GameStop Supervisor Denies Promotion to Woman Because She is a Single Mom

MisogynyLeaks received this submission and has confirmed the identities of the main parties involved. The following story is Her own and took place in 2014 at a GameStop:

I stood there in front of my boss and tried to keep my jaw off the floor. “They’re not completely convinced you should become the assistant manager. They’re looking at *Robert too.” My blonde boss ignored my staggered look and continued on in her gravelly voice, “they like his enthusiasm. He’s loud, he talks to people, he has a lot to say.”

“Robert?” I asked her. Robert, the one who had already lost his last promotion to me because my sales numbers were clearly better and because I had way more positive customer service feedback? Robert, who had multiple customer complaints about how pushy he was? And more importantly, Robert the one who had threatened to rape me last year?

I reminded my boss of these things and she nodded gravely. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t in charge back then. Your report isn’t in the records so it has no standing, I can’t do anything about it affecting his chances now.”

I remember standing in the middle of the store, with a stack of games in my hands to stock, trying to wrestle with two startling realities now. One, the huge video game retailer I had been working with for six years at that point, who had promised to do something about Robert, had not done a thing about the rape threat. And two, if the slacker could threaten an equal, what would he do to his subordinates once in power? He would become a huge monster.

I turned to finish putting away the games and then silently walked behind the counter to clock out. I grabbed my bag from the back room and gave my boss a quiet wave, still grappling with what I should do next. I crossed the middle of the black and red carpet when *Kary spoke again.

“You can’t tell anyone I told you this, but the main reason they want to give it to Robert instead is because they’re worried that you’re a single mother.”

I rounded on Kary. “What?”

“They’re worried that your son is going to come first, not the store.”

“So because Robert’s a man…”

Lilah’s words, the district manager, circled around in my brain: I hardly ever promote women managers, women often lack the stomach it takes to manage. I took a deep breath, “If Robert was a single father — ”

“ — they wouldn’t have a problem with it because there would most likely be a woman to help him.” We finished the thought out loud, together.

“*You know this isn’t what I want. I’m pushing for you. You are by far the most qualified.”

Kary stared after me as I left the store, my gut twisting. It was 2014, and a single mother with 5+ years experience and great work reviews was going to be tossed aside for a man with a losing track record. Because, he was a man. Because the bigwigs assumed that I was a weak woman who had a kid and couldn’t make the store important to me too.

*Names changed

After threatening to quit at a sensitive time with a huge project on the line, She did get the promotion. What angers Her most, She says, is the culture at GameStop which enables these views. At a western market conference, only one store manager mentor was a woman out of at least twenty districts.

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