12th December 2008, 09:02 AM
Hi all and my apologies for coming late to this discussion. I'm one of the BWA founders and firstly must say that YES, anyone can join at TAG! Just come and see us 6-7pm on the Tuesday night, we're having a launch and some free wine courtesy of some of our sponsors. We've only had time to contact universities at this stage but will be contacting units soon in the new year and getting more postings and information out there. We'd like to get to the IFA conference too next year (and others...) it's all in the planning stages at the moment. I'm trying to sort PAYPAL on the web too so it should be easier to join that way soon.
Underscore's comments are typical of what we've heard; just many women leave the profession rather than put up with it. And Underscore, I'm really sorry that that has been your experience. It isn't fair and it isn't right. While we recognise many of us (but not all!) are within the academic part of the profession, we are desperate to help the commercial side and as much as we can and break down the barriers between them more. I don't want the students I teach going into a work place which is sexist and there is much to learn from each others experiences. In academe we can 'buy' time in research you can't as easily commercially.. somehow we can do that and help.
And yes it's illegal... but complain and you lose your job or never get hired again? Tough choice (I've been there). Having said that we know there are workplaces where women do achieve and go into higher positions. Quite how many do this while getting married/having a family is another question though we haven't yet got to.
In terms of our research, I hope we can get more details published soon; perhaps after TAG we'll get some more ideas on how this can be effectively disseminated. The problem is there's a bunch of us working full time and doing this in our space time: we're dedicated but everything we do is out of our own time and financially our pockets. This isn't a problem, we all believe it's the right thing to do, but it means it's slower. We are still getting the odd survey in, and many supportive messages from men. But we do need to do more research...many many questions simply haven't been looked at.
Seventies feminist ranting.. oh to have the indulgence to do so! It would be easier if we just complained -we don't need to do surveys and ask anyone their real problems for that! But we want to make a REAL difference, where it's needed. We want women to be able to say to each other 'hey, I heard this' and someone else to say 'that's not okay'. Maybe we can together suggest some one-liners to help stamp out the sexist comments in the workplace, for both men and women to say to support each other. We want for all archaeologists to be able to have more flexibility for families (hence the working away comment)... are archaeologists similar to other professions or do they have different strategies that work better for having a life? What about mentoring and career development; talking through your options with someone? If you do complain, having a BWA member/mentor come along to your workplace for support? Actually seeing archaeologists together, a whole bunch of us, having a laugh and chewing over things...it's supposed to be fun too! Regional meetings.... etc. And not just for women either.
Finally, we're trying to help. We realise not everyone will like what we do but we're not against anyone, we don't have personal agendas to bring to this. That's why we've taken a while and done the survey... we want this to be organic, grown out of what women and men want and not what we tell them to have! We just honestly truly believe that the profession as a whole can be better and fairer, and mistakes are being made through a lack of understanding the implications, rather than any conspiracy.
Please join us and be a part of it.
Anne
Underscore's comments are typical of what we've heard; just many women leave the profession rather than put up with it. And Underscore, I'm really sorry that that has been your experience. It isn't fair and it isn't right. While we recognise many of us (but not all!) are within the academic part of the profession, we are desperate to help the commercial side and as much as we can and break down the barriers between them more. I don't want the students I teach going into a work place which is sexist and there is much to learn from each others experiences. In academe we can 'buy' time in research you can't as easily commercially.. somehow we can do that and help.
And yes it's illegal... but complain and you lose your job or never get hired again? Tough choice (I've been there). Having said that we know there are workplaces where women do achieve and go into higher positions. Quite how many do this while getting married/having a family is another question though we haven't yet got to.
In terms of our research, I hope we can get more details published soon; perhaps after TAG we'll get some more ideas on how this can be effectively disseminated. The problem is there's a bunch of us working full time and doing this in our space time: we're dedicated but everything we do is out of our own time and financially our pockets. This isn't a problem, we all believe it's the right thing to do, but it means it's slower. We are still getting the odd survey in, and many supportive messages from men. But we do need to do more research...many many questions simply haven't been looked at.
Seventies feminist ranting.. oh to have the indulgence to do so! It would be easier if we just complained -we don't need to do surveys and ask anyone their real problems for that! But we want to make a REAL difference, where it's needed. We want women to be able to say to each other 'hey, I heard this' and someone else to say 'that's not okay'. Maybe we can together suggest some one-liners to help stamp out the sexist comments in the workplace, for both men and women to say to support each other. We want for all archaeologists to be able to have more flexibility for families (hence the working away comment)... are archaeologists similar to other professions or do they have different strategies that work better for having a life? What about mentoring and career development; talking through your options with someone? If you do complain, having a BWA member/mentor come along to your workplace for support? Actually seeing archaeologists together, a whole bunch of us, having a laugh and chewing over things...it's supposed to be fun too! Regional meetings.... etc. And not just for women either.
Finally, we're trying to help. We realise not everyone will like what we do but we're not against anyone, we don't have personal agendas to bring to this. That's why we've taken a while and done the survey... we want this to be organic, grown out of what women and men want and not what we tell them to have! We just honestly truly believe that the profession as a whole can be better and fairer, and mistakes are being made through a lack of understanding the implications, rather than any conspiracy.
Please join us and be a part of it.
Anne