(This message is in response to a private message send direclty to June
Tremain's e-mail from a student. Ms. Tremain wants to share her message
to the student and to the the entire listserv . She has also included the
letter that she received.)
Your work collecting oral histories of women who obtained degrees in
computer science or mathematics from 1940-1990 sounds VERY interesting.
I've found that most of the women pioneers and real leaders into
non-traditional fields often don't see anything unusual about their own
lives and stories. A few years ago a friend and I attended a 50 year
reunion of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). These women in their
70s and 80s told about being trained to fly many different aircraft so they
could shuttle airplanes all around the country for the men to fly into war.
Often the WASPs flew more types of planes than the male pilots. The WASPs
also flew planes and pulled banners behind their planes so the young new
male pilots could practice shooting. One certainly would hope the men were
accurate and hit only their intended targets. One woman told a story she
heard from a flying trainer. He was in the front seat of a two-seater
airplane with a young WASP in the seat behind him. He wanted to
demonstrate the plane's maneuverability and test her tolerance of sudden
shifting of flight pattern, so he spun the plane over sideways in a
complete circle. When he hollered over his shoulder to ask her how she
liked that, there was no answer. He then looked over his shoulder to
discover she was gone. The flight jackets at that time were men's sizes
and often too large for many of the WASPs, so seatbelts fit too loosely.
When the plane was upside down, the young WASP simply fell out.
Fortunately, her parachute opened and all ended well. The WASPs were not
considered military, so when they were lost their families received no flag
and were not able to place a star in the window of their homes, which
apparently was the practice for soldiers lost in the war. Because WASPs
were not considered military, the government also did not pay to return
their bodies home for burial. WASPs collected money themselves to send
their colleagues' bodies home. When I attended a public program that was
part of their reunion, I was asked by more than one WASP why I was there.
I explained that I am an educator and work in career development and was
very interested to hear their stories. They didn't seem to think there was
anything too unusual and certainly nothing exceptional about themselves or
their experiences. I believe this is a part of history that is not
generally shared. I found the stories remarkable. These modest women
were/are heroes in the truest sense. The served and were willing to die
for their country, even when they were not officially recognized. At the
end of the war, the WASPs were told they should look for "stewardess"
(flight attendant) jobs. They were no longer needed as pilots. Several of
them did continue flying and some became flight instructors to teach
others. Check out the website http://www.wasp-wwii.org/wasp/home.htm to
learn more about these "wonderful young women and their flying machines."
I also work with a collaborative group that sponsors an annual "Expanding
Your Horizons" Career Conference for Girls in Grades Six through Twelve.
This is our 16th or 17th annual EYH conference. These conferences
originated with the specific goal of helping girls understand the
importance of math and science in expanding their career options. We held
our EYH at Portland State University for many years and now have it at
Lewis & Clark College. Portland Public Schools is always a sponsor of the
event, but we distribute information across the state and into Washington.
National EYH information is found on their web site
http://www.eyhnet.org/startinganeyh.html
I would love to meet you and very much look forward to it. Perhaps you can
suggest some women role models in non-traditional occupations who would be
willing to present at this year's EYH.
Respectfully,
June
<June.Tremain@ODE-EX1.ODE.STATE.OR.US>
-----Original Message-----
From: Laura Zeigen [mailto:zeigenl@ohsu.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 6:22 PM
To: June.Tremain@ODE-EX1.ODE.STATE.OR.US
Subject: [EDEQUITY Career Dialogue] Some thoughts and resources
Ms. Tremain,
Thank you for your thoughtful and informative postings on Ed-Equity's
most recent moderated discussion. I have been deeply committed to the
goals of helping girls and women expand their career opportunities,
particularly in encouraging more girls and women to explore computer
science and other technological careers. I am currently working on my
Masters in History thesis, consisting partly of oral history
interviews with women who obtained CS or Mathematics degrees from
1940-1990, and am helping in several girls-into-technology mentoring
projects at the moment.
I hope to continue to pursue my desire to advocate in these areas in
both my studies and in work. As such I am examining the feasibility of
obtaining an Ed.D. or Ph.D. in Educational Psychology or Educational
Policy and Leadership. You have given an enormous amount of
information on Oregon's counseling and career development model in
your postings, but I am interested in meeting with you in person, at
your convenience, to obtain additional information on how you arrived
at where you are now. You are doing something very close to what I
envision myself doing and I welcome any additional information, advice
(or warnings!) that you might be able to provide. My oral history
interviews are taking me up and down the Willamette Valley this fall,
so it would be easy for me to stop in Salem, particularly on a Friday,
if that worked for you.
Thank you for your consideration of my request.
Sincerely,
Laura Zeigen, Library Web Manager
Oregon Health & Science University
3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road
Portland, Oregon 97201-3098
zeigenl@ohsu.edu / 503-494-0505
http://www.ohsu.edu/library/staff/zeigenl/
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