A Male Name Makes a Difference

     According to Harding, (2009), this day in history, blog writer, James Cartrand, exposed to the world that he is actually female blog writer, Mary Elizabeth Williams. For many years, her career as a writer barely made ends meet. At the same time, crude remarks and condescending criticisms made her feel inferior. To adapt, she quit mentioning that she had children or worked from home. On a whim, she decided to submit with a male name.


     The whim paid off. It does matter in the business world what gender a person originates from. The quality of her writing did not change, only her name changed. No longer did she suffer haggling and disrespect. Now she gained fewer revisions, compliments, and a huge pay raise.

     Throughout history, female writers have used pseudonyms to achieve acceptance. In the early nineteenth century, it sounds like a necessary act. However, in today’s twenty-first century it is a horrific to even fathom.

     People think they need alter identities to protect themselves. Secrecy is the best way to save a person’s family from harm, as well as not subjecting themselves to sexual innuendo or even worse death threats.

     Nonetheless, Mary Elizabeth proves that just because the women’s Suffrage movement gained the rights for women to own property, join the military, vote in public elections, and work outside of the home for wages, things really have not changed as far as acceptance goes. Whether the bias is subconscious or not, a female writer still earns half the wages of her male counterpart (Harding, 2009).

     Many observers of American Western culture believe women are equal to men in this country. Sadly, this story points to the opposite. The battle long ago started by the Suffragette’s still continues. The young women of the twenty-first century think there are enough female representatives in the political realm. However, women do not even make for half of representation. Do they know the “Glass Ceiling” still exists? Is this our best representation to Other World countries?

     Should we educate our wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, nieces, and granddaughters about what issues they face besides global warming and violence, or should we just begin by naming them Samuel, Franklin, and George?

References

Harding. K. (2009). Write like a man. Retrieved December 14, 2009, from. http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/feature/2009/12/14/male_pseudonyms/print.html

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