There has been a spate of rape allegations in the Australian parliament and more young women have been coming forward to tell their stories and to demand a safer workplace. This set me thinking about my early career: nothing so horrendous happened to me, but here are a few reminiscences about gender bias.
1) In my early 20’s I was in charge of a small branch of Sheffield City Libraries, with a staff of five. The libraries were used as Polling Stations and public servants could earn a tidy sum working at the elections. Libraries closed on Thursdays to allow this. Women were normally Polling Clerks. Men were Presiding Officers. I applied to become a Presiding Officer. I was in charge of the library for the rest of the year. Why not on Election Day? What if there is some kind of an Incident, they said. There is always a policeman on duty, I replied. They had to agree in the end. When I went to the City Hall for the swearing in, I found myself in a room with a hundred or so men. A small victory, I thought!
2) The post of Reference Librarian in charge of the Science and Technology Library was advertised. The obvious candidate was an efficient woman who had worked there for many years. When she went to ask for an application form, they wouldn’t give her one. The top brass favoured an up-and-coming young man from outside. He got the job! She was too shocked by the whole business to protest. It was all kept very quiet at the time. Later, the whizz-kid moved on and she finally got the job.
3) I applied for a position as Librarian at a top London boys' school. I believe I was the best candidate. On my visit to the school I became uneasy about the ethos there. Women seemed to be in all the more subservient roles: matrons, secretaries, art teachers. I sensed that this was not the place for me. The previous Librarian was a man who was retiring, but there were no male applicants. They gave the job to a local girl; they wouldn't have to pay my relocation expenses from Wales. Single sex schools are a breeding ground for perpetuating male notions of superiority.
3. Many years later, in Australia, I came across this riddle, which I told to a man I know well. Like many others, he couldn’t solve it. Men of a certain age are entrenched in old beliefs and unfortunately that applies to many of our parliamentarians of the same generation. Yesterday’s
March4Justice and the reaction to it show that there is a long way to go.
A father and son get in a car crash and are rushed to the hospital. The father dies. The boy is taken to the operating room and the surgeon says, “I can’t operate on this boy, because he’s my son.”
How is this possible?
40-75% of people can’t solve this riddle because they’re unable to imagine the surgeon is a woman. The surgeon is the boy’s mother.
