When I was hired at a law firm as Manager, Voice/Data Systems, several
lawyers thought of me as the "head word processor". Two of the previous
three individuals that held the position of Manager, Systems (data only)
were women who came up through the ranks and were in Word Processing
beforehand. One lawyer I remember got quite upset when I wouldn't update
his resume. I told him I'd pass it on to WordPro. That was met with quite
a fury... Simply put, I had other things to do. I had a frame relay
network to get up and going, I had two PBXs that required major Y2K
upgrades, I had a wiring closet that was a complete nightmare and needed to
be cleaned up, and had renovations of a remote location that had to be
completed. And that's just Monday's tasks...
Once I hung a few certificates on my office wall, attitudes towards me
changed quite quickly. I was especially fond of my "Voice Engineering and
Design" course certificate. Likely it was a combination of what I hung on
my wall that gave me credibility, but it also was the fact that I had a
spine. Just because someone went on a tirade wasn't a reason for me to drop
my responsibilities and take on the task that was better done by someone
else. Lawyers started taking me more seriously and stopped going behind my
back when they needed something done by Systems.
Like Priscilla said, just ignore MCPs and move on.
-- Leigh Anne
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of
> Priscilla Oppenheimer
> Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2001 12:11 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: RE: Can you pass CCNP w/o having Cisco gears? [7:18124]
>
>
> When I started in the industry in 1980, I would say that about 5% of the
> men I encountered were MCPs. I expected that to change, but it didn't. In
> 2001, I would say that still about 5% of the men I work with are
> MCPs. They
> are prejudiced against women. The word comes from pre and judge. They pre
> judge me and make assumptions that I'm not technical. Proving them wrong
> doesn't work in some cases. Some of them continue to judge me
> based on body
> parts rather than technical skills, and they don't listen to me. If they
> don't listen, I can't prove them wrong. Oh, well. These days I
> just ignore
> the MCPs and move on. ;-)
>
> At least it's only 5%. In the 1950s it would have been much worse, and it
> sounds like it's still worse in some parts of the world. I think it will
> change, at least to the point that the MCPs are a very small majority.
> (Five percent may be a constant. ;-)
>
> Certifications are definitely a good way to avoid some of the
> pre-judging.
> Go for it, Eve! Good luck to you.
>
> Priscilla
>
>
> At 12:35 PM 9/5/01, Steve Smith wrote:
> >Well Eve, the glass ceiling and where a woman's place stigma is very
> >prevalent in big established companies. I have female friends that work
> >in the "corporate IT world" and no matter where they go it's all the
> >same. Some not as bad as others but the old dogs from the IBM error just
> >can except that a woman can do networking just as good if not better
> >then a lot of men. One of them even told her they could not promote her
> >because it would mean dealing with a lot of Japanese and Chinese
> >clients, and in business that dog will not hunt with these groups so
> >they would have to promote a man.
> >
> >In the integrator and ASP/ISP/.com world I have found women are greatly
> >appreciated. We hired a female engineer and she fit like a glove. Every
> >single guy from the help desk to the CEO has the utmost respect for her
> >and is never shy to go to her and ask a Q if they think she may know.
> >
> >Take your test, know your stuff, show your worth.
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: jap_e [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> >Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2001 9:54 AM
> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >Subject: Re: Can you pass CCNP w/o having Cisco gears? [7:18124]
> >
> >
> >Good question. I'm still trying to find out why.
> >
> >Perhaps I'm just sick & tired of my colleagues looking down upon my
> >capabilities (being a female in this industry tends to be belittled by
> >others,
> >you see, esp in my part of the world.) Even the examination centers
> >officers
> >are puzzled to see me taking Cisco exams, when they would expect only
> >guys to
> >do such things.
> >
> >I'm being treated like a female clerk at the system integrator firm
> >where I
> >worked, being excluded out of all technical discussions because the guys
> >just
> >think "gee what do YOU know about this router/switch/firewall thing??"
> >(For
> >your reference, I've got a degree in Electrical Engineering, degree in
> >Commerce, MCSE, etc etc). Is sexual discrimation prevalent everywhere
> >in
> >this
> >IT industry, or just at my place?
> >
> >Guess I took my CCNP simply out of pride, just to show that "whatever
> >you
> >guys
> >can do, I can do too."
> >
> >And perhaps, out of pride too, I will take my CCIE.
> >
> >Regards, Eve
> >
>
>
> ________________________
>
> Priscilla Oppenheimer
> http://www.priscilla.com
Message Posted at:
http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=18698&t=18124
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