Pamela Simmons, editor in chief of JPCL, sat down with four female coatings professionals at SSPC 2017 featuring GreenCOAT for a candid discussion about their experiences in the coatings industry, past and present, and their aspirations for the future....
Great article Pam! As the father of three daughters (22, a senior in college graduating with a degree in bio-medical engineering, 20, division 1 soccer player and studying marketing and finance in business and a 16-year-old in high school) and a wife of 26 years (special education supervisor), this was an interesting, and uplifting read. As well as one close to my heart. I can tell you from a male perspective, and one who's been in the industry for over 30 years, that much has changed. The posters and calendar's depicting scantily clad or bare-woman in men's locker rooms and offices of decades ago are gone. As are the comments that one would come across back in the day. I cannot, of course, speak to the internal workings of large organizations, their hiring or firing practices or culture. But at least superficially, gender, race and other once-challenging identifiers are being replaced by recognition of competence. I like to believe that the industry I am so passionate about is fundamentally a meritocracy.
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