Is It Really "a Man's World?"
Let me tell you what I know about medical transcriptionists.
I know that by and large they're working-class people who aren't too proud to shop at Wal-Mart because they want value for their money. Although a lot of them dress casually for work, they do take pride in doing a good job and appreciate it when their efforts are recognized. For the most part they're practical and have a realistic understanding of where they fit in the grand scheme of things. They want a fair day's pay for an honest day's work. They're willing to give of their time and energy for causes they believe in, but they don't like to be taken for granted. They have an innate desire for relationships at every level of their lives. Their feelings are an important part of who they are as people.
Nearly all of them are women.
There's one other thing I know about medical transcriptionists, which is that I'm proud to be one, Y chromosome and all.
Oddly, though, sometimes I get the distinct impression that some folks in our cozy little estrogen-enriched world of MT seem reluctant to acknowledge that by and large, this is who we are.
I've heard a lot over the past few years about how MTs need to get away from the "coffee klatch" approach to networking and instead start acting like "real professionals." This attitude is manifested in various ways and is usually couched in language that on the surface appears empowering. But underneath it all, it seems to me, there's an unspoken but unmistakable inference that in order to be taken seriously, female MTs need to stop being like themselves and instead try to be more like...
Men.
I'm not sure which is more disturbing-that women are being sold this bill of goods or that some women are actually buying it.
Now I already know what some female readers are going to say: we don't need a man to tell us women how this game is played, mister I'm-in-touch-with-my-sensitive-side. We've been faced with this kind of discrimination since long before YOU came along!
That's absolutely true, of course. Far be it from me to presume to tell women what it's like to be female. But be it even further from me or any other man (or woman) to tell women that they ought not to be themselves, that they should distance themselves from their femininity in order to "grab a place at the table."
As Dr. Phil would say, "How's that working for ya?"
I think it's a fair question to ask whether or not women in the medical transcription field as a group believe they're more empowered and more in charge of their own destinies as a result of trying to be less like women and more like men. Maybe I'm totally off-base here (and if I am I'm sure y'all will let me know), but from I where I stand not only has this anti-feminine approach to leadership NOT achieved greater status for women in the MT field, it's actually alienated a huge bloc of MTs who truly need AND WANT representation in the workplace.
But if there's one thing I've learned over the years, thanks in large part to my loving wife Carol, it's that women by and large don't respond well to being told that the things they're concerned about aren't the things they OUGHT to be concerned about. It's never a good idea, I've discovered, for a man to tell a woman that she "shouldn't feel that way!" But ironically, and pardon me for being the one to point this out, it isn't just men telling women MTs they have to "go along to get along."
I understand that we can't live our lives TOTALLY by our emotions, and I'll be the first to admit that I sometimes get irritated at the amount of drama women can wring from something I consider trivial. (Hey, that Y chromosome only stretches so far.) But I just can't believe that the only way women MTs as a group can successfully advocate for themselves is to deny who they are in order to compete with (or please) "the suits." On the contrary, I believe a willingness to acknowledge and embrace those attributes which the vast majority of working MTs possess is an absolutely crucial first step toward harnessing their collective energy. Without that foundation, any sense of empowerment is nothing more than illusion.
It's hard to imagine any other field of endeavor where women have more opportunity to prove that it's NOT just "a man's world." The time is ripe, in my humble opinion, for MTs of the XX persuasion to show that acknowledging and embracing the feminine strengths innate needs of women is not mutually exclusive with successful networking and advocacy.