Women and the Work World

Last Tuesday, Emily Barr, class of 1976, came to PEA to speak during Assembly about her life and career. She inspired with stories of overcoming obstacles in the working world and seizing opportunities. The mor- als of these tales were summed up into one sentence: she urged everyone to run through every open door, and if the door closes, “go around back!”At first, Ms. Barr reminisced about her days on campus back when girls were scarce and boys were the norm in the student popu- lation. Despite the subliminal and sometimes overt sexism, the girls introduced a new environment at Exeter that has morphed into what it is today; unimaginably different, and unimaginably better.Reflecting on her career in the film in- dustry, she expounded upon her radical state- ments on the topic of opportunity. As a young woman, she applied for a job carrying film equipment for a news channel. Having been told she was not big enough, and therefore not strong enough, to carry all the equipment, she started to search immediately for another way. Through hard work and persistence, she was able to get what she wanted. All she had to do was find one open door.Towards the end of assembly, Barr reached out to the crowd. Happy to answer any questions, she criticized a seemingly normal question; the student inquired about what it was like to be a mother with a career. Her reply had many jaws dropping in the audience. She simply asked if he had ever asked a man the same question. And what a great question that was.

The next subject of Ms. Barr's talk centered around this, leaving the audience wondering why people are inclined to ask a woman such a question, but would never think to ask a man how he juggled father- hood's responsibilities and a career. The obvious answer is that, even though much progress has been made since the nuclear family days, people still picture mothers as the housewives and fathers as the breadwin- ners.The word choice was obviously not in- tended to point out this giant gender gap, but it does show how society has shaped our minds. Still, it seems as though progress is moving away from this sexist opinion as quickly as possible. Furthermore, what can be taken as a comment based on stereotypical gender-roles could have just been a casual reference towards the fact that Ms. Barr is a female. Maybe the substitution of the word “mother” for “parent” was innocent in that the question was asked to a mother.While this small question caused a ruckus on Tuesday morning, it is clear that society is not in a state where people are complying with their typical gender-roles. The fact is, most women do not even see the gaps. The generations being raised into adulthood in these recent years are filled to the brim with eager, strong, independent women who know that they can do anything, or more than, men can do.