On the Job: Gender Marginalization

On the Job: Gender Marginalization

In this video Pat Gorman and Sue Ayers describe the experience of Deaf women printers in newspaper shops.

Zilvinas Paludnevicius

Drs. John S. and Betty J. Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center Collection

2022

This Item has been made available for educational and research purposes by the Drs. John S. and Betty J. Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center at Gallaudet University. This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You may need to obtain permission for your intended use if your use is otherwise not permitted by the copyright and applicable related rights legislation. For specific information about the copyright and reproduction rights for this Item, please contact the Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center: https://www.gallaudet.edu/drs-john-s-and-betty-j-schuchman-deaf-documentary-center

American Sign Language

A video featuring ASL interviews with several subjects. Pat Gorman, an older white woman seated in a hotel room; Sue Ayers, an older white woman seated at home. The video begins with a still black and white image of the Composing Room at the Washington Post featuring a row of linotype machines with fair-skin white men seated at each machine, with the text Gender at Work.

Pat Gorman: My first experiences, before I arrived in DC, I had traveled a lot to different newspapers, but it seemed like I was always the only Deaf woman printer. Everyone else was hearing, and male, too. I was the only one. There were a few hearing women who worked with me, but probably less than five in total. So I was working in situations where I was the lone Deaf female employee. I learned how to talk with Deaf printers. I learned to talk about sports, and bear with these conversations, nodding along, but I am not really a sports person myself. Finally, I arrived in Washington, DC and there were so many more Deaf women working around me. I felt that I was the same as all of them. We had the same way of talking, talking as women, and I really enjoyed it. I was really happy that I was able to get into The Washington Post, and had the opportunity to learn from other Deaf people there. I was always so motivated to go to work, even though it was hard work, and I hated missing days. I called The Washington Post my home, or my Deaf Club. That’s what it was to me. I really enjoyed working for the Washington Post, and I was there for a long time.

Sue Ayers: There weren’t very many women on the floor. But many women worked in TTS. Still the men greatly outnumbered the women. But we had pretty good numbers, for the women, in RayComp and TTS. On the floor there were a few women. As time went on, things changed. I recognized a few more women in the other departments, otherwise things stayed the same.

00:01:50