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Rafter´ s Mobbing Study Not to be Completed
by Charity Hirsch
Nicole Rafter, a professor at Northeastern University,
contacted WAGE in
1996 for help in finding subjects for a study of
"mobbing in the
workplace" (see
Fall
1996
Newsletter). Since then many WAGE members have heard
about
mobbing and often found that it explained their experiences
(see
and
Fall
1999
Newsletters).
WAGE has recently heard from Professor Rafter that she is
regretfully
abandoning her study due to problems with her data. "I
reached this
decision reluctantly, not only because I was deeply
engrossed by the topic
but also because so many people had generously shared
painful life
experiences," she said.
We at WAGE regret this project couldn´ t be completed.
Even so, we
have benefited. It was Professor Rafter who first made us
aware of the
concept of mobbing and that has been very helpful to us. One
of the
outcomes of WAGE has been to show that the discrimination
and damage
done to women in academe is part of a pattern rather than a
series of
unrelated incidents.
As an activist in WAGE I have seen, over the years, the
relief that
women and men get from realizing that their problems
don´ t arise
from something they did wrong, but are common to others who
take on
academe. Nicole Rafter has been part of a group that has
made us more
aware of how employers (including universities) control
employees.
We´ re sorry that she couldn´ t complete her
research, but we
are grateful for the work she has done.
-wage@wage.org-