Return to Compass Features for April 29, 1997
Select role models--even if they are men.
That's just one of the nuggets of advice offered to a crowd of about 70--moms, a few dads, and daughters--at the start of Thursday's activities planned around "Take our Daughters to Work Day."
The advice came during a morning panel discussion, "Making Dreams A Reality," which showcased five of the many outstanding, successful women on campus.
Other activities included two sports-related programs, behind-the-scenes tours at the University of Pennsylvania Museum and at the Morris Arboretum, and a career-counseling workshop.
Did the panel think being female created problems for them, asked panel moderator Marilyn Kraut, coordinator for Human Resources Quality of Worklife Programs.
Virginia Clark, vice president for development and alumni relations, did not think being female stood in her way. But Maureen Rush, director of Police Operations on campus, had a different experience.
"We were not welcomed in the Police Academy," said Rush, who was one of the first 100 women in the Philadelphia Police Department to go on street patrol. "People didn't know how to react to us." So she just did the job.
She added that being a woman at Penn, "It's not really a problem."
None of the panelists seemed shy about competing with men.
Dveera Segal, Law School lecturer and clinical supervisor, said she never worried about being smarter than the boys.
Bonnie Ragsdale, associate director of staff, faculty and alumni volunteer services, did not hesitate to compete with her brothers. She played football, hiked, did whatever the boys did. "For Christmas, I wanted the doll, but I wanted the G.I. Joe as well," she said.
The talk about role models and mentors pointed to how men had helped some of these women. When Rush joined the Philadelphia police, "there were no female role models," she said. So she looked to men who exhibited the traits she thought were important. They were good crime fighters but they were also compassionate and reasonable. Two male mentors--officers who she thought were good managers--helped her prepare for exams for promotion.
Margaret Sovie, Jane Delano Professor of nursing administration, got a key bit of advice from a male mentor: "If you want something, don't be afraid to go and ask." Sovie, from a small French Canadian town on the St. Lawrence River, confessed that she became a nurse because the only school in town near the love of her life was a nursing school. She's still married to him, she's still a nurse and she's glad of both.
Other bits of advice and experience emerged during the talk.
Clark said that reaching for what you really want does not involve much risk, because "life is not fragile." She also said that school success and work success are not the same. "I was never the smartest kid in my class. Working hard and being able to ask questions are just as important skills as being able to absorb information quickly. You don't have to be the smartest person in your class to be successful."
Rush remembered that when she began police work, she felt enormous pressure to prove she could do the job. Then she walked into an armed robbery in a drugstore. "It was a life-threatening experience. It changed how I did my job. I started getting more support [from the other police]. It stopped me from trying to prove every day that I could do the job. ... Just do the very best job you can, and don't spend your energy proving anything."
Ragsdale said that at 44 she's still learning. "I haven't stopped educating myself," said the Wharton grad who went to school after having two children and disliking a dead-end job making hoagies and steak sandwiches.
Segal, who had asked her mother for career advice, said "You have to find what you want to do; no one can do it for you."
And Rush, who recently adopted a baby girl, ended the program with this advice: "You have to love yourself. It's more important for you to be what you want to be and not what someone else wants you to be."
Return to Compass Features for April 29, 1997