In article <Pine.WNT.3.96.990405124644.-871587L-100000 at Guinevere.unm.edu>,
Linnea Ista <lkista at unm.edu> writes:
|> Interestingly, however, it was my
|> experiences that made my DAD more sensitive to these issues. Evidently it
|> was a shock when someone made some snide remark about me getting some
|> position or honor that woke him up. I have heard from his female coworkers
|> that he often jumps into the breach when their issues are not "heard".
I've had the same experience, and it's been a two-way street: just being
aware that his own daughter might someday come up against the kinds of
(mostly very subtle) discrimination he sees at his company has made my
dad a better boss/coworker for the women in his group. Simultaneously,
seeing the young female PhD chemists in his lab who are so similar to
his weird, cosmetics-avoiding, not-afraid-to-be-intellectual daughter,
and yet who still seem to be doing just fine in society (i.e. they still
manage to have friends, unlike the "nerdy girls" he knew growing up),
makes him even more proud of me for daring to be my own person.
It's unfortunate, though, that this particular group of men in power are
figuring out and trying to fix the problems that they see just at the age
that they're ready to retire.... I guess there's just too much innate
competition among people of the same generation for men to have the same
reaction when it's their sisters and s.o.'s, rather than their daughters,
who are being discriminated against -- or maybe the hindsight of 25 years
at the same company makes the inequities more obvious....
Karen
