difficulty finding acceptance from male coworkers

[madhandymaam]

Bummer that you've had trouble with men on the job. I've found the opposite to be true most of the time.... so.... I guess I'm fortunate. Perhaps the men you are dealing with are feeling insecure in general. Maybe they fear you'll do a better job than them. *smirk*

Of course, being a woman.... I have had the encounter with the occasional jerk who felt it was a man's place to hog all the fun with power tools. Ignoring it was the only remedy. I figured he'd have to get over it. I would have to assume though, that if I worked in the field for a living that it would unfortunately be more common. Just hang in there woman! Do it for the rest of us who would LOVE to woodwork for a living!

Oh well. At least my damn hammer doesn't care if I have a penis or not. Come to think of it, neither do my power tools!

;^) *best of luck in the field*



diary of a madhandyma'am
http://www.madhandymaam.com

[laura (Guest)]

I have gone through a 3 year apprenticeship program and the companies don't want to pay me as much as my male counterparts, even though I DO know more than they do. We are in a male dominated trade(so far) and must persevere through it, thanks to this website that we can let it out. I have never worked with another woman in a shop and the men look at you for the first couple of weeks as though you wouldn't know how to use a chisel, but then they come around, you have to pet their ego a little to allow them to still FEEL macho, even thougfh they don't deserve to, then you show your talents and they have nothing to be upset about, then if they do, ignore them!

[Ro (Guest)]

Dear Laura:

Just think of two of my personal heroes, if you'll indulge me, Katharine Gibbs and Fio LaGuardia. You currently work in a primarily male-dominated profession, so did both of the afore-mentioned. When Fio became a secretary typewriters were a relatively new thing -- yet he had excelled at it, just as he had with everything from languages to social skills. He was a champion typist, his record speed was about double my 5 error speed and I still got an A. He was my hero, not only for his actions as mayor of NYC during the depression, but because he could speak about 5 languages well enough to assist new Americans entering at Ellis Island. My ancestors came to this country before Ellis Island was even filled to its present proportions, yet I wept big, sincere tears when I went there as my personal reward for the bar exam. You can still feel the nervousness of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who passed through getting poked and prodded and questioned. One particular guy was able to talk to a vast number of them because of his affinity for languages and his social skills -- Fio LaGuardia. He was able to succeed not only because he was a male in a male-dominated profession, but because he was good.

Katharine Gibbs, on the other hand, brought women into the professions. Just think for a moment, secretaries were all men. She, being a privileged white woman of some wealth, chose to bring women into a privileged male domain. It doesn't seem that way today --it seems like a high-school graduate job for the un-ambitious. I worked in that field prior to law school and can attest that it is work, provides opportunities for the ambitious, and is indeed challenging. When KG began her school, she was literally unlocking Jacob Riis's "golden door" to the privileged white women of that era. What she began changed the nature of the profession, both gender-wise, and ultimately racially.

My long-belabored point here is that We can have heroes who were exceptional for any gender/ethnicity/time and also have merely extraordinary people who open the doors to those who aspire to the higher end of the mortal range. In both cases my heroes improved the profession, although in the latter, my darling also improved the position of hundreds of thousands of previously excluded entrants to that profession. Does this sound at all like a request for anecdotal evidence of a present day Katharine Gibbs in woodworking? It should.

Ro

[Renee (Guest)]

I just have to add this...
If my boyfriend and I walk in Lowe's or other store of it's type, it's me (not him) going crazy over the tools, bits, cuts of wood, etc. Likewise, it is him (and not so much I) going nuts walking into the kitchen store. I guess it just goes to show that, yes, there are good ones out there.

[Michele (Guest)]

Hi I have been in the woodworking trade for over 20 years now and have worked with all sorts of men on average most men are excellent to work for after they understand why I am in the trade. I love to work with my hands.My father was a carpenter so was my grandfather I love woking with wood. No I am not out to find a husband. I work very hard at what I do.I keep my ear plugs in at all times while so they understand I mean buiseness, I am not after there job I am not challanging there masculinity or trying to be a man I am a woman who choses to work in A MALE DOMINATED FIELD so how can we work togeather to get the job done. If all your ducks are in a row and they still have a problem, find a new job it's not worth the headache to stay were you are constantly looking for ways to be accepted. Accept yourself for who you are and find work were they well apreciate you for who you are a women woodwoker. Keep your sanity and yor trade Michele

[Neia (Guest)]

Hello. I'm in Northern Florida and I'm looking for a carpentry/cabinet making/furniture making school. Do you know of one in my area? Tks in advance. Neia