Early day

Dear regular working people, I’m really sorry that your days start so early and go on so long!  It’s been a while since I’ve had to do that, so it’s quite painful when I have several days in a row when I need to be awake and functional before 9:30am!!  I had my appointment with my doctor this morning, and I request the first one of the day so I can be in and out quickly.  The down side is that my alarm goes off way too early for sanity.  In fact, Don says that I “took the afternoon off” — around lunch, I started feeling dizzy, so I went to lie down for a minute, and then suddenly it was 5 hours later… Jerry was waiting at the bedroom door when I emerged, wriggling with excitement, because he’d been locked out when I went in, and he’s keeping a close eye on me now.  Don muttered something about having to reschedule some plans, because of my break, but that’s just him… he and my sister have been blasting the family chat with a series of groan-inducing puns all day; the thing to do in that case is just ignore them both!

I think I’ve mentioned that I love my doctors and medical team?  Well, today’s advice was, “Go plan your trips.  You’ll heal faster and feel better.” 😁. Gotta love it when your medical people know you well!  I’m going to be seeking out flights heading south, so Trini peeps, could you please manage to clear up any and all lingering illnesses, remove any contagions and roll out the buffet?  Thanks so much!

You all know that March is Women’s History Month, and the 8th is International Women’s Day.  From my perspective, I eagerly await the day when these kinds of initiatives are as historically irrelevant as the regular use of the word “icumen.”  The fact that we need to have these kinds of events is reflective of the structure of a society that values and prioritizes one group over others.  To the “so when is men’s history month / men’s day” whiners — it literally is every day.  If I asked a random group of people to name 10 prominent women scientists other than Marie Curie, I’m sure they’d stall somewhere around #3.  Or to name women business leaders, CEOs, etc; they’re not as well promoted as their male counterparts.  Or consider the pronouns that we use in association with certain professions — it’s all too often “he” for areas like doctor, lawyer, scientist, plumber, mechanic, etc, and “she” for nurse, teacher, flight attendant, caregiver.  Not that one group in intrinsically more valuable than the other, but there’s a predisposition to consider them less prestigious.  It’s not that women aren’t involved in those areas, but their contribution is all too often downplayed or overlooked.  Study after study shows that fewer women are accepted for research fellowships, or for publication, or stay in STEAM fields after their early teen years.  They are often actively discouraged from staying in those areas, or pushed into “more feminine” fields.  In terms of toys for young children, girls have a huge selection of “princess” items in pink, dolls who focus on fashion and makeup, and lots of “sexy” images.  Boys have cars, trains, superheroes, and targeted construction toys.  Yes, there are toys that are intended for anyone, but if you look at the gift lists that are circulated by stores and websites, the recommendations are still heavily gendered.  Arts and crafts (jewellery, pottery, painting) are almost always suggested for girls, construction and AI for boys.  

I’m old enough, and came of age during a period of change in the role of women in society that I’ve seen the changes.  I mean, at university I attended a recruitment session shortly before graduation where a hiring company included a clause that any women hired could not get married or “fall pregnant” within their first 2 years of being hired.  In an interview for a senior technical position, I was asked, “Would you have a problem reporting to a woman?”  I answered that I didn’t understand the question — what problem could I have?  Apparently some candidates refused to have a female supervisor.  Then I worked in a field that was heavily male (IT networking) and had a boss who insisted that all women wear “pantyhose, heels and a skirt that stopped above the knee” — I argued, eventually successfully, that my job required that I climb ladders and work under desks, so if he insisted on that dress code, I needed a bonus to pay for 4-5 pairs of pantyhose daily, and to repair heels; plus it was a safety issue to be climbing in heels.  Shortly after my arrival in Canada, there was a landmark judgement against the government requiring pay equity — that women and men doing the same job had to receive the same pay.

Those of us who went to school together, an all-girls school, were told that we could go into any field for which we were qualified and could do anything that we were trained to do.  We were there after the upheavals of universities reluctantly agreeing to matriculate and graduate women so our choices of post-secondary education were limited by cost and choice, not by “does this school provide a good education and accept women?”  There has been, and continues to be, progress in dropping the artificial barriers to women’s full participation in society, which is encouraging.  I’m of the view that there’s a few deeply entrenched fantasies that are used to define women, and until we train our sons out of them, we’ll continue to have inequities in society.  I mean, I had one young man ask, “Is it really reasonable to think that women could handle a difficult job like military command?”  If he, in his 30s, still has a mindset that my generation pooh-pooed before he was born, then I have to ask about the people in his life (school, family, etc) and their behaviours.  I’ll reiterate my strong belief that it’s essential to have the ability to make choices freely.  If a woman wants to be a “traditional” wife, being a stay-at-home mother and homemaker, then that’s fabulous.  Same if she wants to be a plumber, carpenter, miner, doctor, astronaut, sex worker, doesn’t matter as long as it’s freely chosen.  

I won’t touch on the differences in experience with women of colour because that will make me angry and I’m too sleepy still to be angry… I’ll just remind everyone to honour the women in their lives; those who raised, taught, influenced or befriended us.  I do mean honour — not the worshipping of the “glowing pregnant” mom, “bringing in new life” or either idolizing or denigrating virgins, or overlooking older women for not being attractive enough.  But recognizing the work that women do, and loving them and their role in your life.  Tomorrow I’m planning to attend a talk given by one of my good friends on women, and I’m really excited to hear what she has to say.  Tonight, though, it’s puppy cuddles and sleep to catch up on the gaps that were introduced this week.  Good night!