Teal my Mum is 85. She was the first woman in Australia to become a full member of the Australian Institute of Management in the 70's which at that time was a very big deal as it was the professional "club" for CEO's etc so I have had a long association with knocking down barriers Rob
On 13/09/2014, at 9:34 AM, Teal wrote: > On the subject of culture change: > > It's all very well saying (as some do) that the answer involves women > developing a thick skin. But that's a pretty self-serving answer, if you ask > me. "You change, so we don't have to." Culture change is hard, and requires a > concerted effort by a lot of folk over a long period of time. But if that's > what it's going to take, that's what it's going to take. I'll just keep on > doing the best I can. Every time a man notices sexism and calls it out > (whether it's the obvious sort like those idiot remarks on the list > yesterday, or the subtler sort, like not making an effort to include female > club members in "unofficial" club planning and discussion), then that's one > bit of extra supportiveness that the women *will* notice. Truly, every little > bit helps. > > Often the problem can be a subtle sense that women are "visitors" on the > airfield and "not the target audience", if that makes any sense. How does one > address unspoken assumptions? God knows, I don't have any answers. I'd like > to see the issue discussed more openly, though. I think that's a healthy step > forward, at least. And if women *do* speak up, *listen to what we say*. So > many guys jump to reflexive defensiveness and "...but not all men do that" > whenever a woman mentions stuff like this. After a while, a lot of us just > give up and walk away. > > It can be really hard, as a woman, to raise subjects like this in a > male-dominated environment. That goes a hundred times more for the subtle, > hard-to-verbalise stuff. (If you want to know more about the sort of stuff > I'm talking about here, do some reading on "micro-agressions". Good place to > start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microaggression .) > > Every single guy who makes an effort to "not be that guy", to put his own > defensiveness and self justification aside and really *listen* to what we > women are saying.. they're noticed and appreciated. It helps. A lot. To those > of you that are reading what I'm writing here and are giving it serious > thought rather than just dismissing it out of hand, I offer you a heart-felt > "thank you". Gliding as a sport has a lot of great people in it. I've met > some awesome folk on airfields. But being "a great guy" isn't enough. I wish > it were. This stuff takes active work to fix. I thank all of you in advance > who are willing to do a bit of that work and help make gliding less of a male > ghetto, and more welcoming to *everyone*. > > > Teal > > > On 12/09/2014 11:27 PM, Gary Stevenson wrote: >> >> Hi Mark, >> >> Astounding! To me this is an absolutely stunning summary of the current >> situation. >> >> I can see why you have nominated not to make further comment – you have >> summed it up quite succulently, and there seems little else that can be >> meaningfully said by a mere male on this topic at this point in time. [That >> cartoon is so brutal and true!] However I wonder if any female member of the >> forum would like to make further informed comment? >> >> It would seem that the ONLY ???? thing left to do is to action things. But >> what actions? Quite obviously what we are really discussing here is a major >> culture change. Usually, in the nature of things, this takes time, almost >> always a great deal of time. Can this process be accelerated? >> >> Never the less I find it somewhat heartening that the topic is now here on >> Aus- Soaring for discussion. >> >> Terry Cubley, besides being the Aus rep, is now also the Vice-President of >> the IGC. I know that Terry is a member of this forum and therefore at least >> scans most of the posted material. As I said in an earlier post to Teal, the >> problem is worldwide, and it would seem appropriate that Terry is >> directed/nicely asked/whatever by the members of this forum – the majority >> of whom I assume are GFA members and therefore can somewhat informally make >> this request. {Yeah, yeah, yeah , I know the formal process: The GFA member >> has to put it to his/her Club Committee, the Club puts it to the State >> Association and then the SA puts it to the GFA Board ... No wonder the likes >> of Mike B despairs} - to do everything in his power (whatever that is ), to >> expedite that cultural change at international level. >> >> Terry, can you please respond to my post? >> >> Regards, >> >> Gary >> >> *From:*[email protected] >> [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Mark >> Newton >> *Sent:* Friday, 12 September 2014 7:10 PM >> *To:* Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. >> *Subject:* [Aus-soaring] Controlling attitude >> >> I reckon there will be a bunch of people who’ve read some of the posts on >> this mailing list today who’ll be saying, “I don’t see the problem. It’s >> just a bit of harmless fun. Doesn’t hurt anybody.” >> >> Guys say that all the time, never realizing that the only reason they're >> /able /to say it is because they’ve typically been utterly indifferent to >> whether their fun is, indeed, “harmless,” or whether it has hurt anybody. >> >> I don’t know, perhaps parents of girls have a different view. Perspective >> and experience. >> >> The reason it usually passes without mention is because most women, having >> put up with it for their entire living memory, are so sick of it that they >> can’t be bothered going through the exhausting rigmarole of engaging >> anymore, and just remove themselves from situations where it’s a problem; >> and because so many men, harboring a cataclysmic failure of empathy, don’t >> even notice the reactions of women, and just let it slide without saying >> anything. >> >> “The secret life of women.” >> >> http://i.imgur.com/OigLS.png >> >> (I know the cartoonist: He told me some of these quotes were provided by his >> daughter) >> >> In case you haven’t noticed (and I’m almost certain that some of you >> actually haven’t), gliding is almost entirely dominated by men. There’s no >> /physical/ reason why that should be the case. There’s also no innate >> gender-based difference in skill to explain it either. >> >> I’m going to say it’s cultural: The traditions and attitudes present at >> gliding clubs all over Australia are, either overtly (like today’s email >> messages) or subtly (like so much of everything else) repulsive to women. >> I’ve seen so many women enjoy their AEF, stick with it for a couple of >> weekends, and never come back. And thousands of pilots barely ever wonder >> why that’s the case. Over time, gliding clubs become male ghettos, all over >> Australia. >> >> “What we walk past, we accept.” >> >> When we’re learning to fly, the first lesson we’re taught is stability. The >> second lesson we’re taught is how to change our attitude. >> >> This community seems absolutely excellent at stability. When it comes to >> sexism, maybe it ought to be skilled enough to master attitude. >> >> There’ll no doubt be replies to this message. I’ve said my piece, I’m not >> going to respond to any of them them. But I, like everyone else who reads >> them, will be making character judgements regardless. If you find that idea >> challenging, perhaps take 24 hours to have a good hard think about why. >> >> Fin. >> >> - mark >> >> [ I will also reserve judgement over whether off-list replies should be >> forwarded to the list. >> >> There will be no shadows here. ] >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Aus-soaring mailing list >> [email protected] >> To check or change subscription details, visit: >> http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring > > > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > To check or change subscription details, visit: > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
