Pioneering women still encounter bias, doubters

By John Eckberg
Cincinnati Enquirer

LUDLOW, Ky. — A few years ago, the trade show circuit discouraged Lesli Nieberding. Maybe it was the swimsuit-clad women handing out brochures. Maybe it was the skepticism from potential clients about a pitch coming from a thirtysomething woman.

Lesli Nieberding, 34, says skepticism is a common reaction when she makes the pitch for her machinery-parts company. Gannett News Service

"It's gotten a lot better than it used to be," she says of the trade-show booths that link sex to sales. "My generation of women probably doesn't have to prove itself as much as the one before.

"Still, some (women) struggle and must overcome perceptions. My advice: Know your product."

Demand for skilled workers in some sectors has opened new opportunities for women who are stepping in to fill jobs as executives, electricians, architects and engineers.

But women who have taken on pioneering roles in their occupation say plenty of hurdles remain, including wisecracks from co-workers, clients who doubt the ability of a woman to do the work, and resentful competitors.

Author Martin Yate, who has sold 3.5 million copies of "Knock 'em Dead: The Ultimate Job Hunter's Guide" (Adams Media: $12.95), advises career women to join at least two associations.

One should be specific to the profession. "Become active; increase your visibility with the most committed professionals in that group," Yate says. "That's the 'old-boys' network.' "

Then, join an association for women. "That's the 'old-girls' network,' " Yate says. "You've got to become part of the old-girls network."

The old-boys network is alive in architecture, says Neena Jud, project architect on the housing group at Cincinnati-based Cole+Russell Architects. "I believe the old-boy network manifests itself in preconceptions that people have,"Jud says. "If you've got some sort of common history with somebody else, you have a better chance of relating."

It takes pluck to be a female electrician, says Charlene R. Monroe, 27, corporate liaison for Electrical Innovations Corp., a two-person, Norwood, Ohio-based contractor with offices at the Hamilton County Business Center, a regional small-business incubator.

"The first thing encountered as a woman, at least in my experience, is the sexual innuendoes," she says. "It's a constant undertone — a coping (mechanism) that a lot of men have on the job."

Monroe helped start the company when she saw that gender prejudice would prevent her from rising through the ranks.

"I wanted to create an opportunity of sustained employment, without a threat of gender or race discrimination on the job," she says.

That phenomenon — women creating their own company — is commonplace. Yate says: "Sixty percent of entrepreneurs are women. Ask them why, and they'll say they were forced into it."