are available to listeners who support BTSW and our home station, KUOW, with a one-time contribution of $20.

In our last podcast, we talked with Leslie Feinzaig about how women can be better allies to each other at work. But this topic is so important that we wanted to keep exploring it.

Enter Phyllis Fletcher. Fletcher, now a podcast editor at American Public Media, was a long-time reporter and editor at KUOW.

She is also Jeannie’s primary model for what it means to be an ally at work: “I basically can’t count the number of times Phyllis has been an ally to me. She helped me understand parental leave policy, which is super complicated here. She helped me build arguments to get raises.”

Our conversation with Fletcher is like having a one-on-one meeting with your most experienced, badass, strategic workplace ally.

Fletcher talked about the work that we need to do to be a true advocate. And a lot of that work isn’t sexy. In fact, the fantasies that many of us have about allyship — like taking down a sexist troll in the office with that pitch-perfect, scathing response — might actually damage the person that we’re trying to help.

Instead, ask for permission. Conduct an audit. Embrace paperwork, she said, because “paperwork is your friend.”

Fletcher also said that most of us are approaching salary negotiations in the entirely wrong way. She talked about how to advocate for other women — and ourselves — by radically rethinking that process.

We started this conversation looking for some tactics. We left it ready to jump into battle. We think that you’ll feel this way, too.

Produced for the web by Christy Scheuer.