EVERYBODY HAS PROBLEMS

I watched Steve Paikin with four women lawyers last night. The question was....are women lawyers paid less than men ? It seems not. 

At the same time,women lawyers earn less than men. It's about the exigencies. 

A panelist with twenty-eight years practice ,without children, joked she was "too bossy" to have children. Didn't say  she had a husband...of either sex...the question wasn't asked. 

A young woman of one year's  experience, hoped to have children, had no complaints about her circumstance and is paid the same as a male counterpart. 

A woman of Asian background noted  white male senior associates, brought the most lucrative clients to the firm and  earned more. The word "lucrative" was  implied within the context.

I couldn't help thinking about a young white woman lawyer's chances in an Indian law firm ? Had being  a" visible minority " perchance give the Asian an edge? 

The gist of opinion was, women being child-bearers,nurturers and care-givers were at a disadvantage in the competition and their contribution is unfairly evaluated by both men and women supervisors as a consequence ? 

The word "invisible" was used once in the discussion. 

I went to sleep thinking of my recent reference to being "invisible" on occasion. I associated it with being elderly but I had known it before.

As often happens, I wakened this morning as if my mind has carried on thinking while asleep. 

I recalled a piece about women in academia. An idea projected in a collegial setting, ignored and later the same floated by a male being hailed as sheer genius. 

The word "invisible"  and the term "glass ceiling" were  both used in the piece.

The hasty retirement of the head wallah of the Canadian Armed Forces also popped into my head this morning. In the context of sexual harassment rampant in the armed services, he used the word "biology ".His career crashed to an immediate and ignominious end. He probably has a chest full of medals but no matter, he paid the ultimate penalty and was promptly replaced.

Short of a court-martial. it could not have been  much worse. 

The decision must have come  from the Prime Minister's office. Like appointment of Julian Fantino 

to Cabinet and  Office of Veteran's Affairs . Appointment  of media stars like Mike Duffy and 

Pamela Wallin to toil in relative obscurity of the  Canadian Senate. 

But I digress. 

I can't empathize with the women lawyers on Steve Paikin's panel.

People everywhere and forever have to deal with problems far more serious than the sex they were born and how it impacts their lives. How can it not? 

I once watched a full-term pregnant policewoman carefully negotiating space between a desk and chair. Not only was it difficult but the active role of police officer was obviously impossible.

Male sergeants equally physically incapacitated doing office jobs no doubt created for them were 

also  prominent. 

But that's another story.