"One thing I keep coming back to is the idea of teaching. I'm thinking of it as a way to return to my love of learning and take on something more challenging than I've done with my life so far. On the other hand, I don't know if I want to take a pink-collar job. I don't necessarily want to be typecast in a typical female role. Although, to look at the development world right now, that's becoming a pink-collar job too."
Pink-collar. This is a phrase I only came across two weeks ago on Rebecca Thorman's blog. I approach the moniker much like I would the jelled fish dish at an ethnic wedding. "What is it?" "Is it bad?" "Should I ask for guidance?"
Before I tackle that though - I want to mention that teaching is something I have done for five years. I work a corporate job during the week, and I teach private voice lessons on the weekends. When I was first approached to teach, I was apprehensive. I didn't think I would like teaching, I thought kids would prove annoying and difficult to communicate to, and was worried I wouldn't have much to offer.
However, I was wrong. Teaching is the most rewarding personal and professional activity I engage in. I like it better than performing. This was a huge surprise to me. I thought putting on costumes and blaring out opera on stages was the peak of my expressive abilities. But I love to teach more. My young students are smart, and comprehend tasks easily. For those who have learning disabilities, I have expanded my abilities to communicate with and challenge them to think in new ways. Additionally, they are much more open than my adult students, who've had a whole lifetime of learning and aren't afraid to show it. But they eventually give in to learning new ways of doing old things.
As a teacher I have flexibility (over pay and scheduling), control (over content), and authority (earned by my hard-won studies of vocal pedagogy). Perhaps this type of teaching falls under entrepreneurship, as I'm not shackled by curricula handed down by the government. Thank god. I also think teaching at a charter school or at the collegiate level would be rewarding as well. I often think that when I'm done with my masters I'd love to start a finance course for artists. Something I didn't have in my undergrad that I felt was sorely needed.
But back to pink-collar. I'm guessing it is bad, as Kate implies it is something she'd be happier to avoid. I imagine the great trifecta - secretary, teacher, nurse - iconic in their imagery of women in skirts, sweater sets, and little white caps, placating bosses, shushing children, and gently tending to the sick. But is there something inherently wrong with these activities? Or do women still get paid less? What is the issue with these jobs? Why do women feel they should be avoided to save their pride? If you ask me, they are still worthwhile. I happen to be a women who holds two of those positions, and have considered the third. They suit my personality, and I'm no shrinking violet. They will allow me to have babies and work at the same time too. I know I know, this is somehow supposed to be a tragedy, that I can't be a CEO and bounce Johnny on my knee at the next shareholders conference. But I wouldn't want that anyways.
Perhaps pink-collar isn't all that bad, for the people who like that type of work. It's not that I particularly enjoy having assignments land on my desk for prompt completion, not too much brain work invovled, but that is just the nature of the business I'm in, no indication that my bosses think I'm incapable of more just because I'm a woman. As a matter of fact, yesterday I got a fun assignment, to write our team's vision statement. Out of everyone on our team I was chosen because of my "creative inclincations" as my boss put it. I don't get treated like less because I'm a woman, and at one point I was given the opportunity to accept a position that would have drastically increased my salary, but I opted out, a man taking my place. If I was willing to do stay late most nights of the week, schmooze with clients after work hours, make endless phone calls to drum up new business, I would be compensated like he is. I'm simply not willing to give up my precious time from my family and creative endeavors in order to win those wages. And if that is in some way negative or anti-woman, it would be news to me.
I think it just comes down to personal choice, what kind of role allows me to be satisfied professionally and personally. I'm clear I could take on more conventionally "male" roles professionally. What are those? Hefty-collar jobs? But I just don't want to.
When I think of jobs, there are the blue-collar (union work, manual labor), white collar (behind a desk with a suit), and pink collar (traditional women's jobs).
ReplyDeleteWhile pink collar jobs can be rewarding, there really is a tendency for them to pay less than traditionally male jobs, or even gender-equal jobs. Think about what a kindergarten teacher earns (you're picturing a woman, I'm sure), and what a physics professor earns (that would be a man).
A great book on this topic is Getting Even by Evelyn Murphy, which explains a lot about the gender gap in wages.