Men Get So Confused

Last Edit June 2, 1999

I am used to being the only woman in the plant. Never mind that I used to be the only woman in the classroom. Hard to be a college student when you're the only girl in sight.
Of course I always got to hand out papers.
That's what woman are for.
And I always sat in the front.
And they always knew if I was absent.
So enter the working world and have it be no different.
Well, over the years it has improved.
A little
Secretary's day always drove them crazy.
Do they give flowers to all the other women in the company (secretaries all) and skip me?
They would get confused.
So would I.
I like flowers.
So, when I went to AMCC I settled it.
I accepted a Daisy.
A $100,000 Daisy Logician workstation, that is.
Suited me just fine at the time.
Now we have other women in the engineering world.
Yeah.
They are younger than I.
They haven't seen all the sides to this life yet.
So they look at me strangly when I go to work in nylons and panty hose and high heels.
When I show up in a suit for a class or presentation.
Black suit and pearls.
They are in jeans.
I have mellowed a bit.
I wear dresses when not "on stage". Long skirts.
Mid-high heels.
Softer dressing because I am not running a department at the moment. Or a company.
I am resting.
That's a joke.
They also aren't sure what to call me.
You see, I have a PhD. I worked on one in engineering - all but the thesis and 40% of that. But it was too close to someone else's and he got to keep his.
So I took core courses and did one in Computer Science.
And to be safe, since I was the FIRST woman for my retiring advisor, I made three contributions to the state of the art as they say. Men only have to do one.
That was in 1974.
It was not good to go too far back on your resume so I went back to school and did a professional certificate in Market Communications in 1994.
Ten courses and ran a company for a living lab. Really.
It's a PhD in business without the thesis.
So I feel I am entitled to use the title.
Some people find it offensive to find me using the title "Dr. White".
I find it offensive to be called "Miss", "Mrs." or "Ms." I am not single, not married and was never ambivalent.
Some people wonder why I prefer to be introduced as "Dr. White".
Well. Let me explain.
Three weeks ago no less, I had occasion to wonder at how mellow I have become in my older age.
A man told me I "couldn't possibly teach technical material because I was just a coordinator".
He still has his balls.
He realized he had put his foot in it when I became speechless on the phone.
Sort of repeating in a dazed voice "not qualified?" in disbelief.
Sent him to my other web site. www.dacafe.com that is - they have my technical books now.
I listed my books.
Thirty-five years experience.
Seventeen-page resume.
My degrees.
I develop structured design flows for companies.
Hell, I've been teaching with his software for two years.
I am in all probability more qualified than he is!
Ho hum.
Excuse me, I need to get back to my typing.
It's what women do.