2001
| June 7, 2001 Cleaned that one up, didn't I? There is another campaign afoot. I have seen it before. It makes me see RED. With or without stess medication. Seems it "frightens the guys" when I answer the phone as "Dr. White". I'm supposed to stop doing that. Well, horrors! That just happens to be my name. Not. Mrs. White - that's my step-mom. Not Miss White - I've been married. And not Ms. White - because I never chose that. I have a PhD and worked on two others, all but the final thesis. Thank you very much. Dr. White I shall remain! You see, I grew up in Connecticut. And back East, we don't use first names. We use Mister and Missus and last names. Almost but not quite as polite as the cowboys in Wyoming who Ma'am and Sir you to death. But close. Polite is what it is called. I also learned not to stare into people's eyes. I am trying to learn to do that because that's what they want. Well, some of them. Eye contact is considered an insult in some countries, and flirtation in others. I always like to stare at my notes or the far wall. A fact that, when I defocus while thinking, drives people nuts. A first name is for CLOSE acquaintance. People you work closely with every day can get away with it. But not a stranger. I don't like being introduced as anything other than Dr. White. Sets the expectation that I won't be fetching the coffee. But back to the problem at hand. Men at work are like babies in a nursery. They are easily frightened. New things confuse them. New procedures baffle them. They respond in a herd instinct. Sort of like buffalo. They still can't handle women as managers. Women as technical instructors. Women as technical authors. Women who think. Translation, women who don't flatter and coddle them and expect to be listened to and taken seriously. And refuse to believe that men walk on water. Or know what they are doing. This scares the men. Probably because they can't handle these women. Literally that is. Woman can be SOFTWARE programmers - but we still don't like to see them as HARDWARE engineers. (I am one.) Subtle difference - all engineers are programmers today. All work is done on the computer. You are either debugging the software, using the software, documenting the software, explaining the software or designing the software. It's the connotation of "hard" that bothers them. Gee. Let me think .... Women can be in marketing - as long as they are not the VP. Marketing is considered to be "soft". Women can be in documentation - that's too much like typing for the guys. So it's OK for us females. Women in a technical classroom are still considered "novel". Depending on the culture of the male involved, they will or will not be listened to. Interesting fact, if the woman has a Ph.D., foreign students are more likely to listen! But she will still be examined like a lab rat. Although it is better on the job than it was. The blatant hoots and hollers and blue jokes have been driven underground. Most of the female engineers in this company are non-English. Imported labor. Possible second-generation but not likely. Very few Caucasian female engineers. (I am one.) Interesting observation. We can import them, but we can't train our own. Our daughters go on welfare, while we raise the visa quota. However, these women are here because we are the land of the free - so if you think I've got a chip on my shoulder, duck! They are many now and they are not pleased. The young ones will make changes. I've already contributed to changing the laws in California. Pass the Torch time. I am watching this. I've already heard things. And then we get the old argument dragged out. "There are a lot of men here with PhDs and they don't get called Dr.----" Ah! But they each have a penis. It still makes a difference in the working world. Even if I have switched to pants suits for speed dressing. And then there's the other old argument. "Well, ---- made VP so we don't discriminate." There's always that one case. Held up as a flag. "Well, SHE made it." Implying that you must be lacking something since you did not. Or not yet anyway. Nothing like trying to give us insecurity. Put us down anyway you can. Nice try. But it's only that ONE case - on a management team with how many members? 15? 20? 200? And a population in this country of 52% female? Ummmm. Let me think..... Nope. Not good enough. Prepare to stay scared. |
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