While it’s Pence’s right to do as he pleases, there’s little doubt his practices have unfairly affected others. Over the years, how many young female congressional staffers or statehouse aides were denied the same mentorship as their male counterparts due to their boss’s archaic habits?
Anybody who works with Pence says he does not socialize with anyone outside the office period. He is not going out to dinner with male staffers after hours. He is keeping his work life and life outside the office separate. I heard no woman working with Pence complain he did not mentor them. All Pence does is make sure his work relationships are just that.
I do pretty much the same thing at work and at church. If I am meeting with a woman about work, I keep the door to my office open.
I don’t do much socializing with co-workers outside of work (I go bowling with a few, on occasion). Same for church. If I socialize with people, it is mainly in groups.
Guess I’m an archaic kind of guy.
Just doing it the way Pence does it, does not guarantee that some woman won’t make false allegations. I have heard rumors, that some guys have been accused by women they didn’t know, and had never met.
In the current environment, even the Pence rule is insufficient protection. If accusation equals guilt, than a life-long hermit could be found guilty. The only certain defense is to never have been male. Allowances are made, of course, for those of sufficient political standing and importance.
It’s not an archaic habit. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had a physical (I have a male doctor) when a nurse hasn’t been present during the exam. It’s good practice.
This is all part of the Obama Legacy.
“Pence Rule” goofy to call it that - was in use long before Pence
The Pence Rule makes a lot of sense.
At the same time, following the Pence Rule means that one should take care to compensate by cultivating and promoting work relationships with female co-workers in a safe, open environment, so that they are not at a disadvantage.
One should always strive to be fair.
Brad may find that he himself should have adopted the Pence rule.
My previous pastor did the same thing. Either the door was open or, more frequently, a female from the congregation was in the room if he was counseling a lone female.
They’re just ticked because it’s going to be a tough challenge to manufacture some allegations on Pence.
It doesn’t make sense to the reporter because said reporter will never understand anything about respecting your spouse.
I have this same rule. I don’t do it out of fear of false accusations ... I do it because I love and respect my wife. I don’t want anyone else to get the wrong idea about me and/or my relationship with my wife if they were to see me out with another woman, so I make sure that it never happens.
Leave it to the left to turn this into some sort of slight against women.
Aw heck; let’s just rename the dem party to the Anti-American Party.
The Pence Rule is biblical. If you want to argue with or not take advice from The Lord then take your chances.
In the Christian tradition that kind of rule is primarily to prevent a man from being tempted.
“it would be a mistake to respond by embracing a tactic that will do little to ward off accusations and only send society lurching backward.”
Backwards to what? Christian morals?
This writer is not a careful thinker.
Let's steer this away from Mike Pence, specifically. A man in a professional setting today, in our world where accusations must be believed and evidence doesn't matter, means that one unhinged woman who either is so brittle she gets triggered over nothing or for some reason sees an advantage in willfully inventing an abuse scandal can destroy a mans career and life. 99% of women aren't a threat to do that out of meanness. But as #metoo gains steam, the brittle triggered types get more and more likely to see abuse in everything. It only takes one to declare that you just undressed her with your eyes and made her feel degumanized and you are toast. Everything you had or ever will have in that career is gone just like that.
Unstable women who relish the status of victim and the power it gives them will do this and they will be convinced they are in the right. As a man, all you can to defend yourself is avoid the situation. Make sure there are always witnesses with you when you interact with women. Never have one alone in your office or a conference room, if you are forced to then keep the door wide open and keep it brief.
Eventaully this sort of self defense mechanism will be declared a microaggression and men will be required to be alone with women all the time or get fired for that. But until then, it's dumb not to avoid the situation. Sorry ladies, take it up with your triggered #metoo sisters.
Wise managers, pastors, rabbis and priests started using this rule or guidance in the late 1970’s.
We have an architect friend, who had a sub specialty of designing offices for the above common sense practice in the late 1970’s for the above and managers and business owners.
In the early 1980’s our new pastor was outraged, when I told him that we needed this retrofit for his church office.
Fortunately, his wife told him to shut up and get with the program. His new office had a glass door, a glass wall to his receptionist, and a large picture window without drapes/curtains abutting well used and busy courtyard.
Decades later, when he retired, he and his wife thanked my wife and I for being friends and helping them. Both said “Thanks for insisting on the open retrofit of his office.”
He had peers and knew of other church heads, who ended up in nasty and expensive court cases because of their closed door policies with employees and members of their churches.
OH YES IT DOES
IVE HAD THE SAME RULE JUST OUT OF RESPECT FOR MY WIFE