Ra Eldredge
23
Ra Eldredge graduated from Putney in 1979. She has worked in
oil industry, a professional office setting and now she’s an art
Were you treated differently because of your gender?
Looking back, I worked in Scotland for three years, and they were not as far as along as the US of the awareness in sexu-
al harassment. The working environment was more toxic for women. I was in an office with 400 people, and I have been
there for three years. I have never saw a pregnant women because if you were pregnant, you were expected by company to
leave. However, I got pregnant at that time and I became the only pregnant women out of 400 people. In 1999, before I got
pregnant, I asked if I had a child while in Scotland, would I be on the American Family leave policy or Scotland family leave
policy. I was told by the head of HR that I could not have a baby, which you would never hear in US at that time. I was 38
year-old professional woman and I had already had a baby. These words made me think that I shouldn’t have the second one.
I couldn’t believe it, but then I ignored him and had baby anyway. The last day I worked for this company was the day I had
my baby. I quit that day. They also used to bring strippers to the office for birthday parties even though it was a professional
office. They used to talk about women’s bodies. They judged professional women by their bodies but not their skills.
While pursuing your interests, did you meet any voices against you?
I heard a lot more in Scotland than I did in the US. I did spend a couple weeks in Australia as a professional geologist, and
it was way worse there than Scotland. In terms of being accepted in the working place, it’s much better to be in the US than
elsewhere.
Did you encounter any limits or challenges because of your gender?
I had many colleagues who stayed in the industry and had children, but they didn’t see them many times because they
worked a lot. As a European, you have a lot of vacation. As an American, there's much less sexual harassment, but we are
very stingy with our time-off and maternity leave. It’s a big compromise. Now I choose to take a big pay compromise be-
cause I choose to be a teacher, and I have more time with my children. But I have friends who stayed in in the industry and
their kids had to go to daycare or summer camp. It’s difficult. And I chose not to do that after five and half years. Honestly,
the reason why I chose to be a teacher at my kids’ school is because I get the exact same vacation they get. I like teaching of
course and I had more time with my children by becoming a teacher at their school than any other profession.
Was that why you decided to quit your job?
Yes, it was a family decision. They actually wanted me to stay, but it wasn’t a balance that I felt comfortable with.
What do you hope to change for other
women in this field in the future?
It’s getting better in companies for women. They allow
half maternity leave, and also paternity leave. That
was hard for us to have only few weeks off. Taking care
of newborns was hard, but really the hardest part was
when children were in elementary school. I would love
to see more flexible working hours. It would be great
if you could be at home when kids came back from
school. Americans are famous for working really hard
and being stingy with vacation. I do think Europeans
are better at figuring out balance between family and
work. It’s a funny balance. It’s hard for small compa-
nies to say “take two years off and I will have a job for
you when you come back”. I am not quite sure about
the right balance. Good quality day care is also helpful,
but that still doesn’t solve the problem of children at
school. There’s no perfect solution.