One of my all time favorite quotes is this:
“Whatever women must do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.”
~ Charlotte Whitton
How true this statement has been in my lifetime. There is some interesting math involved here, though, depending on how you interpret the quote. If we have to work twice as hard to get half the credit, wouldn’t we have to work four times as hard in order to be equal? No wonder we women are so exhausted all the time!
Now on to the part that says “Luckily, this is not difficult.” I am not so sure that is true. Any time a woman takes on the challenge of a “man’s job,” there is usually an instant barrier set in place that she must somehow get over. I have honestly never yet met a woman who walked into a particular job or field of expertise and was just accepted and never once felt an ounce of discrimination. If you have ever experienced total acceptance, please share your story. Unfortunately, this site is full of stories where “acceptance” is not the norm.
So what do we do about this “norm”? It seems that every time we make some progress, something happens and we slide backward a few notches. Take the field of technology for instance. Women were making great strides in this area just a couple of years ago. Today, the number of women pursuing careers in the computer sciences is on a serious decline. Why? Are there less females interested in technology now or are they just tired of working four times as hard to get the same results as the males?
What is your profession? Do you feel like you are working four times as hard?
6 comments
gretchen
lol – I was thinking the same thing…
“Web services..hmmm… I might need her in the near future…” :-?
*adds LornaJane’s email address to gmail”
LornaJane
Go girl!! To be honest although I’d love to work for myself I’m not sure how it would work out. In the workplace I’m the heavyweight developer wherever I go, doing database designs and the “guts” of a project. I can’t do pretty and I really don’t care to do so … so web development on my own is out. I’m 26 now so I plan to continue learning while other people pay me for a few more years or until I spot my niche. Web services, perhaps?
All the best with your new venture, I have a hunch you will do well – perhaps I’ll be working for you in a few years, that would be cool :)
gretchen
Well consider starting your own. ;) That’s what I’m doing. I was told by a former business partner that HE was a better web designer and that I wouldn’t be allowed to update the company web site – ever. [-( Now I’m about to launch my own web design business (which I will be announcing soon – we’re still building our site) and we have about 6-7 jobs lined up already.
BTW – if you compare this site (which I build myself) and his site (which I won’t mention) on a ranking site such as Alexa – I am in the top 400,000 and he is at like 2,000,000 or more. b-)
LornaJane
Correct! I was part way through an Electronic Engineering degree when I programmed for the first time and it was like a light coming on. Its definitely the thing I’m best at but I’m now in my fourth job in IT (across a wide range of industry sectors) and realising the only way to enjoy the workplace is to get away from the geeks. I’m a geek myself and have made some great friends along the way, but the young white male culture dominates too much for this to be fun really. I’m not sure there’s many women-oriented companies popping up here in the UK but I’ll keep my eyes peeled :)
gretchen
LornaJane – I feel your pain. I am wondering if that’s why so many female-only companies are starting to pop up? :-? Not that they are not letting the guys in, but I’m noticing a lot of new businesses that are owned and operated by womena and their employees are all women. I think that’s partially because some men don’t feel comfortable with a female boss. It’s silly, but true.
So you still like developing software…you just don’t like the working environment, correct?
LornaJane
I’m a software developer, I graduated from university with a Masters degree four years ago. Right now I’m wondering how to angle my skills so that I can move out of development in another 5 years or so. Why? Partly because I’m tired of working four times as hard, and partly because I don’t want to spend my life with people with huge egos and values that I don’t share.