this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2026
454 points (98.3% liked)

World News

55668 readers
2654 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Companies who employ more women in senior roles are much more likely to dismiss men accused of sexually or physically abusing their colleagues, according to analysis of international and UK data.

Men were more likely to get sacked for abusing a male colleague rather than a female colleague, according to a recent Finnish study, cited in research about the economic impact of violence against women and girls gathered by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

It found that in female-managed organisations (those with a higher than average number of women in high-earning positions) were “significantly more likely to dismiss perpetrators”, while male-managed ones were more likely to see the victim of abuse leave the company.

The IFS cited studies that found women who are sexually or physically assaulted at work experience a major hit to their careers, “including job loss, reduced hours and lower income”. One study found that women who move in with an abusive partner see their earnings drop by an average of 12%. “These losses persist even after the relationship ends, indicating long-term damage to labour market attachment and career progression,” said the IFS.

Please note this article comes out of Great Britain where the usage of the word 'dismiss' means fired.

all 43 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] FirmDistribution@lemmy.world 101 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

I mean, it's kinda expected that more women in power means more justice to women.

[–] Big_Boss_77@fedinsfw.app 107 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Thank you for this comment, it clarified some things for me. I read "dismiss" as "ignore", not "dismiss" as in "terminate employment".

[–] Reyali@lemmy.world 50 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Oh my goodness I still didn’t get it until I read your comment *facepalm*

[–] GreenCrunch@piefed.blahaj.zone 20 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I feel like they could have worded it better, I was trying to figure that out as well.

[–] Reyali@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Agreed, but I realize that is a US-centric issue. “Dismiss” to the UK is equivalent to “terminate” in the US, and with The Guardian being a British newspaper, it makes sense they’d use that term.

[–] GreenCrunch@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 weeks ago

Fair enough!

[–] SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social 5 points 3 weeks ago

I managed to get it before I came to this comment, but it took all my processing power.

[–] FirmDistribution@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

ahahaha I found it confusing too, I had to read the article a little bit to understand it better.

[–] Big_Boss_77@fedinsfw.app 2 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, I did after I saw your comment. Clarified it the rest of the way

[–] mitram@sopuli.xyz 10 points 3 weeks ago

Research is still important to be sure.

There have also been some studies on women led organizations concluding that they would take more aggressive and ruthless decisions, the reasons for these are contested, but some suggest that due to women being seen as less performant in leadership positions, they tend to placed in those positions when times are rough or the pressure to focus on short term gains is the highest.

[–] obbeel@lemmy.eco.br 30 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Sending male abusers away is the right thing to do. I'm glad women in positions of power are doing that.

[–] obbeel@lemmy.eco.br 18 points 3 weeks ago

I would like to inform that in the Finnish article mentioned (which can be accessed via Google Scholar) the authors use the word "Fire" and not "Dismiss", so it's even clearer.

Link: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:2ee3a3c1-9c57-4c27-bf90-da54bb935706/download_file?safe_filename=Adams-Prassl_et_al_2022_Violence_against_women.pdf&file_format=pdf&type_of_work=Working+paper

[–] MasterNerd@lemmy.zip 26 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I was really confused until the end where it said dismiss meant firing.

[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Somewhere, there's someone out there that thinks "firing" means "this person was literally thrown into a bonfire."

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 22 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

The title/article is confusing. What does “dismiss” mean - ignored or fired? Seems like ignored.

[–] JamesTBagg@lemmy.world 18 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

The second paragraph makes it more clear when they say "sacked" but they could just use plain language.

[–] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 15 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

They did use plain language ... British English.

[–] JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I would argue that British English is one of the least plain languages out there, and just about the only thing brits don't prefer plain.

[–] NiHaDuncan@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

You should explore more languages. English is really quite direct when compared to many other languages; the English could have had a lot more fun with the language but they decided to be boring.

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

The second paragraph is about male and male abuse - they get sacked. Male and female abuse - they don’t get sacked as much.

[–] Ravel@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 weeks ago

But the second is talking about abuses against males. If anything, using two words "dismissed, and sacked" one in each paragraph, makes it even more confusing. Felt like it was saying women in senior positions protected women less (dismissed abusers) while protecting men more (sacking abusers). Just say sacked both times.

[–] yermaw@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah i had to do a double-take because the way I originally interpreted seemed so backwards.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago

Its an especially interesting choice of words in this context considering issues like this have been dismissed (as in ignored) for decades.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 17 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

"Dismiss" is the wrong word to use in that title. Yes, it can mean "fire", but it can also mean "ignore". It seems like this is a case where you want to be clear which interpretation you mean.

[–] Danquebec@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm guessing "dismiss" never means "ignore" in British English. Maybe a British can confirm.

[–] mysweat@ani.social 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

It does mean ignore in BE. To deem unimportant/not worth bothering with.

In my opinion the headline is unclear, possibly deliberately in order to engage clicks.

[–] wampus@lemmy.ca 9 points 3 weeks ago

So a strange anecdote related to this story -- I've worked for a small company before where there was a husband/wife employee couple, which had DV issues. The female-dominant senior managers, very quietly, would send the man on leave while looking for excuses to fire him each time there was an event. The wife refused to press charges, because she was seemingly the one starting the physical fights, she just lost cause she was weaker -- the guy wasn't a big dude though, so it's not like he could easily just 'restrain' her, hence some visible physical injuries. So the company couldn't use something like a criminal record to justify dismissal. But they still tried to find ways to fire the man, without really caring about who was instigating / innocent until proven guilty, or anything. It's just "Man hits a woman for any reason? Women band together to cast out the man".

These two people stayed together for decades like this, with mgmt periodically going through those motions apparently. Think they're still together. Had like 3 or 4 kids.

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Feels like this should have been expressed the other way, "firms without women in leadership roles cover up more abuse."

[–] LadyButterfly@reddthat.com 2 points 3 weeks ago

Excellent point

[–] billwashere@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I’m not sure why there is a distinction. Toxic behavior is toxic. Fire anyone who acts inappropriately. End of story.

[–] dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 6 points 3 weeks ago

The study is showing that what you are advocating is more likely to happen at a company with more women in leadership positions.

[–] TwilitSky@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

A person of either gender could be helpful or abusive and support abusers.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 15 points 3 weeks ago
[–] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Whataboutism at its finest.

[–] TwilitSky@lemmy.world -1 points 3 weeks ago

Was what I said true or false?

[–] wavebeam@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Okay great, but do those firms with more women in leadership outpace the profitability of those that let men get away with abuse in the workplace? Because the only thing that really matters is finding out if abusive workplaces make more money so I can do that.

  • every CEO