Poll: Have you ever felt your work as a translator was underestimated because of your gender? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever felt your work as a translator was underestimated because of your gender?".
This poll was originally submitted by Susana E. Cano Méndez. View the poll results »
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No (I'm a woman) | Mar 5, 2018 |
I have never felt the slight gender bias or discrimination from my clients since I have been working as a freelancer or from my colleagues and superiors when I worked in-house. | | |
It helps to have a generic name | Mar 5, 2018 |
i.e. they can't quite guess my gender based on my name. | | |
I would have thought age, qualifications, location/nationality and experience would be more obvious grounds for discrimination. Been done on all of those. | |
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Kay Denney France Local time: 05:01 French to English
when my boss was contemplating hiring a male translator. The guy had said he expected a salary that was double mine, that didn't seem to trouble the boss. (In the end the guy found something better, we ended up hiring a female translator who was paid the same as me, otherwise I'd have taken my boss to court for paying a man more to do the same job) another time, he called up a former intern to see if she was interested in a job. She was studying technical writing, having decided tra... See more when my boss was contemplating hiring a male translator. The guy had said he expected a salary that was double mine, that didn't seem to trouble the boss. (In the end the guy found something better, we ended up hiring a female translator who was paid the same as me, otherwise I'd have taken my boss to court for paying a man more to do the same job) another time, he called up a former intern to see if she was interested in a job. She was studying technical writing, having decided translation was not really her thing. She said "well I'd be interested if it's well paid", the boss said she had a cheek. ▲ Collapse | | |
Joohee Kim South Korea Local time: 12:01 Member (2017) English to Korean + ...
It's the reason I love this job. | | |
Morano El-Kholy Egypt Local time: 06:01 Member (2011) English to Arabic + ... The same with me..... | Mar 5, 2018 |
Maxi Schwarz wrote: they can't quite guess my gender based on my name. Yes, the same with me but I used to acknowledge them when being asked! My reply to this poll: No (I am a woman). So, yes... Maxi Schwarz wrote: they can't quite guess my gender based on my name. Yes, the same with me but I used to acknowledge them when being asked! My reply to this poll: No (I am a woman). So, yes... Joohee Kim wrote: It's the reason I love this job. ▲ Collapse | | |
Maybe we're not aware | Mar 5, 2018 |
Things have been the way they are in this world for so long that I think we don't realize gender discrimination is there. In some cases it exists on a very subconscious level. I have been noticing this in other areas of my life and it has made me think about this possibility in my work. I'm thinking about what Texte Style commented and remembering a very interesting article I read awh... See more Things have been the way they are in this world for so long that I think we don't realize gender discrimination is there. In some cases it exists on a very subconscious level. I have been noticing this in other areas of my life and it has made me think about this possibility in my work. I'm thinking about what Texte Style commented and remembering a very interesting article I read awhile ago: http://www.newsweek.com/male-and-female-coworkers-switched-email-signatures-faced-sexism-566507 ▲ Collapse | |
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Miyoung Park South Korea Local time: 12:01 English to Korean Yes(I`m a woman) | Mar 5, 2018 |
Maxi Schwarz wrote: i.e. they can't quite guess my gender based on my name. I have seen a complaint from a reader thriller novels should be translated by men, not women. It was not my work, but as I translated thriller myself, I wish my parents gave me a gender-neutral name.
[Edited at 2018-03-05 16:19 GMT] | | |
I've wondered... | Mar 5, 2018 |
... but as I've been exclusively self-employed for 18 years, I haven't had much to go on. I'm not privy to the client's considerations so I can only assume the market is equally hard on everyone Still, I guess one reliable yardstick of how someone's work is valued would be who gets paid what per word for, say, two translators on the same project, one a woman and one a man. Same project, mind you, so presumably the sa... See more ... but as I've been exclusively self-employed for 18 years, I haven't had much to go on. I'm not privy to the client's considerations so I can only assume the market is equally hard on everyone Still, I guess one reliable yardstick of how someone's work is valued would be who gets paid what per word for, say, two translators on the same project, one a woman and one a man. Same project, mind you, so presumably the same qualification for that project, same degree of urgency, technical language, skill required, etc. Of course, those two translators would have to be friendly enough with each other to share that information.
[Edited at 2018-03-05 18:05 GMT] ▲ Collapse | | |
Daniel Frisano Italy Local time: 05:01 Member (2008) English to Italian + ... Reverse discrimination | Mar 5, 2018 |
I don't know if it qualifies as gender discrimination, but an ex-girlfriend of mine, also a translator, admitted that at times she got away with sloppy work or delayed delivery thanks to her good looks. We ugly people will never know that feeling.
[Edited at 2018-03-05 19:55 GMT] | | |
Mario Freitas Brazil Local time: 00:01 Member (2014) English to Portuguese + ...
Of all absurdities that we hear of regularly in our market, this one would be the world record! | |
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Price tolerance | Mar 5, 2018 |
Texte Style wrote: when my boss was contemplating hiring a male translator. The guy had said he expected a salary that was double mine, that didn't seem to trouble the boss. I hope you asked your boss for a raise. | | |