I go to a number of conferences in the course of my work and there are always more men than women on the podium and, regardless of the gender make-up of the audience, there are always more men who ask questions than women. Why should that be? And why is it that that would be true pretty much in any line of work, even in professions like teaching which are female dominated? And is it only women who ever notice this? Why do I spend all my time counting? I see over on twitter that Suzy Byrne has made a campaign of counting the number of female panellists on Vincent Browne’s current affairs programme (not very many, if I might summarise).
The other night I was unlocking my bike from the rack and two (male colleagues) were there with their bikes also – I have a child seat on the back and they commented that they had been wondering who owned it. “I do,” I said, “bringing gender balance to the bike rack.” “Eh?” they asked. “Haven’t you noticed that there are never any other women’s bikes on the rack?” I said. They looked at me in surprise and amusement, no they would never in a life time have noticed. Could it be that I am overcounting?
Do you spend your time counting?
Always! And I’ve been banging on about it so much for the past decade or more that my husband (off his own bat) now occasionally notes the gender balance of meetings he attends or the front page photos of world leaders or their minions. He’d probably notice the paucity of female cyclists in your work place too, but for other less noble reasons 😉
I think they would notice if the boot was on the other foot. Which is impossible as this would require not only being outnumbered but also women instead of men being the default. Plenty of very nice and not prejudiced men would never notice the paucity of women as long as there are a few; the societal set up requires men to have a heroic level of consciousness re such matters to become aware of the discrepancy. See also the studies that show that if women in discussions speak a substantial amount of the time, but still less than 50%, they are perceived as dominating it, and also Deborah Tannen’s “There Is No Unmarked Woman” essay.
I recently stood for election as treasurer of a professional body simply because there wasn’t a single other woman standing for or already holding office. Worse than that, nobody seemed to think the imbalance was a problem.
I count all the time – but then I also notice left handers, because I am one. There’s probably someone in your organisation noticing how white it is, because that’s something you only see properly from within the minority too. And as a talkative woman I always try and do my bit by dominating any debate as much as possible. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.
But bikes often tell you very little about their owners’ gender. Both of mine have “men’s” frames. And when I was little my Dad had the child seat on his bike.
Ah yes, I think you are generally with me. TM there isn’t anyone in my organisation noticing how white it is because we are all white. I think it’s going to take a while for Irish organisations to reflect the diversity of the population…
Sarah, well yes, my husband has a child seat too and a colleague made the very point that you are making that she has a bike with a crossbar, but you know what I mean.