Women in Weights and Measures: The weight we all carry
Kate Smetana Colorado Department of Agriculture
At my first national metrology training, I sat next to a male colleague during one of the training sessions. Before the instructor started, we chatted about our labs, our day-to-day work, and how we liked being state metrologists. After a moment of thought, he pointed out that my lab was made up of 2 females, then casually asked “who calibrates the 50 lb weights?”. My response – “Do I look like I can’t lift a 50 lb weight?”. Now, I can come off a little more argumentative than I intend to at times, that’s on me. He, of course, apologized profusely for coming off the way that I had interpreted the question. Did he mean to imply that women can’t lift 50 lb on a regular basis? Probably not. But this wasn’t the first time I had been on the receiving end of a questionable comment about my abilities as a woman in the field of weights and measures. I was an inspector before I moved into the lab. Ask any female inspector, and they have a story. I promise. I’m not sharing that anecdote to start a political debate about DEI or to set women apart from anyone else in the NCWM membership. I share it because I don’t think I’ve ever shared it with a male colleague before, and I’ve certainly never shared it with this group. I’m also not sharing it with all of you for pity or recognition either. I’m sharing it as an example of why Women in Weights and Measures means so much to those of us who joined the group. We can share these anecdotes freely and without judgement. We can offer suggestions on how to respond. We can encourage each other to take the questions and comments at face value. In all actuality, these anecdotes may be discussed, but rarely come up in our meetings, if ever. We are all colleagues in this group. We are not female or male colleagues. Just colleagues.
37
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker