Shepherd University sociology professor says women are well-represented in most fields
March 30, 2008
Editor's note: As Women's History Month draws to a close, reporter Erin Julius talked to women who are working in jobs that were slow to admit their ranks.
TRI-STATE - Investigator Tara Little's bulletproof vest and police uniform never fit properly. It's obvious that women's body shapes weren't taken into account when the uniforms were designed, the Washington County Sheriff's Department deputy said.
Police work is one of a handful of occupations that have remained male-dominated into the 21st century, according to Margie Kiter Edwards, professor of sociology at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.Va.
In the past two decades, women have entered the managerial and professional occupations in large numbers, and in most fields, women are well-represented, she said.
Careers that people perceive as dirty, as requiring physical strength and size, and holding high levels of danger remain male-dominated, Edwards said.
Firefighters, airline pilots, construction workers, police and auto mechanics are usually men, she said.
The Hagerstown Fire Department's first woman career firefighter, Deanna Glaze, started work there in February 2007.
Reasons for the discrepancy vary from profession to profession, and in some of those professions there is a real chance women are making progress.
Officer Heather Albowicz of the Hagerstown Police Department said she has no idea why there are not more women in police work. The women who do serve have proved they can do the work, she said.
Being a woman has never been an issue, she said.
Even the physical aspects of the job, where size and strength might matter, don't pose a problem, Albowicz said.
And, she said, she always has plenty of backup when making an arrest.
Little said she thinks it's more challenging for her to come across as assertive than for some of her larger, male counterparts at the Sheriff's Department, she said.
"They have more physical presence," she said.
Little said she tries to compensate by using her verbal skills, and by focusing on her demeanor and attitude.
Edwards offered an explanation for why most airline pilots are men. Pilots who fly for private airlines do so only after extensive training in the military, Edwards said. As more women enter the military and learn to fly, more women likely will become airline pilots, she said.
Senior Airman Veazie
Senior Airman Deborah Veazie is in the military, although she doesn't fly. She works at the West Virginia Air National Guard 167th Airlift Wing, the base at Eastern Regional Airport in Berkeley County, W.Va. Of about 80 security officers who work at the base, only five, including Veazie, are women, she said.
Veazie, 25, has been with the Air National Guard since September 2005. She said it was shortly after Sept. 11 that she started thinking about joining the military.
"I wanted to be part of something bigger, something to help," she said.
Veazie said that although she is outnumbered at work 16 to 1 by men, her gender has never made a difference, and she does not believe anyone with whom she works would hold her gender against her.
"I see it as a challenge. I think it forces you to strive to be the best so that nobody can use that against you," Veazie said.
Airman Kerr
Airman Jennifer Kerr served for about a year in the Air Force, then took time off to have children.
She joined the Air National Guard more than two years ago and is stationed at the Air Guard base near Martinsburg, W.Va., where she works as a command and control specialist.
Kerr said she doesn't feel there is a huge challenge to prove equality, although in her own mind she is aware of typical stereotypes about women.
In the beginning, she was careful to show that her emotions didn't get the best of her, Kerr said.
The military regulates how often everyone must go through sexual harassment training, she said.
"They do take it extremely seriously here," she said.
Were there an issue, Kerr said she would feel comfortable addressing it with her superiors.
But Kerr said she doesn't expect any issues to arise, even though she is the only woman working with four to five men. She's lucky, she said, to work with people who are easygoing.
Kerr was named 2008 Airman of the Year for the 167th Airlift Wing and for West Virginia. Her supervisor and another officer with whom she works nominated her for the honor.
The military is actively trying to get rid of any bias, Kerr said.
Neither Veazie nor Kerr felt they were given different assignments than their male colleagues at the base, the women said.
Little, the only woman of six investigators at the Sheriff's Department, said she does handle interviews for many of the department's sexual assault cases.
"I have been told by some of those victims that they felt more comfortable with me than with a man," she said.
At the same time, she has known some excellent male investigators who never had a problem with those interviews, she said.
For these women, only one thing matters.
"If you qualify for the job, you qualify for the job," Kerr said.
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