A Male World

\Back in my naïve youth when I worked for a daily paper I did some stupid things to get a photograph and that second definition of blithely (showing a lack of due concern) could have been applied more than a few times. Scared of heights, l leaned over the sides of high rises with someone holding on to my belt loops to capture firefighters conducting repelling exercises framed by interesting sidewalk patterns, wore a parachute (in case I fell out) and strapped myself to the floor of a small plane with the door off to photograph a parachuting clown. I did barrel rolls, hammerhead stalls and emergency landed in an open cockpit, bi-winged Stearman airplane when the plane suffered a problem with its throttle.

I was a female in a heavily dominated male industry so I always felt it necessary to push myself beyond my safe zone in order to compete or live up to expectations. I am still not sure if the expectations I was trying to fulfill were self imposed or if there indeed was something I needed to prove because of my gender and the times. (70’s/80’s) I do remember some coworkers in the paste up room saying that since I was married and my husband worked, I didn’t need to be paid as much as my male peers doing the same job. I want to point out that I was never shown anything but respect and kindness by the male photographers I worked with. They were helpful, encouraging, and generous with advice and I am eternally grateful to them all.

After several months of editors and writers praising the work I was doing I went into the publisher’s office to ask for a raise. Actually I so loved what I was doing I probably would have worked for free but as a female I felt it was my duty to myself and other women in similar situations to push for something more, to demand fairness. The publisher’s comment to the managing editor was, “Well, she IS the lowest paid person here. Even though she has two degrees, the janitor makes more than she does.” The casualness of the statement made me feel both humiliated and angry. I held my tongue. They gave me the raise.