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Yarnbazaar
New Pal
USA
8 Posts |
 Posted - 05/28/2012 : 01:43:10 AM
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Knitting and Financing: Where’s The Disparity?
Ever since I was a child, it has always bothered me why certain disparities between men and women exist when it has long ago been established by the Almighty that every human being has been created equal.
More often than not, men were the most privileged. They were allowed to go to school and take up courses, which included engineering, education, architecture, and the likes. Women, on the other hand, were made to stay at home where they could learn all the chores; and if they had already bore offspring, they had to learn the craft of rearing up a child. Thus, when women had started to excel in a particular field that dominated men, she had already become a threat to them. Nevertheless, there are still those who choose to follow the path that has been paved for them.
Albeit a lot of women have already been chosen as CEOs of a particular company, there are still those who have chosen to give up their career and take care of their children – if there are any – and simply serve their relatives at home. That is why it is no longer surprising if their hobbies include knitting, sewing, or cross-stitching. I even know a few who excel in these crafts. Theyknow every pattern and needle there is. They have already memorized by heart the knitting patterns for babies and adults and the crochet terms used. In fact, when I ask themabout something that involves knitting, they could answer me without having to recall every detail about it. It was as though they have already memorized and recorded those details in their heads.
So much for the disparity, right?Yet when we really come to think of it, most women were really created for these things. It appears that they were shaped to remember the knitting needle sizes and knitting needle conversion charts than analyze financial statements which most men do. Possibly most of you would argue that who they are has something to do with how they were brought up. That could also be true, but their inclination really relies on arts and the likes. Numbers are not their thing. They leave it to men although the feminist would not allow such to happen – women empowerment as they would put it.
I rest my case now. I do not support whatever inequality has been dominating the world. Yet I do believe that it still depends on them – may it be men or women – to earn the respect and dignity they deserve.
JO ELLEN |
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Shelia
Permanent Resident
USA
2314 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2012 : 09:19:02 AM
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Boy, an interesting post! I have to say that I don't agree with most of your conclusions, but you've certainly given us food for thought. Nurture plays a huge part in what activities girls, and then women, move towards as they grow up, and I am not at all convinced that there are any genetic predispostions towards creativity or financials.
I'd like to see us think nothing of a female Chief Financial Officer or knitting mom, or a CFO who is also a knitting mom; or a male knitter who is creative and knowledgeable or just an attorney or accountant who likes to knit scarves from patterns that other men and women have written. I'd also like to see a woman President or a male winning the top prize for knitting at a State Fair. We don't need to stereotype people - everyone has things they enjoy and are good at.
Shelia
www.breezyridgestudio.com
ravelry name - sheliaknits |
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Grand-moogi
Seriously Hooked
Australia
773 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2012 : 3:59:47 PM
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I am a Chartered Accountant although I am now retired and only practise my profession to help a few charities with financial matters. I have always had a head for numbers. The ability to remember the logics of accounting and financial legal matters seems to me to be the very same ability that helps me to remember the logic of a knitting pattern. As the members of this forum will attest, I am also an avid knitter. However, I also sew and do a lot of embroidery. I do mostly machine embroidery now. I like to digitise my own designs which usually takes much longer than it takes the machine to embroider them. Lately I have returned to hand embroidery for a special project. I agree with Sheila that one's gender is irrelevant when it comes to talents.
I knit a hug into every stitch |
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Punctuatedknitter
Seriously Hooked
819 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2012 : 8:32:45 PM
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"Numbers are not their thing?" Ever design or modify a knitting pattern? There is lots of math. Successful yarn store owners? Good at finances.
I am a scientist and a professor. I am great at math. Many of my female students are great at math. I have known lots of female scientists, and most of them are great at math. The others are good at it.
You know what hinders equality? Outdated sexist nonsense that supports stereotypes about what women and men are naturally good at. If you wonder why more women don't take up careers in math and science, it's because all their lives they hear about how they aren't naturally good at it. This is called "stereotype threat" and there is actual research to back it up.
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Janettoo
New Pal
49 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2012 : 8:17:52 PM
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It is a mistake to apply statistical generalities to individuals. For example, statistically men are taller than women, but there sure are lots of men who are shorter than many women, and vice versus.
The fact that a person has memorized needle conversion charts has nothing to do with his or her knitting ability.
Historically, knitting for money has been a men's field in some periods and a women's in others.
May I suggest that you learn more history and anthropology.
Janet in TN, who manages the family money while my husband does the laundry
PS. Knitting patterns are much like financial spreadsheets. In fact, many knitters use spreadsheet software to compile complex patterns. |
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EmEm
Warming Up
USA
78 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2012 : 9:54:21 PM
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| Wow! Every time I think that the world is starting to see and accept people as individuals I get a reality check. And it doesn't stop at men's and women's "places". But that leads to too many topics. I worked for over 20 years in a major US Corporation on the "clerical staff". So I guess for a lot of people, I was fulfilling my female role in business. But I spent many lunch hours stitching in the company of the Corporation's male Comptroller. I never thought about it being strange that a man liked to stitch, or that an executive liked to stitch, or that his accounting ability was the reason he liked to stitch. I just enjoyed crafting with someone, discussing patterns we liked, sharing the joy of completed projects and sharing the disappointment of projects gone wrong. I think history has shown that both men and women have excelled in fiber industries. But in more recent history I have to say that for those women who chose to stay home and raise a family, that their life is not defined by becoming adept at a craft or not, but more that they are choosing some time to be a creative and inspiring individual (whether they are good at math or not). I know that history has always had some people, cultures, religions, etc. that felt the need to categorize individuals rather than let them be individuals. I just wish we could somehow learn to get past all of that. |
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purlewe
Permanent Resident
1864 Posts |
Posted - 06/11/2012 : 1:50:06 PM
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I would love to think that people gravitate towards the things they enjoy and that they would have people in their lives who would encourage and support them in their skills.
Seeing posts like this remind me why some people always choose something that they feel they "have" to do or be b'c their family/friends/church tells them otherwise. Those poor people live out their lives feeling like the don't fit in b'c they aren't as good as people who enjoy their job or hobby.
Women and men are just people. And people who like to do anything should be encouraged to do so. Knitting? Taxes? Cooking? Running a company? All of them need to be done by someone. Hopefully it is someone who is enjoying their task.
Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming. ~Myrna Loy
http://purlewe.typepad.com/ |
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holygoalie31
New Pal
Canada
1 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2012 : 2:29:03 PM
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That is so true. Totally agree with everything. Woman haven't always had equal rights and in some cases they still don't. Atleast you have knitting!! Stay strong.
http://www.alacraft.com.au/
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Knitting and Financing: Where’s The Disparity?
