intentions sometimes lapsed into unconscious sexism in the men's club atmosphere of the engineering classroom. Gail recalls one class in which a "relatively liberal" instructor explained an engineering concept in elementary terms, then commented that what he had said was so simple that "even your wives and girlfriends would understand. " • Undaunted, Gail left PSU with degrees in both electrical and mechanical engineering. Her experiences concur with those of other women in male dominated fields. "There's.a good deal of testing to see what you're made of, and this testing can get you into some incredible no-win situations. For example, I can go into a seminar There's an attitude that the kind of energy work I'm interested in is frivolous. with 45 engineers, 44 of whom are men, and there's usually someone leading the seminar who has so~e off-color humor built into his talk. He sees me, he'll either go ahead and tell his joke or he'll refrain from telling it and just glare at me. If he does tell it and I react, I'm a whore. If I.don't read, I'm a prude." The scenario in the field is much ·the same: " I'll be on a site and a contractor will say '.you're the engineer?' . .. When I go on a.job with a male engineer the talk will be directed exclusively to him, virtually 95 % of the time." While Gail considers the men that she works with to be "good people" who respect her as an engineer, they still participate in a August/September 1981 RAIN Page 19 structured hierarchy in the office-"a clear distinction between the 'girls' in typing and the engineers." She has observed that women trying to advance up the engineering career ladder may encounter one of two problems. In some firms, shaking off the junior status and moving upwards toward positions of increased responsibility on the basis of knowledge and expertise may prove impossible. In others, a managerial concern with fulfilling quotas for "front office women" may result in a few women being moved into management positions. While the quotas assure opportunities for women, it leaves them open for criticisms from men who argue that all women are promoted in response to "affirmative action" mandates rather than demonstrated competence. Despite such continuing problems, Gail feels that the women's . movement has been helpful in improvng attitudes in the engineering field. Having one or two other women around in some of her engineering classes, and later on the job,·has made life much easier. Being able to share perceptions, give and receive support, and pass on information can be a lifeline in the storm. These loose networks of women have already coalesced into a few women's engineering associations. W:ithin the next few months Gail will leave her job and pack up to move onward, "The place I work isn't bad, but there's an attitude that the kind of energy work I'm interested in is frivolous. Engineering is a very, very straight world. It has a lot of preconceived notions, and I can see most of.them and find myself becoming desensitized to them. It's time to get away from that. I can see the basic destructiveness of the kind of high-tech things that engineers often do. So what I'm talking about is finding people who are doing low-tech work. I can't just have the skills and not do something socially useful with them." Gail has already made substantial contribution~ to Portland. Though we'll miss her at RAIN, we expect: to see her involved in important and exciting work elsewhere. Look out for her! DD ACCESS BUILDING Carpentry: Some Tricks of the Trade From an Old Style Carpenter, by Bob Syvanen, 1980, lO0pp., $6.95 from: Bob Syvanen 179 Underpass Road Brewste~, MA 02631 Anybody who does remodeling or firtish work is acutely aware of the difference between a poorly framed house and one that's been done right. The little things that make that difference rarely make it into your average carpentry text. They can only be learned from someone who knows. Many of the techniques that Syvanen describes are no longer used by modern commercial builders. They are still eminently practical, however. If you are an ownerbuilder striving for a quality home with a minimum of equipment, this combination of useful tips and excellent illustrations (courtesy of Malcolm Wells) is a valuable source of information that you are unlikely to find anywhere else, covering new construction from sill to shingles. -KB How to Inspect a House, by George Hoffman, 1972, $4.95 (p~per), 198 pp., from: Delta .Books Dell Publishing Co., Inc. 1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza New York, NY 10017 If you are in the market for a house and need some help evaluating its physical condition, this book is a good place to start. In a clear, , .. easily read style, Hoffman poif\tS you toward pla~es in the structure, plumbing, heating, windows, and other areas of the house that are likely to need repair, and makes some broad generalizations on how serious the problems may be. He also suggests the , easiest ways to gain access to the spaces that • . need inspection. Most of what he says is common sense, but the road map he provides you with is nice to have. -Gail Katz --t- _l_:f'2=~::::::;;;;;;;;~::::-::-::::-::-::-::::::-::-::-::-::-::-::::-~~:;:;;~:;:::;::;~:::::::::::~=~=~,r ~ I
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