At 19, she began working there as a stagehand, typically the only female member in a 28-person crew.
Friday, October 07, 2016
Backstage and Now the Boss: ‘The Only Girl in the Building’
At 19, she began working there as a stagehand, typically the only female member in a 28-person crew.
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21 comments:
It’s cool that she has a degree in psychology. I think it goes back to the earlier articles about stage managers, that being able to understand the rest of the crew, particularly when you are the one in charge, is so important. That said, I think that it is even more important that the head carpenter earns the respect of the crew than it is for a stage manager, because, as she repeatedly said in the article, her primary responsibility is safety. If her crew doesn’t listen to her, someone could get hurt. I’ve always thought about theatre as something where connections make a big difference, you need people to want to work with you and to keep hiring you, but I hadn’t really thought about nepotism, as the article so casually pointed out. It was pretty shocking how few members of Local 1 were female (approximately 200 out of 3,000). It’s not just notable that she is the first female head carpenter in Local 1, but that she is a female in local 1 at all.
I honestly thought this article was going to be about something different. This woman broke a theoretical glass ceiling and it was glazed over in a single sentence in the middle of the article. It made me question if she actually broke the glass ceiling or if she was able to do so because of nepotism, which makes me feel bad about myself because either way, she got the job and it is good for women everywhere. That being said, I think the article did not properly address the matter at hand: there are not enough women in Local 1, let alone in upper management positions. And we need to ask ourselves why? Then, we need to start fixing it. I understand that the number of people in Local 1 is pretty low and that a lot of them have already been there for a long time, but it feels like diversity is fighting a losing battle against the union if a pretty amazing achievement is grazed over in a sentence or two in a pretty long article. Also, the article felt the need to justify her position in the union by saying that her husband and male relatives are also working members. She clearly earned the job if she was asked to interview for this position; let her have her moment.
With so many feminist articles on the blog weekly, this is one of my favorites. I like that it isn't just complaining how few women are working in Local 1, she is showing what it is like from her perspective on the job, and keeps it real. I admire her to be able to keep her head high, not become a crazy feminist that is a man hater, and still stands her ground. It is a little saddening but a reality that so much of the work is based on family connections, and the who you know idea. It almost unqualified her position, in that she only got to be at the top because of her father, not her own work, which I am hoping is not true. As a women I have the experience on being the only female on a working call a few times, and I don't want to say it is a bad thing, but it feels different. I hope more statements from women like Diaz are brought out more, because it is just real and shows what are norm in the industry is, and from their you can formulate your own perspective and changes that should be made.
I love this article in how it addresses and tears down gender stereotypes within the theatre industry, specifically stagehands. I find it amazing how Diaz has accomplished so much in the stagehand industry in such a short amount of time, as she is only 34 and is head carpenter for Local 1. It is even better because IATSE is traditionally male centric, and has long ingrained brotherhood custom that needs to be broken into. The fact that she has a psychology degree can teach a lot of theatre professionals that many of the most important skills we can have as people in the theatre are non-theatrical. She seems to be an extremely competent stagehand and human being and I am glad she is being recognized for being so. I hope that having women in leading roles throughout the theatrical and entertainment industry will be a continuing trend in the years to come.
These are the articles I live for. There is honestly nothing more inspiring to me than hearing about women who break the antiquated boundaries of male dominated environments and find success by pursuing their passion. The fact that there are so few women with positions like this one needs to be talked about, I think that the celebratory manner that this article was written in was perfect for the story. When I told my family and friends that I wanted to go to school for technical theatre and "behind the scenes work", the replies I received were almost exclusively things like "are there a lot of girls in that field?" or, "are you going to be okay working with just boys? That's gonna be a hard field for you to break into." All things considered, I fondly earned the title of "president of the boys club" and continued pursuing my passion for technical theatre. Jennifer Diaz is clearly qualified and worked hard to prove herself time and time again. She's made history as the first female head carpenter at Local 1, and I'm excited to see what she'll do next as the head carpenter and as a strong woman in the field.
I can't believe that in 2016 that she is one of the firsts in the industry. However one thing that was interesting is the fact that her whole family was in the union. Would she have been able to move up in the ladder without her family being in the union. It even stated that nepotism is very big. I am very happy that she was able to break the glass celling and move into a high position. Hopefully in the future more and more diversity will happen with jobs like this.
This is one of the most interesting articles I have read on this blog yet. I love The New York Times, but I especially love their occasional profiles of unique people in unique places. It's amazing to me that stagecraft and working class professions like it are so male dominated. While I'm not surprised that the majority of head carpenters are male, I'm really surprised that the entire crew she was working with on the show she described was all male. I'm surprised that even today, in a profession I don't usually think of as male dominated, it is still very apparent. Unrelated to the male versus female divide in stagecraft, I also never knew how tough Local 1 was to join--either you know someone in it or you hit the incredibly high qualifications. With all this in mind, I hope the industry starts shifting towards a more equal divide of men and women. It's happened in stage management, and in artistic, and I hope that we can see that everywhere soon.
I like the personal stories of stagehands, and people that have made a life in this profession, its not all misery and bad relationships, far from it actually. It is good to see a woman doing that job, and doing it well. I wish we lived in a time when it wasn’t remarkable for this to be an achievement, but for now, its important to recognize that it is a big one. Dealing with those kind of people is hard enough in general, let alone when they don’t respect you. Unfortunately, respect in that position has a lot to do with being one of the boys, and being able to throw whatever you get right back, and letting whatever else roll right off your back. It sounds like she’s doing an excellent job of it! Occasionally, and it makes me sad to see women that feel like they have something to prove. They overcompensate from what they think people expect of them, and are often unpleasant to be around, and let it effect their work.
This article started out as an inspiring story about an underdog clawing her way to the top and ended by leaving the reader think she only got this job through nepotism. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt that she knows her stuff, but the article definitely alluded to the fact that Local 1 is completely an insider's game (which I have heard before again and again by friends in the business)
Also, I don't think that the industry is closed off to women, I just think there's not many women working their way into the field. By that I mean, I do not think Local 1 is rejecting women because they're women and thats why the percentage is low, I just think the applications are more rare than men.
Lastly, my favorite (sarcasm) part of this article is the fact that that even though she's accomplished this incredible milestone they spent two paragraphs talking about the way she dresses and her weight.
I actually read this article before it was posted on the blog and end up coming away very mix feelings from it. First I was shock and happy, I was shocked mostly because of the fact that she was local 1's first head carpenter in 2016 the lagg in the technical aspects of theater leave me heavily bewildered often. That being said the article left a bad taste in my mouth with its constant references to nepotism. While local 1 is infuriatingly notorious for this fact, the way that the article refenced the fact left me thinking that either they approve of the practice or that they were trying to under mind what skills and qualifications she had acquired over her career. In all it is a feel good article that I hope was poorly written in regards to its reference to nepotism.
I cannot believe that this article ended with talking about how Ms. Diaz "gained weight" due to lack of sleep and exercise because she was working TWO JOBS. Why couldn't the article end with speaking to her working two jobs? One job is time consuming enough, balancing two jobs is mighty impressive. Why couldn't we have celebrated her hard work throughout this editorial? Why did we have to end with a comment about her weight? Reading the ending of this article is truly infuriating.
I had issues with the writing here and there throughout the piece, but overall I could handle the subtle sexism. The ending was entirely uncalled for. And this article was written by a woman! Ms. Diaz has achieved such a great accomplishment for herself and forged a path for females behind her. It was really saddening to read an article that attempt to celebrate her, but just failed so epically at staying away from gender tropes.
I’m both very impressed by Jennifer Diaz and sad that she is the first woman to be the first female head carpenter of Local 1. I can’t say I’m surprised it took this look, which I think is part of what makes me sad about it, but I’m glad she has changed that. Given the way women are often treated in the backstage world, I’m very impressed by what Diaz has accomplished, especially given how young she is. I know that with the industry the way it is, it is much harder for women to be respected, especially when it comes to more physical tasks, and I’m glad that she is able to overcome that and challenge the preconceptions that lead to women in the industry not being treated fairly.
Another thing I found interesting about this article is the degree to which everyone is related to everyone else. I guess it makes sense, and I sort of knew there tend to be a lot of families in IATSE, but I didn’t realize it was to that degree.
Why is it that an article celebrating the first female head carpenter in local one, celebrating an undeniably feminist achievement and goal, still has so far to go? The article starts by describing what Mrs. Diaz was wearing and her general appearance (the article also refers to her as a "girl" many times, she is a woman. The word girl is too often used to demote women and portray them as young/childlike in their achievements. Many girls are forced to grow up very young. You become a woman when you start getting harassed for your body, when you become consciously aware of the danger involved in leaving the house every day, when you walk into an engineering class, or a backstage job, to discover that you are the only one of your gender in the room). I am so incredibly happy that women are becoming more common place in local one. I am elated that a woman has finally broken through and become a head carpenter. I feel like we often find ourselves distanced from the inherent sexism of our industry at CMU. Next fall the ptm office will host nearly as many women as men, and I realize now that that change is in no way reflective of the industry at large. As a woman entering this field, I cannot wait for the other glass ceilings to come tumbling down around us.
It makes me so happy to see women breaking barriers and defying stereotypes. However, of course it’s still disheartening that she is literally one of “the only girls in the building”. Backstage and behind-the-scenes is still overwhelming male- dominated, and not for a lack of female interest. Women are just held to such higher standards in terms of what they look like and how they interact with others. This past summer at my internship I was told not to wear tank tops so the carpenters wouldn’t “be distracted”, and was openly catcalled and ridiculed while the older guys were able to brazenly curse and say very crude things about women’s bodies with no repercussions. Even in this overwhelmingly hope-filled article, it is worth taking note that the writer still feels the need to talk about Diaz’s hair color, her “tomboy” style and her weight-gain during an off season. Why is this information relevant at all to all of the strides she’s made as a woman in her industry? For sure we still have a hell of a long way to go in terms of gender equality in entertainment.
I read this article first when a friend of mine posted it on Facebook and mostly I felt like it was a feel good article about a woman doing what I want to one day: breaking down gender stereotypes in the theatre industry and being very successful doing it. But at the same time it didn't leave me as happy as it should have. Reading some of these comments and re-reading the article I now realise why: as many have mentioned there are constant moments of subtle sexism and references to nepotism. Now I know that theatre is a “it's not what you know, it's who you know” industry, in fact I used that to my advantage this summer getting my internship. But still the idea that I might get passed over for a job simply because I don't know anyone on the inside, even if I am the most qualified applicant, is a little disconcerting. The other thing that bothered me personally about this article was Diaz’s comment at the end about how long it’s been since she’s seen a show. I know there are plenty of people who want to be in this industry just to do their own work, to build sets or figure out light plots, and they don't care at all for actually watching shows. But for me, working in theatre and being involved in the magic of theatre are completely inseparable. Of course I want to go see good theatre, and particularly shows that I’ve worked on, it's what keeps me inspired for the next project.
This article is such an encouraging read. I've been on a few crew calls where I was the only female among the group, and they were kind of stressful because of that alone. I can't imagine working in an environment like that every single day. I definitely have a lot of respect for Diaz for being able to tell the men, let alone men who are probably much older than her, to do their work in a way that "inspires them and not complain about how they were spoken to". One thing that Diaz mentioned in this article definitely worries me, which is how reliant this industry is on networks and relationships. No one in my family is in this business, and (this sounds weird but) I certainly hope that my degree at CMU and my work is worth more than who someone's parents are. Hopefully, there are more women who will break this barrier and male dominated industry.
I do not necessarily agree that women are discriminated against the theatre regarding trying to get jobs. I think that the interviewer looking for stagehands genuinely wants to find the person with the most experience and talent, male or female. I do agree that women can be thought of as below men when they actually get into the theatre. A past director I have worked with constantly asked for guys when there was physical labor involved. I found this a tad insulting because it made it seem like the girls on crew were incapable of doing the same work. I did say something and he became more conscious of it as the year went on, especially with the female technical director working by his side. I am glad that she has broken the glass ceiling on this level because it will become more and more common now that it has been done. I think it has been a slow process to get more female technicians but I do think that it is becoming more common, thankfully. The occasions in which I am getting talked down to just for my gender are becoming fewer to none as time goes on.
This woman sounds like a total rockstar. From her psychology degree to her tattooed wedding ring to her ability to manage people much older than her to her easy humor, she sounds like just the woman for the job. I'm a little confused by her title- isn't the managerial position she's taken on that handles payroll typically a steward? Anyway. I think we can all appreciate how challenging her job must be, especially as a woman. As the article says, Local 1 goes back more than 100 years, and it's very "in the family." People know each other, develop certain reputations within the Union, and most importantly, have a certain idea of how things are done. The fact that Jennifer Diaz was able to break through that "how things are done" wall and become head carpenter is extremely impressive, both for her and for those who hired her. It means that times are changing. One of our professors told us in class about the years she worked with IATSE crews, and just how often she was called things like "little lady" and "sweetheart." There can be some serious inherit sexism in backstage crews, so the fact that she was appointed to this position makes me very, very happy.
First of all YAS to Jennifer Diaz for being the carpenter head at such a young age.
I think people are more fine with this relations/network based industry when it works in favor of them, and become more uncomfortable when it works the opposite way. That's why we all squirm whenever someone blatantly speaks the "ugly" truth. I can't remember how many times, being lousy at networking, I've been told that networking is important in almost every industry on earth. We are people. And people can not shut down their subjectiveness forever. If two candidates are equally qualified, and one of them is your mother's best friend's daughter, who would you likely to hire? However, knowing this, I was still surprised at the extent to which relationship plays an important role in the union. Specifically, this: "Ms. Diaz’s tight-knit network is typical of the union, where many members are married to one another or related by blood." I mean, it's nice to have families in the union and industry when you are one of them but this blood networking sounds worrying. It has the possibility of union being dominated by some big families and working in favor of these clans.
This article depicts a conversation that needs to be had. In 2016 there shouldn't be firsts anymore, in my opinion. It's about damn time we break the glass ceiling. Corporations or even theaters, for that matter, who treat women as subordinate to men disgust me. I think its bad ass when I see a female TD. I love that theatre is inclusive and everyone has equal opportunity but I will admit there is , in some instances, a stigma when it comes to having women workers- one I whole-heartedly disagree with. Women can and will do just as good, if not better, job than men. It is important to review an individual's skill level and assess them that way rather than make easy assumptions about them because of their sex. This election is sparking so many conversations about gender equality and I love it. I can't wait to exercise my right on Nov 8th to put an end to gender inequality forever.
The number of women in tech theater is almost hilarious it’s so low. This lady is kicking ass and I love it because she isn’t talking about how hard it is to do her job because she’s a woman, or how difficult it was to get her job because she’s a woman, she’s just the best, and thats why she does what she does and she gets paid what she does. Thats not to say that it’s not important for us to talk about how difficult it is for women to get jobs in some businesses, or that there isn’t sexism in every day life, or work place assault isn’t prevalent or any of those things. However, we have to stop treating women in power like they are the only ones that will ever be there, and we have to cherish it before it’s taken away. It’s not going away, and as much as I like to know that women are making progress and I like to see the stories about them succeeding, I hate reading sappy articles about how difficult it was for them to get where they are. It’s hard. It’s hard for all women. We can acknowledge that it’s hard without making ourselves the victims, because the longer we are victims the longer the people who are victimizing us have power. We have to put on our big girl pants and say “today someone told me I couldn’t do something” or “today a guy at work said something inappropriate to me” talk to our friends about it for two minutes and then figure out what we are gonna do to fix it. Men need to change, the culture needs to change, and the only way we speed it up is by quitting acting like the world is not fair for us. It’s not. I understand that, I feel it everyday. But we don’t get to change it if we roll over and wait for it to change for us. Do your job, do it well, fight for what you deserve, and then much like this woman, act like it’s all just part of your day. Because thats the ultimate goal isn’t it? For us to stop writing articles about women in power and just know that they are there because duh of course they are there we are EQUAL? There is a way to accomplish incredible things and present them as though they are incredible, for anyone, not just a woman.
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