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
Audio files delivered over the Internet - wav, mp3, etc.
Website: http://www.dickrodstein.com/vo.html
Email: [log in to unmask]
Snailmail: PMB D-22, 332 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10014
Telephone: (917) 414-5172
__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus – Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
