Family Breadwinner Finds Her Place: With The Men : NPR
This quote is especially enlightening when trying to understand what male privilege is: The other men on the job told her, "These are men's jobs. You're taking jobs away from men who have families."
What was Dee's response to the men telling her this? And how did the men, in turn, respond to her response?
What does this tell us about the role of understanding other people?
I found this podcast extremely interesting. If Dee had been a male she would have been praised for getting a job while raising children on his own, but as a female she was criticized. Dee's response with having to work twice as hard is one that I have often heard when talking to women who do jobs that are male dominated. A female police office I know said that she had to work twice as hard to earn respect and then was greeted with anger and disrespect from some of her male counterparts as she rose up the ranks. She felt that no matter what she did it was never good enough to please them or get respect which she said "I should have never had to do in the first place." I praise Dee for continuing to work despite the criticism she received. I feel that this tells us that we really do gender stereotype and assign gender roles in all aspect of society, and when a person goes against this they are shunned by the other sex who go against there work no matter how hard they try.
ReplyDeleteRachel Tennant
Rachel, Your comment is very interesting because your example (your friend who is a police officer) is current.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment.
I think Dee Dickson's story is amazing. She fought for her job and had to work that much harder to prove herself.I think Rachel's statement is very true. In male dominated fields women have to work twice as hard to receive the same respect men do. It is as if women have a stamp on their foreheads which reads "unqualified". Dickson had to show her abilities to her coworkers and eventually proved them wrong. No matter how much the male workers tried to discourage her, Dickson got her jobs done faster than her male coworkers; she was creative and found different ways to complete her tasks.This is what seperated her from all the rest not because she was female but because she was better at the job. This is why she earned a permanent position.
ReplyDeleteI like Dickson's story about how she continued to try to get that job, and even stayed at it while being criticized for it. I wasn't shocked at all about how the men treated her or their reactions to her..Especially in the 70s. Her response that she has a family and no man seemed perfect, it was honest and to the point. Thats why she needed the job and she wasn't going to let any "man" stand in the way of providing for her family.
ReplyDelete-Mallory Nelson