Poll: Have you ever felt your work as a translator was underestimated because of your gender?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Mar 5, 2018

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 »



 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:40
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
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.

 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:40
German to English
+ ...
It helps to have a generic name Mar 5, 2018

i.e. they can't quite guess my gender based on my name.

 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
No Mar 5, 2018

I would have thought age, qualifications, location/nationality and experience would be more obvious grounds for discrimination. Been done on all of those.

 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 15:40
French to English
yes Mar 5, 2018

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.
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Joohee Kim
Joohee Kim  Identity Verified
South Korea
Local time: 23:40
Member (2017)
English to Korean
+ ...
No (woman) Mar 5, 2018

It's the reason I love this job.

 
Morano El-Kholy
Morano El-Kholy  Identity Verified
Egypt
Local time: 16:40
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.
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Judith Anne Smith
Judith Anne Smith  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 15:40
Member (2010)
Spanish to English
+ ...
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
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Miyoung Park
Miyoung Park  Identity Verified
South Korea
Local time: 23:40
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]


 
Stephanie Mitchel
Stephanie Mitchel  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:40
French to English
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]
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Daniel Frisano
Daniel Frisano  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 15:40
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
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 11:40
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
What?? Mar 5, 2018

Of all absurdities that we hear of regularly in our market, this one would be the world record!

 
Melissa McMahon
Melissa McMahon  Identity Verified
Australia
Local time: 01:40
French to English
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.


 


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Poll: Have you ever felt your work as a translator was underestimated because of your gender?






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