I'd be interested, too.
I can tell it's a complicated, multiple-causation thing, but beyond that I'm only beginning to understand.
Young girls seem to have less exposure to basic technologies (wrenches, screws, hammers) than boys. Perhaps because of this, later in life, if exposed to more complex technologies (lathes, mills, cars, bike drivetrains), women are more likely to be uncomfortable, and more likely to be frightened, than their male counterparts. There's less comfort with the terminology, which makes it harder to deeply integrate into a class or a peer group. If you've never used an allen wrench, it's hard to talk about how to fix a bike.
These are the broadest of generalizations, but they're what I've found when trying to understand why there are so few women in the welding/machining/renewable energy classes I take.
Fear is a great and powerful thing. Things like welding and working on cars are best practiced with a healthy amount of fear of the process. Being too comfortable is a dangerous thing, literally.
So, when I was running a small non-profit fabrication shop, I made a conscious effort to scare new people when showing them the ropes. If this person was ever going to wield an oxy-acetylene torch in our shop, the lives of everyone there would be in their hands. I didn't want them thinking this was a thing to be taken lightly. Maybe this is the wrong approach, but it is a common one. I wonder how many people have been scared off by it.
Whom to blame? I dunno. Don't immediately blame the people in charge of hiring--they may just be hiring the people who present themselves. I know a couple bike shops that've been looking for a decent non-male wrench for a long time.
Me personally, I judge a mechanic on the quality of their work, not what's in their pants. I like to think that's becoming more universal, not less.
Ethan Labowitz http://bikebuilding.blogspot.com
On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 11:40 PM, Mark Rehder mark@re-cycles.ca wrote:
On 28-Oct-09, at 5:49 PM, Bike City wrote:
Hello everybody,
I've been mulling over a lot of ideas lately about overthrowing the male domination of bicycle co-ops, collectives, recycleries, mechanics, and the industry in general.
Are there any non-males out there who would be interested in discussing strategies to whoop the shit out of male privilege? I'd like to set an email list up for this purpose, but in the meantime, please email me: the.attica@gmail.com
Thanks, andrea
While the tone of this makes it sound like there's some sort of conspiracy (and maybe there is and no one told me about it), as a male I'd personally be interested in what you come up with.
In my other life I'm a musician, and we generally have a history of non-discrimination; you can be male / female / white / black / disabled / whatever - we don't care as long as you can do the gig.
Based on that, I've been kind of surprised that our shop has never been able to recruit an experienced female mechanic. Women are of course involved with our shop, both as staff and as customers, and I would say at least half of our bike purchasers and a third of our do-it-yourselfers.
I guess the lack is due to so few women mechanics in general. And is this is a cultural thing (usual suspects of "women are less likely to be mechanically inclined / do not want to get their hands dirty", etc.) or is it deeper than that? Is there a bias? Is there gender discrimination? I imagine that there is, though the idealist in me is appalled at that.
If you can change the status quo I'm all for it!
Mark _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...