I had an interesting conversation with Rose the other day. It was triggered by 2 things; an article about how women in “non-traditional” study areas cope with their male colleagues, and a conversation on mentoring day about a coping in a career that has its fair share of men who see women in the profession as ”only there until they have babies, so why would you employ them?” I am the eldest of three girls and we were brought up to believe that we could achieve anything with effort and the right education. I still believe that, but with a caveat. Girls/women can achieve anything with effort and the right education, but if you choose a “non-traditional” area to work in, don’t expect all the men to make it easy. I think of the battles the women in my family have fought to find their place in the world. My mother was told at 15 by her father that she was no longer going to school because she was needed to work on the farm. Her education ceased and she spent the next 20 years of her life working on the farm and looking after her grandmother and parents until they died. At school, I was encouraged to enter “traditional” occupations – teaching, nursing. I didn’t know about a lot of career options. In my sport of kayaking, I coached mixed groups where the males would often seek out a male instructor rather than take advice from me. I had to prove to these males that I was a much better kayaker than them to gain acceptance as their instructor. My eldest daughter is retraining as a midwife. A career option dominated by women, but the pay is managed by legislation that forces independent midwives to set up their own business. The rules about how their businesses function is again managed by legislation, which limits the earnings of midwives. These days in NZ it is really possible for women to have a career in any area, but it seems me, the battle is for equal pay and acceptance. There is still plenty for women to fight for to gain their place in the world. So what does this mean for the students I teach? We actively encourage our students to aim high in whatever area they are passionate about. They achieve amazing things at school and when they leave. Recent research and legislation has shown that women are not always paid equally for equal work. For those going into “non-traditional” areas, do we have a conversation about the work environment they can expect and how to deal with it? Or do we leave them to find out the hard way? Should we teach our students that they may need to fight for their place in their world? ~Kris Claman
3 Comments
Rowan
7/9/2017 03:13:42 pm
I just want to say that you've written about something that I've been thinking about a lot recently. Just because women are told they can walk through the same door as men now, doesn't mean we've come a huge way. We still have to fight for our right not only to sit at the same 'board room table', but fight for our views to be taken as seriously and with as much legitimacy as a man's.
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Gemma
8/9/2017 12:53:26 pm
Great article Kris. This is something I've taught for the first time in L2 Economics this year - we have the scope for a 'Special Interest Topic' and Income inequality and the gender pay gap was it this year. Interestingly enough I developed the assessment with a teacher from an all boys school so the boys were getting the same message as our girls. The girls were fascinated to learn things like 80% of the gender pay gap comes down to 'unconscious bias' - something that will need a cultural and societal shift to change. The inequalities for those who have children (the parent/motherhood penalty) are also large. The impact of this gender pay gap doesn't only impact us now - it affects women as they grow older, having had lower earning capacity compared with their male colleagues and so pay off student loans slower, are less able to purchase a house and in general have a lower level of wealth, retirement savings and overall standard of living.
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Duncan
8/9/2017 10:01:25 pm
One of my students wrote about the gender pay gap in sports for her Human Rights project. The stats were shocking. Great read thank you Chris.
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