Today in news that will surprise no one: women are rarely doormen and building supers. The Times tracked down some of these ladies, who make up a measly 2 percent of their workforce, and did some research on the exact numbers. Of the 12,800 members in the city's largest building employee union, only 302 are women, and of the 3,000 superintendents in the union, only 45 are women. Why the discrepancy? The fields are traditionally male and the turn over rate is extremely low. "To get a doorman job, usually somebody has to die," said one expert.
But more women are moving into these positions, despite the disparaging comments from residents or the public. A doorwoman at an Upper East Side condo said that one man asked her if she was in the Army and questioned her ability to protect the building. As the Times says (and as we all learned from "The Doorman" Seinfeld episode), "building security generally has more to do with keeping a pair of eyes on the door than with hand-to-hand combat."
We'll know the workforce has evened out when we see a female counterpart to the hottest doorman competition.
· Holding Doors or Fixing Pipes, Women Who Work as Building Employees Are Still Rare [NYT]
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