> Chrissy,
> Yes, I have had several of the experiences that you have described but don't
> let it get you down. If I had a dollar for every time I have been asked "Now
> honey, are you sure that is the part you need for your car?" I would be a
> rich woman today. I have had my TR250 for over 17 years now and I do all the
> work on it myself. I have been very lucky to have been trained by some
> really great Triumph mechanics over the years. I am a past president and
> current vice president of the Southern California Triumph Owners Association.
> There ARE other female Triumph owners out there so don't give up. Triumphs
> are great cars and I think you will eventually find that there are many great
> Triumph owners out there (including here on this list). Be sure to attend
> Triumphest 2002 which is in Laughlin, NV this year and you will get to meet
> me and several other female Triumph owners (all single, male Triumph owners
> are also invited to attend <g> LOL).
Hmmm. A difficult subject for any guy to tackle. <smile> What is in your
comments, and Chrissy's, has a lot to do with pre-conceived notions, and
expectations based on experience. In truth, most women aren't interested
in the mechanical details of cars, whatever the make, and that forms a
general expectation on the part of people who stand behind the parts
counter. Yes, no person should make assumptions on the basis of gender
(or experience with cars), but it does happen. If you were to ask the
average parts counter person how many women walk up and say, "I need a
set of twenty-under main bearings for a [pick an engine], the answer
would likely be, "huh?"
It's very easy for any person, in any context, to fall into the
expectations of common experience. While not gender-related, I've lived
with this sort of bias all my adult life. In graduate school, a _very
serious_ professor of literature thought I wasn't serious about my
studies because I was blatting around campus in a bright-red TR4. For
every job for which I applied which was the slightest bit technical in
nature, I was confronted with my history--you're an English major, so
what do you know about machinery, what do you know about engineering?
All of us live with being pigeonholed in some way or another, whether
it's related to our jobs, or our hobbies, or our abiding interests in
life. Women, in this particular matter of cars and parts and how they go
together, have a tougher time than most, I agree, but that's mostly due
to the overall experience of the person on the other side of the
counter.
The simple way to gain credibility is to demonstrate competence. No one,
male or female, gains credence if they say to the guy behind the
counter, "I need that thingy on the side of the whatchamacallit." Trust
me--I've been behind parts counters, and no matter who says something
like that, male or female, they're frustrating to deal with.
That said, on this list, I don't think gender matters a whit if someone
writes, "I'm rebuilding the diff and I don't know what I should do to
set the backlash." It won't matter what the gender is of the person
making the request--it will generate ten or fifteen responses and four
or five of those will be right on and helpful. <smile>
Here, on this list, I think, there is no informational glass ceiling.
<smile> And, there's no such thing as a stupid question.
Cheers.
--
Michael D. Porter
Roswell, NM (yes, _that_ Roswell)
[mailto:mporter@zianet.com]
The gulf between content and substance continues to widen....
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