Interview with Dr. Val Jones
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Today’s interview is with Dr. Val! She blogs at Dr. Val and The Voice of Reason at Revolution Health.
1) What do you think are the biggest challenges for women around the world today?
The challenges vary considerably, depending on culture, religion, socio-economic status, age, marital status, whether or not she has children, and geographic location. I can imagine that a single woman with 5 children who lost her husband to AIDS in Sudan is facing very different challenges than a single college student studying political science at Yale. That being said, I’ll focus on the “Western” issues that are familiar:
1. Unequal pay. Even in the most enlightened countries, women with similar education, skills, and experience (to their male counterparts) make 77 cents on the dollar for the same work. This is illegal in the US, and is happening all around us: It’s Time for Working Women to Earn Equal Pay.
2. Sexual harassment. Sadly, women are often objectified in the work place and experience either overt or covert prejudice because of their gender. I interviewed a woman recently on my blog who told me that she found that being obese gave her a distinct advantage over other women, because her male colleagues saw her as a “person” and not as a sexual object. I know that sounds crazy, but I think she has a point.
3. Glass ceilings. Just as in the animal world, people succeed by copying the behaviors of those in power – it establishes that you’re part of the peer group. In corporate America, that means that women need to behave like men in order to advance. The irony is that women who copy male behaviors are generally disliked and are not truly accepted by their peers. So it’s a real catch 22 – you’re begrudgingly offered a leadership position once you establish that you’re like the other guys or you refuse to act differently and may advance if you clearly demonstrate that you work twice as hard and are twice as smart as the others. Either way, you will generally be disliked. I’ve chosen to go the “work twice as hard” route.
4. Gender profiling. I can’t tell you how often people have expressed surprise that I’m a physician – they usually assume I’m a drug rep or a PA, PT, or a nurse. It used to annoy me when people said, “but you don’t look like a doctor” or when I worked in the ER and my patients would demand to “see the physician” when I was interviewing them. I even had a parent ask if the lab tech could suture his son’s wound (not realizing that the male in the white coat was not a physician). He just assumed that ANY male would do a better job than I would. It was infuriating.
2) If more women were in positions of power do you think the world would be different than it is now? If so, in what way?
Well, in order to answer this briefly, I will need to resort to gross generalizations. So take this with a grain of salt…
I think that women tend to be multi-taskers and creative problem solvers. If more women were in positions of power, we would see a less structured work environment, more flexibility in accomplishing objectives, and a lot less “posturing” and time spent in male bonding activities like drinking and attending sporting events. I also think we’d save a lot of money because grand gestures, gambles, hostile takeovers, inflation of company value, would be replaced with more conservative decision making. That being said, women have a tendency to talk too much (yes, even gossip) and can sometimes have difficulty getting things done quickly.
I honestly think that men and women are amazingly complementary in their work styles and abilities. When they respect one another and remain true to themselves they can do amazing things together (instead of wasting time trying to be identical to justify their equality). The best supervisor I’ve ever had was a man who was gender-blind. He truly didn’t see people as male or female – he just listened to their ideas and watched their output and judged/promoted them accordingly. He was tough and didn’t mince his words (I saw this as a great strength of his that I didn’t have) and I was creative and built connections where he never dreamed there would be any. It was such a joy to work with him because I could really be myself (I didn’t need to feign interest in male activities) and he could be himself (he didn’t need to coddle me). All I can say is that if you can be part of a team like that – count your lucky stars!
3) How does your blog help to Inspire, Dare or Educate women to Achieve and Succeed?
Unfortunately female bloggers tend to be pigeon holed (whether they want to or not) into writing for women exclusively. I like to think that my blog appeals to men and women, and I write with both in mind. Judging from my comments section, it seems that both genders read my work – which is category breaking in and of itself. I hope this inspires other women to feel comfortable being themselves – without needing to cater to their own gender. I’m really excited to have a popular blog that’s getting attention from major media outlets in a category that is dominated by men (healthcare). Blogging is a great way for women to shine, because good writing is not gender-specific. As more of us women blaze a path to financial independence through our blogs, more will dare to follow.
4) George Carlin once said that God must be a man because a woman never could or would let the universe get as messed up like it is. What do you think? If there’s a God – male or female?
Well, George is a very funny man. I think his point about the “mess” is related to male aggression and the hostility and war that can result. But women have their faults too… and I think if we were in charge we’d probably create a uniquely female mess of things. What that would look like, I’m not entirely sure. Maybe we’d be hoarders and those less fortunate would die of neglect rather than war? As to God’s gender – I’m a Christian so I believe that God is neither male nor female. But if the house tells you something about the architect, I guess you can say that God’s personality is reflected most completely in the combination of the two genders. Knowing that should help us all to reflect on the incredible honor and value there is in being a woman or a man.
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Thank you very much Dr. Val!
Please take some time and visit Dr. Val’s blog: Dr. Val and The Voice of Reason!
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