Valerie told me the news: Lilly Wachowski has joined her sister, Lana, in coming out as a trans woman.
Knowing what I do [1], I had already been concerned about the Wachowski siblings losing some of their film-making clout when Lana came out.
"This is bad," I said. "I thought they were going to be OK, because one of them was still presenting as male, but now ... I worry they'll make less money, receive less respect."
Valerie gave me her thousand yard stare. "I'm not worrying. Because I'm sure that's what will happen."
Claire Cain Miller summarizes the relevant research in the NYT: "As Women Take Over a Male-Dominated Field, The Pay Drops."
[1] What's most annoying is that I suffer from my own chronic internalized sexism. Back at Lotus OneSource I remember when Bill pointed out that I didn't notice when Mary gave the correct answer to my question, but only heard his (later) answer. Re pay scales, I felt the effect first hand when women flooded into the field of technical writing, back in the days when technical writers were the guardians of peace and justice in the old Republic.
We've all got those internalized isms. I'm still smarting over the time, nearly 40 years ago, that I asked the woman who was hanging around the little medical office at my workplace when the doctor would arrive. Yep, she was the doctor. Ouch!
Posted by: mmeadow | 04 April 2016 at 18:49