Don, I can assure you that there were not nearly as many women 30 years ago as there is today. I think that those who started, were more attracted to a formal program like NBSS, because most of us found it hard to find someone to mentor with privately, or a shop situation that would give us the time of day. So, the impression might have been a bit skewed. I think a school alternative may still be more attractive for several reasons for many women just starting out. The official PTG membership says that around 20% are women joining each month. However, there is a higher attrition rate for women, and fewer make it to RPT status. Now, of course, there are many factors going in to that. I would guess that the female RPTs number closer to 12% of the membership. This is just my random sampling based on monthly membership announcements. Recently, there has been a huge surge in new female members. As President of the Seattle Chapter, I have to say that the past two years has shown an increase in women applicants. We have also had more women drop out than men. We've also had a couple of babies from those new women members. That can put a kink in working on your tuning hammer technique! Jeannie Grassi, RPT Assistant Editor, Piano Technicians Journal mailto:jcgrassi@earthlink.net -----Original Message----- From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of Don McKechnie Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 8:44 AM To: caut@ptg.org Subject: Re: [CAUT] Differences? This has been a interesting thread. But first, congratulations Richard! A good run I'm sure. I'm looking forward to something similar in the not too distant future. That is, if this place does not kill me first. :-) I mentioned to Michelle not long ago that it seems like there are less women present at the annual convention than say ten or more years ago. It would be interesting to see the statistics of male/female Guild membership over the past 30 years or so. It is my perception (which could be way off) that 30 years ago when I got started, there were more women trying out this profession than there are now. At least a third of my class at North Bennett were women. I wonder what the ratio is these days in any school? I have had a few more women than men do workstudy/internships with me here at IC, but none of my students have taken up the profession. They enjoyed the work but their music career came first. The times, they are a-changin? A pity if so. Don _______________________________________________ caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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