An old boss of mine - a railwayman, and a working-class white guy in his fifties, to boot - was absolutely great at distinguishing between 'what you physically cannot do because you are quite small and don't work out' and 'what people will say you can't do because you're a woman.' A sales rep got his ear chewed off by the whole rest of the team for making a comment about me to them; they were so affronted that they had to come and tell me about it... He once told a story about one of the few other women working trackside; when she took the job, someone said, apparently in all earnestness, "but what about the swearing?" Her response was apparently ear-blistering and to the tune of, "they'll have to put up with it."
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mmmag
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Date: 2010-04-28 08:15 pm (UTC)An old boss of mine - a railwayman, and a working-class white guy in his fifties, to boot - was absolutely great at distinguishing between 'what you physically cannot do because you are quite small and don't work out' and 'what people will say you can't do because you're a woman.' A sales rep got his ear chewed off by the whole rest of the team for making a comment about me to them; they were so affronted that they had to come and tell me about it... He once told a story about one of the few other women working trackside; when she took the job, someone said, apparently in all earnestness, "but what about the swearing?" Her response was apparently ear-blistering and to the tune of, "they'll have to put up with it."
...I wish I still had that job.