Boss Joke Blog

sandra johnson asked:


Being a working woman in a male dominated field is not and never has been easy. Thankfully, times are a-changin,’ according to Bob Dylan. Although times are changing but the change is painfully slow and some men are not happy about women moving in on their ‘territory’. I have worked in a male dominated field for many years and although I feel I have proven my ‘worthiness’ to work side-by-side with men, it seems that my skills, expertise and work ethics just aren’t enough to get the respect I have earned. Even though I have always carried my own weight, rarely asked for assistance from my male coworkers, planned and carried out my own projects, I was never truly accepted. Perhaps to many other women this would cause a great deal of upset and hard feelings but for me, it seems to be the ‘norm’. If my job title was a nurse, a secretary or any other female dominated trade, it’s likely that there wouldn’t be much resistance from men. These types of jobs have been dominated by females for centuries and many men to this day, believe these jobs should continue to be held by women. I am certain that many women would disagree.

My job title is: Scenic Artist/Craftsperson/Tech 1.

What does that mean? It means that I am an artist but am not limited to just painting murals, props and show sets. I also have carpentry skills along with fabrication skills. My title doesn’t limit me to any of these either. My job sometimes requires me to do online research, ordering supplies and compiling reference books, organizing and planning. Are any of these tasks predominantly performed by males or females? If you ask some of my male coworkers they might give some surprising answers. Throughout my years of working in the entertainment business and being a ‘behind the scenes’ employee, there have been many males who made it perfectly clear how they feel about having to work along side a female. Most of these men were and are from an older generation where it wasn’t acceptable for a woman to perform tasks solely done by men. We have all heard the old tired expression, “A woman’s place is in the home”. How about this one? “A woman needs to be kept barefoot and pregnant.”

Thankfully we are now seeing trades like mine being infiltrated with more and more women and younger men are accepting this much easier and readily than men from an earlier generation. I am fifty-four years old and the way I ‘made it’ in a man’s world is by: being very good at what I do. Being confident about what I do. Taking pride in my work and being able to walk away from a project feeling good about it. Having high self-esteem and loads of confidence. This is very important when working with or around men, especially arrogant men. Being able to stand up for myself without coming off as a witch. Being assertive but not aggressive. Being helpful but not pushy. Offering my assistance without appearing to be controlling. Being respectful and gracious but not meek and submissive.

One very important lesson I learned over the years when working with men is that some men like to ‘test’ a woman’s patience and her ability (or lack of it) to take a joke. This can be a tricky area. I have learned that many men have the Peter Pan syndrome and by this I mean that they are little boys in adult male bodies. So many times I’ve felt that my workplace was a junior high school! Dealing with this kind of mentality to some women may seem difficult if not impossible and for me, it has proven to be a long, hard road. I found an article this morning that hit the preverbal nail on the head. The article is about managing employees who are artisans and it mirrors just about every company I have ever worked for. Here is the URL for interesting reading: http://uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000343.php. The article was written by Jim Nieters of UX Matters dated November 3, 2008 and is entitled, “Artists, Not Assholes”. “The title of this article may seem a bit harsh” Mr. Nieters writes, but personally speaking, I feel that Mr. Nieters gets right to the heart of the matter. Mr. Nieters wrote the article from a management stand point and he expresses my feelings about the workplace environment exactly. The following is a tiny portion of the article: “we need to support, defend, and promote our artisans or artists, and we need to eliminate the assholes from our organizations.”

Working in a primarily male dominated trade for me, has sadly, made my skin very tough and my trust and tolerance of others is a minus one. To be a woman in a man’s trade may just be the most difficult challenge a female can take on in her entire lifetime and in my opinion, that’s putting it mildly.

When I began my career as an artist I was of course much younger, much thinner and much more attractive. I was single, a little ‘green’ and a little naive. I had a few male friends who were also coworkers and it made the work environment feel a little more hospitable than it would had my friends not been there with me. Even though my male friends supported me and helped me adjust to my new surroundings, it wasn’t enough to protect me from the wolves that I would encounter on a daily basis throughout my career.

Not only was I approached by my male counterparts, I was invited to parties, after work drinks and dinner by art directors and project managers. I was basically a little fish in a large ocean of sharks. Just because I was a rookie in this trade didn’t mean I was stupid. I had been warned by my male friends to watch out for certain guys and my friends literally ‘trained’ me how to fend them off without inciting trouble. One of my most memorable projects was probably one of the most fun and rewarding jobs I had ever worked on. I was delighted at first to see that there were a few women on the job and although I very much wanted to be a part of their ‘circle’, it was not to be. Even though we were equals on the skill level, the other ladies kept me at arm’s length and one even shunned me going so far as to start nasty rumors about me even though she didn’t know anything about me. I respected their space and happily worked side-by-side with them even though I knew they resented my presence. Only one of my female coworkers treated me with respect and I am grateful for that. In fact, she taught me a few ‘tricks of the trade’ and showed me the ‘ropes’.

The wolves continued to howl at my door so to speak and I finally decided that either I was going to allow them to sexually harass me or I was going to fight back. I decided to fight back. On a construction site it is very difficult if not impossible to stop verbal harassment whether it’s sexual in nature or just plain hot tempered rivalry. I have witnessed face-to-face confrontations between tradesmen and I have watched men throw punches. When there is a deadline to meet on a construction site and people are literally working on top of each other, tolerance and patience is nowhere to be found. Tempers flare, words are said and fists connect. When these altercations took place, the entire project came to a screeching halt. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stood on the sidelines to watch two angry men face off. Although there were plenty of foremen and bosses around, they were either reluctant to stop the argument before it escalated or they weren’t sure what to do. Either way, arguments usually turned into brawls. Most of the time someone would step in after a few minutes and break them up and the two men would go somewhere to cool off. I never knew of anyone who was fired or suspended for fighting on a construction site. Most bosses back then desperately needed to keep these men to get the projects finished. Years of working with men has not made me less of a woman, in fact, far from it. It has however, caused me to be bitter about the disrespect I have endured throughout my career. Working in construction taught me many valuable lessons that I would eventually take with me to many other areas of my trade. Aside from working as an artist in construction, I have worked out of state on several large projects as a freelance artist. This was a sometimes lonely venture but I don’t regret it. I made a lot of money, met a lot of fantastic artists, saw parts of the country that I had never seen and learned a great deal more about my trade.

Fast forwarding to present day: I have worked as an artist/craftsperson for nine years for the same company and although here we are about to go into a new year, my workplace environment continues to be stuck in the dark ages. Again, I am the only female in a shop of thirteen men. The company I work for has all the appearances of being one that supports the respect in the workplace policies and goes so far as to encourage employees to come forward and report those who violate these policies. While some complaints are aggressively investigated, many more fall on deaf ears. In my opinion and perception, this is what has happened to my complaints about a few of my male coworkers. For nine years I have experienced harassment of various types including sexual harassment and reporting this to my superiors was in my opinion, a waste of time and energy. It didn’t stop me from reporting my male coworkers but it certainly chipped away my respect for management and the very department that was put in place to enforce the policies.

Confronting the men who harass me is to no avail. It only incites them to talk behind my back more than ever. Warning them to stop is also useless. They laugh and make snide remarks. Fighting ‘fire with fire’ has also proven to be a waste of time and energy. So what’s left? The only recourse I found that has worked so far is to ignore them. Completely ignore them. I have found ways to prevent from working with them and ways to prevent myself from working in the same areas where they are working. Being a person who is more productive when left alone, it is easy for me to perform my job and complete projects without any assistance from my male coworkers. This however, does not ’sit’ well with my superiors.

Working in my field in a theme park is similar to working in construction but there is a fine line between the two. My coworkers and I are skilled craftsmen and artisans. Although we must follow the same policies and guidelines as all other employees, we take certain liberties and are given certain freedoms that other departments don’t allow. This is not to say that my superiors verbally encourage these freedoms, it is just to say that many times, my management team turns a blind eye to many things we say and do.

Unfortunately, some people take full advantage of this and spoil it for the rest of us. This inevitably creates a hostile work environment. If one person or persons feel that someone has gotten away with ‘murder’ as one coworker likes to say, the upset employee will stir the preverbal stew until it boils over. A seemingly small and benevolent incident can easily turn into a huge ordeal. This kind of behavior goes on in my workplace on a daily basis. The longer these incidents are allowed to fester and stew, the more hostile the workplace becomes. If and when these incidents come to full fruition, it is an ugly, stressful and extremely unpleasant event.The hostility in my place of work has gotten out of control and went from harassment to vandalism. A direct attack on me by my male coworkers. For me, this was the last straw and after nine years of enduring their elementary school- aged antics, I had had enough. I filed a grievance with the human resources department and made a decision to file a lawsuit if my grievance was not taken seriously. I will leave it at that. It’s pathetic and unfortunate that any employee would have to go to such extreme measures to put a stop to immature and destructive behavior from the people that have been such a large part of their life and for such a long period of time. I feel that what my male coworkers have done is not because I am a skilled artisan, it is simply because I am a woman. Although these men joke around and horse around with each other, they have never stooped to the level of vandalizing each other’s property, tools and/or work stations. They know when to draw the line with each other. I haven’t been given that consideration.

Have I ‘made it’ in a man’s world? Yes and no. I have proven myself to be as skilled and talented as they are if not more so. I have proven that a woman can work just as hard if not harder than some men, I have proven that a female in a male dominated occupation can do the job just as efficiently and effectively as they can if not more. Am I successful in my occupation? Absolutely. Would I change my occupation if I could? No way. I will not give up nor give in to my male counterparts. I refuse to give them the satisfaction of defeat although they will more than likely continue to beat me down. I know that I am more than ‘worthy’ to work in a man’s world and what’s more, men had better look out because their ‘world’ is changing!



Lawrence