Date: Fri 07-Mar-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

business-women-jobs-BPW

Full Text:

Women Speak About Their

Non-Traditional Jobs

The experiences of women in non-traditional jobs were the focus of the Newtown

Business & Professional Women's Club meeting Monday night at the Fireside Inn.

The speakers included (from left) Clare Farley, a construction technology

teacher at Cheshire High School; Liz Gottung, manager of Kimberly Clark's

Huggies diapers production plant in New Milford; Janice A. Roman, vice

president and chief financial officer of The Taunton Press; and Marie Burnham,

general manager of the physical plant and other hospitality services at New

Milford Hospital. -Bee Photo, Valenta,

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Marie Burnham, a soft-spoken young woman who is expecting her third child, is

a mechanical engineer who is head of the physical plant and nearly all

non-medical support services at New Milford Hospital.

But most people who come to her office for the first time assume that she is

the secretary for a male boss.

"I've always been the only woman - except for the secretary - in my department

in all of the jobs that I've had over the past 12 years," the Newtown resident

said. "I'm always assumed to be the secretary."

When Liz Gottung graduated from college with a degree in business, she spent

seven months looking for a job.

"The first question I was always asked was whether I could type," she said.

Today, she is plant manager for Kimberly Clark's infant-care division plant in

New Milford, in charge of 330 employees and a multi-million dollar budget.

Clare Farley was studying for a master's degree in special education when she

abruptly decided that she'd rather be a carpenter. Eventually, she left the

Midwest and moved to Connecticut, where she became a rehabilitation specialist

in charge of renovating multi-family homes in Bridgeport and New Haven.

Teamwork

Janice A. Roman was raising five children when she joined her husband in his

fledgling publishing business. Today, she is vice president and chief

financial officer of The Taunton Press, a company which employees 300 people,

publishes seven magazines and 40 books a year.

The four women were guest speakers Monday night at the meeting of the Newtown

Business and Professional Women's Club in the Fireside Inn. All attributed

supportive parents, who never questioned that their daughters could do

anything they wanted, to playing a key role in their success in

non-traditional jobs.

"My generation was very pragmatic - the silent generation of the 50s," Jan

Roman said. "I was a Depression child, the youngest of four children. My

parents sent their daughters to college - their sons were on their own - and

everyone was expected to make it."

Women of that generation tended to wind up in supporting jobs, she said, as

she did when her husband started the publishing company. "He was a physics

major but decided he wanted to be the editor. I was an English major and wound

up with the computers and the bookkeeping."

Businesses today are moving away from the traditional hierarchy to place more

value on teamwork, she said. "The most impressive thing women have added is

teamwork and fair play. In fact, that's the easiest way to run a business -

ethically and fairly."

Barriers

Marie Burnham said she felt a strong sense of isolation as almost always the

only female in her classes, from her high school days in a technical school in

Boston, through engineering classes at Northeastern University, to her jobs

running hospital plants.

"There have been many hardships and barriers," she admitted, "but I expected

it. It has been a bumpy road but a challenge and an opportunity for great

growth. As a woman, I like to think I bring a different perspective - often

better - to facility management.

"Today, when I am asked to add another job - I will soon also be in charge of

the communications department at the hospital - I look upon it as an

opportunity to learn an additional skill as well as having greater job

security."

Learning To Network

Liz Gottung, the eldest of seven siblings, said she never knew that she was

different until she tried to join Little League and was turned down because

she was a girl. Her approach throughout life has always been that "everyone

would like, respect and enjoy working with me."

"It's a male-dominated world, and you have to learn to network within it," she

said. "I developed a thick skin."

Historically a very conservative company, Kimberly Clark has come to recognize

that you have tolerate diversity to get the "brightest and the best"

employees, she said. Most of the employee benefits that are now available at

Kimberly Clark have come through the work of focus groups that are part of a

diversity plan, which is being implemented throughout the corporation, she

said.

What Next?

Clare Farley said years of being the only woman on a construction job site was

an education in itself, although there was great satisfaction in working for

non-profit organizations rehabilitating housing "to help make people's lives

better."

"When I wondered `What next?' I realized that in addition to liking technical

things - knowing technical skills is empowering - I also liked the social

aspects of helping people. So I went back to get certified in teaching and now

teach construction technology courses at Cheshire High School, where I am

trying to interest more young women in technical trades."