I heard a wonderful story last night, from a woman who has had a <\/span>varied, interesting andfrom any standpoint, successful, life.\u00a0\u00a0 Her secret?\u00a0 She didn\u2019t know there was a glass ceiling!\u00a0 In fact, she wasn\u2019t aware of most barriers that frustrate the rest of us.<\/span> In one of their first encounters, he took her gently by the elbow, and asked, \u201cBetsy, can you type?\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n At this point, most women would start breathing tensely, their muscles becoming rigid, ascertaining (probably correctly)\u00a0 they were being nudged into the traditional female role of lower-level support staff.<\/span><\/p>\n Surely being asked if they could make coffee would be next.<\/span><\/p>\n Betsy however, in all innocence, didn\u2019t get the implications.\u00a0 She simply grasped him by both elbows, smiled, and said sweetly, \u201cNo, Tom.\u00a0 Can you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n A woman who has worked successfully in many different areas during her multiple careers, she attributes her resilience and ability to bounce back when jobs folded and circumstances changed to the fact that it never occurred to her that she was blocked.\u00a0 She just went forward and found \u2013 no, apparently created \u2013 a new opportunity in a new field.<\/span><\/p>\n What would you<\/em> do if the barriers you encounter were really just gauze?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n More to the point if this question:\u00a0 what if you didn\u2019t know<\/em> there were barriers?\u00a0 \u00a0What if you didn\u2019t believe<\/em> they existed?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\n Here is a story she told: At one point in her career, she served as Assistant Commissioner of Prisons (a novel role for a woman right there.) \u00a0Along the way, the newly-elected Governor appointed a new Commissioner of Prisons, a young man who apparently had conventional ideas about how things should run and what were the proper roles of men and women in the workplace.<\/span><\/p>\n