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My answers
Mar. 2nd, 2009 07:06 pmI'm being interviewed for a national idustry magazine and I'm crafting my answers. I'd really like some feedback on getting the feminist line right, while making sure I don't come across as either a weirdo, hard liner or that I compromise my ideals.
I particularly hate this set of questions:
What inspired your career choice, especially as the industry is one that is traditionally (perhaps notoriously) male dominated?
I get asked this question all the time and I have to answer that it didn’t occur to me that male domination would be an issue. I was a very idealistic feminist when I chose to do an engineering degree but I was also looking for a job which used my maths/science talent. I knew I didn’t want to be in a lab, or a teacher; I wanted to be doing something real. Then we pulled apart a single cylinder engine in my first thermodynamics prac and I knew I wanted to be a Mechanical engineer! Building Services came later, after working at the Gas and Fuel New Technologies division where I learnt about co-generation, ice storage and dessicant based air conditioning. I realised that the way I wanted to make a difference to the world was by designing building systems that use less energy.
Is this changing, or is it still Blokesworld?
Gender is not really an issue for me in my interactions with people. What people do and say is much more important, so I haven’t spent a lot of time counting and estimating what sort of minority I’m in. I’ve just gotten on with things and made sure I introduce myself to the women I meet at industry events..
Has the profession reached the point of post-feminism? Are you treated differently than men? Victimised or marginalised?
The industry almost certainly hasn’t reached the point of post-feminism, but I’m not a good person to ask if I’m treated differently from men. My best friend and I shared a physics class in year 12; she complained bitterly of discrimination and I got all excited about learning to solder. I keep a postcard above my desk which says, “It’s not because you’re a woman, it’s because you can’t urinate standing up”. I keep it to remind me that some of the things that I experience might be hidden discrimination
How do we expect an employer to treat a man who has 4 children and regularly arrives late or leaves early due to their family priorities? Or a man who arranges their work deadlines around having dinner with the family? Or chooses to work a four day week? Or has his partner bring the baby in to work every day for bonding time. In comparison to that man, I am not treated differently. Everybody is treated differently from others in some respects. We all have our own foibles, ways of working and day to day needs.
If I’m treated differently from men there are good things and bad things that come from that and just like anyone else I take advantage of the good things and work around my disadvantages.
Do you feel you’ve had the same opportunities for advancement as men?
Yes.
I particularly hate this set of questions:
What inspired your career choice, especially as the industry is one that is traditionally (perhaps notoriously) male dominated?
I get asked this question all the time and I have to answer that it didn’t occur to me that male domination would be an issue. I was a very idealistic feminist when I chose to do an engineering degree but I was also looking for a job which used my maths/science talent. I knew I didn’t want to be in a lab, or a teacher; I wanted to be doing something real. Then we pulled apart a single cylinder engine in my first thermodynamics prac and I knew I wanted to be a Mechanical engineer! Building Services came later, after working at the Gas and Fuel New Technologies division where I learnt about co-generation, ice storage and dessicant based air conditioning. I realised that the way I wanted to make a difference to the world was by designing building systems that use less energy.
Is this changing, or is it still Blokesworld?
Gender is not really an issue for me in my interactions with people. What people do and say is much more important, so I haven’t spent a lot of time counting and estimating what sort of minority I’m in. I’ve just gotten on with things and made sure I introduce myself to the women I meet at industry events..
Has the profession reached the point of post-feminism? Are you treated differently than men? Victimised or marginalised?
The industry almost certainly hasn’t reached the point of post-feminism, but I’m not a good person to ask if I’m treated differently from men. My best friend and I shared a physics class in year 12; she complained bitterly of discrimination and I got all excited about learning to solder. I keep a postcard above my desk which says, “It’s not because you’re a woman, it’s because you can’t urinate standing up”. I keep it to remind me that some of the things that I experience might be hidden discrimination
How do we expect an employer to treat a man who has 4 children and regularly arrives late or leaves early due to their family priorities? Or a man who arranges their work deadlines around having dinner with the family? Or chooses to work a four day week? Or has his partner bring the baby in to work every day for bonding time. In comparison to that man, I am not treated differently. Everybody is treated differently from others in some respects. We all have our own foibles, ways of working and day to day needs.
If I’m treated differently from men there are good things and bad things that come from that and just like anyone else I take advantage of the good things and work around my disadvantages.
Do you feel you’ve had the same opportunities for advancement as men?
Yes.
