When (and why) SHE fails the male test
What happens when women try to break into a male domain? A real story from Venice allows Diversity practitioners to verify key dynamics they should be aware of. Meet the first female and the first transgender GondolierasâŠ
It might have been one of last exclusively male bastions: The profession of Gondolier on Veniceâs canals. For almost 1,000 years (!), strict regulations and traditions governed how to obtain one of the 420-ish licenses to row tourists along the 177 waterways. Today, there is an official education with hundreds of hours of learning and training as well as a formal exam. Until a few years ago, the jury was exclusively male although this was illegal under Italian law. And up until 2010, no woman had ever managed to pass all tests. Miraculously, over centuries the sons of former Gondoliers appear to have always been qualified and obtained their licenses.
First women to operate as a Gondolier just came out as transgender
The closed all-male Gondolier system was first provoked by Alexandra Hai who came to Venice as a German woman with Algerian roots doing historical research in the mid-1990s. After learning and practicing on âferry gondolasâ, she decided to attempt the official Gondolier test and failed. Not only that she failed once, but several times over several years, and with worsening scores. âOutsiders are inspected carefully and fight an uphill battleâ, Diversity expert, Michael Stuber, explains the dynamic behind the phenomenon. In Venice, the case led to law suits and fierce public debates, including statements that âwomen should stay at home and take care of the familyâ. Hai found a niche to work as a private Gondolier in 2005 which was forbidden by a new law (introduced the following year) that only affected her. âCriteria for group membership are raised, when outsiders find a way to participateâ, Stuber adds. As this law had to be repealed, Hai is still the first woman to operate as a Gondolier in Venice. In July 2017, Alex Hai, as he is now called, announced that he is transgender and will continue his life as a man. It is impossible not to see some irony in this part of the story.
First official female Gondolier complies with some traditional norms
The title as the first officially recognised and â based on her passed exam â licensed Gondoliera went to Giorgia Boscolo. She followed the footsteps of her father who had worked in this profession for some 40 years. While she was probably privileged through her family roots, and by Alex Hai who had prepared some of the ground, Ms Boscolo also faced some barriers when she enrolled in 2010. She told the Press that the men had joked with her and that âa woman would not be able to control a heavy and long gondolaâ, âbut I told them that I had given birth to two children and that was far more difficultâ. Ms Boscolo was congratulated by several officials when she had passed the exam. They were âdelighted with [her] achievementâ and were sure that other women will be âfollowing her exampleâ, and that âmale colleagues will share her delightâ.
The token exception to the rule does not imply a break-through
That things are not quite so easy can be seen from the fact that two other women in her course did not succeed in passing the test. The president of Veniceâs gondoliersâ association was quoted to point out how âdifficultâ the exam was, regardless of gender. âItâs a very technical job and involves lots of different skills, like watching for weather patternsâ and added that the training was not easy for women, âespecially if they have small children to look afterâ. The biased perspective on both the tasks and on women might seem all too familiar to Diversity practitioners. âThe statements echo assumptions from various male domains in businessâ, Stuber reports, referring to his work in production environments and â more significantly â management and executive levels. âSenior managers create and stabilise a leadership culture that perpetuates inflated assumptions about their jobs while they still hold stereotypical beliefs about women in generalâ. Allowing exceptions is their trick to accept reality and to salve their conscience. Exactly what happened with Giorgia Boscolo, who is still the only licensed Gondoliera.