[sdiy] Female sdiy'ers

[thx1138]

On 6/16/09 12:20 PM, "Veronica Merryfield" <veronica.merryfield at shaw.ca>
wrote:

> Time to chip in. I've been pondering how to contribute to this thread
> and find Scotts input useful.
> 
> My sister and I were raised by parents who encouraged us to be us,
> although I don't think they were so happy about some of the things
> that resulted in, but that's a different story.
> 
> I think one of the biggest influences was their decision not to have a
> television!
> 
> We were encouraged to get involved with daily life by both parents. We
> learnt home skills from our mother and home skills from our father :)
> We both learnt to cook, sew, iron, clean, shop and other home
> economics as well as plumbing, wiring, building, car mechanics and so
> on. Mum was strong in sciences and math, Dad was an artist and
> mechanic, both had had their troubles when younger and wanted us to be
> ourselves.
> 
> I think this is more key than what an education system at degree level
> can offer. The state schools we went too had some pretty teachers for
> what was an underfunded system perpetual threatened by closure which
> did happen. Both of us performed well enough although my sister was
> better at language than I was.
> 
> I did electronic and electrical engineering at university (6 girls in
> a class of 120), my sister did geological and civil engineering (4 in
> 80). I went into embedded electronics and software, my sister went
> into mine consultancy.
> 
> We are both musicians playing an array of instruments, some we play
> better than others but we can get something from most. I make
> instruments, mostly basses but I will tackle almost anything and like
> to take commissions from people that have disabilities that make
> playing conventional designs. My sister restores, maintains and off
> road races land rovers and other 4x4. I volunteer at the local
> industrial heritage society firing a steam loco and now training as
> engineer (and there is a lady down island at another outfit doing the
> same). I also 'play' with miniature livesteam railroads and am off to
> Train Mountain in a few days to attend an international gathering
> (where I meet with other ladies too and there is zero gender issues).
> I also design, build and fly radio control gliders (this was hard to
> break into in the UK mostly model shops treatment). My sister and I
> have volunteered with homelessness, additions, old people, hospitals
> and animal rescues. My sister is currently a volunteer councilor, I
> have lots of children, and adults, come to the farm where I help them
> find themselves.
> 
> I got into electronics from music messing with analog synths. Now I
> spend mow SDIY time with software instruments but am working on a
> fretless bass and synth system which sees me working in analogue, FPGA
> and software.
> 
> We both still purchase lego for ourselves by the way :)
> 
> Our work careers have been dominated by being in the minority although
> we have both seen that change in the last 10 years. I moved to Canada
> four years ago and my sister has stayed in the UK. I saw a marked
> difference in the male to female ratio here. Whilst working in the
> cell phone industry I also noticed a difference in scandinavian
> countries and Israel where the ratio is much higher. My sister is
> usually on her own and often ends up on site trying to get the guys to
> do various things. She has often resorted to running the machinery
> herself and is pretty good with an excavator! I got my own for the
> farm a year or so ago and am catching her up :)
> 
> We both cook, sew, garden, fix the house, have everybody elses
> children, pets, have televisions we rarely watch and partners that
> seem unperturbed by all this although sometimes I thing they don't
> ride the wake so well :)
> 
> I think in general men and women can do the same things. I think each
> individual is individual and equally capable but not always able to
> find that within them for all sorts of reasons. I find too many people
> have so much baggage that keeps them doing somethings and not doing
> others and very few that have found themselves. It is more likely this
> that makes the biggest impact and seems to be the hardest to resolve.
> 
> Not sure if this helps any but it is a precis of my perspective.
> 
> 
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Hi Veronica,

This is a note from Terry Shultz formally of Oberheim, E-Mu, PPG etc.

My wife, Becky is a Psychologist working with kids mostly, but in our early
days of dating and later marriage, she helped me build synth's at Oberheim,
E-Mu and PPG. She was great with a soldering iron and cable making. In the
end, she wanted to spend more time on people and less on technology. I think
audio is a personal passion in this SDIY thread and the desire to build new
projects.

My projects migrated to raising my 2 daughters and teach them to be as self
reliant as possible. In the end my interest is focused on building musical
equipment to get people to experiment with sound and not just solve another
layout issue or tweak transistors into other shapes. Been there and done
that. I wish to share the experience with other folks that have not done
this yet.

As for roles in the home, I cook, sew, clean, do laundry etc. I never
assumed that this was solely woan work. If I make a mess, I get to clean it
up. Still, I wish my daughters were more interested in Audio than playing
Violin.

Just my 2 cents

Terry