are you the secretary?

[Cathy Quinones]

In message <3130A50D.758B at qm.salk.edu> - SL Forsburg <susan_forsburg at qm.salk.ed
u> writes:
:>
:>Bharathi Jagadeesh wrote:
:>> 
:>> I don't get really upset about this, but it is annoying. One of
:>> the things that I find most annoying about it is that I really
:>> don't want to be snobby -- I think that there are technicians,
:>> animal care personnel, and summer students who all do excellent
:>> jobs, and I don't want to put them down. But, on the other hand,
:>> I do wanted to be given the same status as my white male colleagues.
:>> 
:>I agree with this;  I don't want to put down my secretary, who
:>is very good at her job and makes my life much easier!   but
:>I AM annoyed that after all this time, these assumptions (that
:>young woman can't be professor/PI/in charge) still exist.
:>What I find most depressing is that they exist among the students,
:>even the women.  Arent they supposed to be young enough to escape 
:>such assumptions?

You could impress those young minds by pointing out the obvious, by saying 
"so, how come you aren't guessing that I'm Dr. So-and-so?  It wouldn't be 
because I am a [young] female, would it, nah, you couldn't be so 
narrow-minded!"  Then, as they stand there wishing the ground would open up 
and swallow them, you flash a genuine smile (so they know you aren't going 
to bite their head off) and say "I AM Dr. So-and-so, how can I help you?"  

A little embarassment can go a long way :)

===========================================================
Cathy Quinones			quinones at mindspring.com
http://www.mindspring.com/~mintz/coverpg.html = bird care info
Poicephalus rule!!