Talk about a minefield........do you realize that women now outnumber us
poor men in all professional schools and that women are opening up new
businesses much faster than their male counterparts. It seems like our last
bastion of maleness will fall soon, as well, the beloved Masters Golf
Tournament.
everyman
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dick Rodstein" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2002 1:54 AM
Subject: Men and Women in the Knowledge Biz
> This is a minefield, but here goes.
>
> The argument can be made that all businesses that
> depend on the authority of knowledge will have an
> inbuilt historical bias towards men, dating from
> medieval times. In those days, literacy and
> scientific memory was pretty well the domain of one
> kind of men in Europe, priests. (Yes, I know about the
> exception of Judeo-Islamic Spain, but there were no
> opportunities for women there either.)
>
> A millenium further along, and women still have to
> fight for legitimacy and respect in medicine, law,
> science, engineering, academia, etc. And equal pay for
> the women who do break into the various "priesthoods"
> is far from a settled issue.
>
> The fields of teaching and nursing can be seen as
> extrapolations of the birthing and nurturing role that
> was the sole respectable outlet for women for
> centuries. Women teachers were considered OK for K-12
> as sort of supplementary mothers, but not for college
> teaching, which came from a different medieval
> tradition.
>
> Nurses up through the end of the 19th century were
> often retired whores, as what "nice" girl could wash a
> man's wound without fainting? This was a time when
> piano legs were clothed in fabric for modesty's sake,
> and Thanksgiving dinners offered the "bosom" of
> turkey, as the word "breast" was unmentionable. Women
> doctors were considered aggressive and unwholesome
> freaks until just recently.
>
> The hangover of all this in our presumably more
> enlightened time is that men still have a
> disproportionate role in management and its rewards.
> Women are considered natural assistants and helpmeets,
> and those that fight their way to the top are notable
> for just that reason.
>
> We are told that women are making progress, but I'm
> under the impression that things are improving a lot
> more slowly than Rosy Scenario insists.
>
> I'll be without access to the list for a week, but I
> look forward to reading the continuation of this
> discussion in early December.
>
> Happy Turkey Day,
> Dick
>
> =====
> Dick Rodstein
> Voiceovers - Local, National, International
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>
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