A part of the society still believes that there are women’s and men’s professions. Professions suitable for women are teaching, pharmaceutical work, journalism, service industry, artistic directions and the non-governmental sector. These views indicate that women are often perceived working in occupations that are relatively low-paying.
However, before we get to the professions, it is important to understand that, for example, according to the data from 2019, 61% of men and 38% of women believe that the duty of women is to take care of the house and family, not professional or career development.
This worldview is also expressed in the 2020 study of the National Statistics Office of Georgia, according to which the difference between the employment rate of women and men is 15.6% (the employment rate of men is 49.5%, and that of women is 33.9%). It should also be mentioned this indicator is not a result of the difference in the retirement age, because the biggest difference is in the population aged 25-34 and is 19.7%.
Despite public perceptions and challenges, there are women who are setting examples of success through determination and persistence in pursuing their goals, and showing others that it is still possible to succeed in fields dominated by men. In this article, you will read the stories of 4 successful women and find out what their experiences are like in the fields that many believe that “there is nothing for women there”.
Lusine Tamariani – Nautical Work
Nina Baidauri / Women from Georgia
Lusine Tamarian made it her goal to become a sailor in her last years of school. Until then, she had no connection with the sea and did not know what a sailor’s life was like. She made a decision and started working on enrolling in the Maritime Academy. She remember that this caused a lot of opposition.
Absolutely everyone around me – from my family, parents, to strangers – discussed and drew conclusions about me, and disliked my decision. Everyone thought that it was not a woman’s job, I had no business in the sea.
Lusine tells us that despite these protests, she did not give up on her decision, because she knew exactly that she had to reach her goal – “I had the mental readiness to listen to the opinion of others, I spoke up to defend my decision, and I was fully mobilized, which made it easier for me to overcome barriers”.
As she says, before starting the Maritime Academy, she had no idea, and she did not even think that she connected her future to a field, where only men would be around and she would have to face a lot of stereotypes.
“It was difficult at first, but then I got used to it. Until then, I didn’t realize that I would be the only woman in many spaces, including on a ship”.
Lusine was on a ship’s platform for the first time in 2019 and tells us that she still can’t remember that moment, the first days, without smiling.
I stood there wide-eyed and could not believe that I was here, I achieved this, I did it. When the ship left, I stood on the bridge and looked at the tiny uninhabited islands and the view of the open sea – I had never seen such beauty. Then I realized that this is an endless road that will definitely lead me somewhere. There are many risks and challenges, but at the same time, the sea is wide, exciting, freeing “.
Lusine Tamariani is now the second assistant, and so far she has gone through a long path of development with many steps. Although, she says that she never had difficulty dealing with challenges and always understood her personal responsibility.
“When you work as a sailor, you start from the bottom and gradually increase your qualifications. On every level, you have to face new challenges, do different things. At first I was a cadet, which is a person who studies, then I was a matroos, so to speak, a helping worker. Then I was the third assistant and worked on security issues, which comes with difficulties – for example, lifting weights, which was difficult for me, but it was necessary and I did it. I could not imagine it any other way, and nobody could do it for me”, – Lusine tells us that she wants to reach the peak of her career and become a captain, although she does not plan to spend her whole life at sea – “I have plans for the sea and on land too, in the future”.
According to Lusine, she felt doubt and mistrust towards her many times, but the closed space of the ship taught her that you should just not pay attention to the opinion of others.
“The closed space of the ship, the time spent together, helps you to get to know people best. I have met people who thought that they were above me because of their knowledge and experience many times, but I am confident in myself and it does not affect me. It’s easy to avoid people on land, but it’s impossible at sea, so you just have to learn not to pay attention to what others think.”
According to Lusine, examples of success, seeing when someone, even one person, succeeds and achieves what seem to be unbelievable goals, makes you believe that you can do it too.
“The main thing is to believe in yourself and to never give up. We women are persistent, purposeful, with the right determination we can even face an iron wall, at least that’s my experience,” she says at the end of the conversation.
Tsitsino Shengelia — Carpentry
“When the wood warmed up, gave off a specific smell, dusted, as soon as the exchange of heat and energy took place, when I realized that this is not a one-way process and it gives energy back to you, I felt that this was what I wanted to do,” – tells us Tsitsino Shengelia, a craftsman woodworker from Samegrelo, and the founder of the enterprise “From Tsitsi” .
Tsitsino tells us that that she liked handicraft ever since she was a child – she used to embroider, knit, sculpt, and was always interested in how the mechanism of a doll was, she cut up and reassembled toys.
“I grew up in a feminine environment. My grandmother taught me since childhood that men will not be kind to you, so if you want to survive and achieve something, be independent, loyal to your principles. Many girls of the same age did not have the same experience, they were not allowed to do anything, which still happens often. School, kindergarten are places where children should develop their imagination. But, for example, stereotypes still remain in kindergartens – girls and boys play with different toys. In this sense, I was privileged since I was a child, I used to disassemble and reassemble toys, sometimes it worked and sometimes it did not, but this process is important to develop your imagination or improve your hand motor skills. So, support from a young age is important.”
Then there were the 90’s and due to the existing situation in the country, it was more important to choose a practical direction than artistic work. That’s how she decided to go the dental school, later she worked in a bank and, because there was need for it, she also received an economic education, she had to defend herself legally, and so, based on her personal experience, she became a women’s rights protector.
“I gave trainings to women, I told them that everything would work out if they didn’t stop trying, and at the same time I was thinking that I should have done something that would serve as an example. Human rights activities in Georgia are stressful, and in order not to burn out, you need something take your mind off of it. I realized that I was being dragged into a vortex, and I needed to save myself first so that I could help others,” – Tsitsino recalls, and tells us that at that time she also tried herself at innovative technologies, and then carpentry appeared in her life.
“One day, bags made of a combining wood, leather and felt became very popular. I wrote to one of those pages and when they told me the price, I was shocked. I knew that my father, who had passed away a long time ago, had a drill, and I began to ask about it at home. They went crazy, saying they knew nothing about the 35-year-old drill. I found it and decided to update it. I went through the second-hand parts market, I was looking for a part, I asked the men and they answered me, snarling, that I couldn’t fix it yourself and needed man’s help. You tell me and I will do it, I said. Then, finally, I rearranged it and made my first wooden bag.”
That’s how she started to get interested in carpentry and soon she found out that she got into a profession where “no woman had ever gone before” before. She got some knowledge with the help of training videos, but she needed to master technical skills better, so she went to working shops, where they were not very nice to her.
“I visited working shops, there were men everywhere, I asked them to teach me. One of them looked at me in not a serious way, the other said: the ” owner” should come, what if you hurt yourself and then he comes to me? I don’t have time for problems, a man should come”. I told him that I didn’t have a father. “Not even brother? ” I said no. Don’t you have a husband? How can you have nobody? “I’ve been making decisions myself since I was 5 years old and I don’t need an owner”, I told him, I came back and got back to my studying materials”, Tsitsino tells us, noting that when she needed money for materials, she faced different problems – because in Georgia, inheritance and real estate are mostly handled by men. Taking a loan, mobilizing financial resources is much more difficult.
She recalls that she decided to participate in a program and filled an application, however, she did not receive funding in the first year and, as she tells us, it happened because they considered it impossible for a woman to be interested in carpentry.
Still, she did not give up – she worked hard, studied, participated in exhibitions, and despite the views of others, she did not give up on professional development.
I went to exhibitions and felt aggression and underestimation, suspicion from men. They looked at me in detail and told me – “You shouldn’t have it like that”, “You have a flaw here”. They were so obsessive about my work that I got angry, I walked around their works and pointed to them one by one – “If you did not like this with me, look how big of a hole you have”, “Hey, you couldn’t do this, you broke it”, “Wow, you didn’t have the equipment to do this”, – I told them.
A second attempt in getting funding to purchase power tools succeed, but the challenges women face in carpentry also extend to adapting tools.
“Carpentry work is not adapted to women – the machine tools are designed in a way that they are fully adapted to the anatomy of a man, even the glove is designed for a man’s hand – even the smallest size is too big for me. It’s my fourth year working in this field and only this year, I was accidentally able to buy work shoes, because large size shoes are mostly sold.”
Along with her self-development, the attitude of the others around her, who perceived Tsitsino’s professional goals as just a hobby, changed and she started receiving support from them.
“If you do something with all your heart, you don’t give up despite tears and disappointment, the universe sends you people. Same thing happened to me, my mentor within one of the projects was a person like this, who during the lockdown of the pandemic, when nobody needed accessories, helped me realize what I should do. That’s how I started a line of kitchen items – today, the enterprise “From Tsitsi” produces kitchen items in the footsteps of Georgian cuisine.
Tsitsino tells us that she was able to achieve success with courage, by not stopping despite unfair attitudes, by caring for her development, and with support.
Men often tried to prove their superiority by their physicality. Lifting weights isn’t an indicator of whether you’re good at your job or not. There are many details with which men constantly try to prove to you that you do not belong somewhere. However, we women approach work much more creatively – we know how to simplify a seemingly difficult task”, says Tsitsino, adding that often only courage and determination are not enough.
“Women are taught to be submissive, silent, and our self-confidence is destroyed. So, often many women are unable to inspire themselves that they can, that their voice is important, their vision is interesting. Women spend a lot of time and energy doing work at home, so, support is necessary – if the work in the house is not evenly divided, whether it is raising children, household chores or something else, it is much more difficult to think about self-development. If a person tells you that they have an idea, that they want to do something, tell them that you are there, that you understand, that you support them, and ask them what you can do to help”.
Tsitsino thinks that it would be good to get more women interested in carpentry, because it would give her an opportunity to make connections, and women would be able to empower each other.
“We still have a lot of work to do to establish ourselves in this field. From what I see, interest is growing. We already told men to move over, and now it is important that we sit down.”
Tamar Bolkvadze — Construction Engineering
Tamar Bolkvadze is a construction engineer. Her activities include construction process management, supervision and quality control. She has been doing this work successfully for almost 6 years and tells us that this time has made her a confident, independent person, in love with his work.
She also mentions that in the beginning of her career, mistrust was very common, but over the years it significantly decreased.
It still exists in a small dose, but I have to communicate with so many strangers, that I’m not surprised. However, compared to the initial stage of my career, it has decreased so much that it no longer causes me discomfort, but the opposite – it gives me more motivation and strength to work harder to express myself more.
Tamar’s desire to study engineering started in the 11th grade – she attended physics-mathematics and construction drawing classes at the same time, and she decided to study construction engineering by combining these two.
According to her, the main motivator in making the decision was her technical drawing teacher.
“My technical drawing teacher was also a construction engineer. He would send my drawings to the Technical Drawing Academy in Tbilisi, for student competitions. I received a first degree diploma first time I participated. My teacher told me that by combining my technical and technical drawing skills I would be a successful builder. And, during school years, I never felt stereotypical attitudes from the people around me”, – Tamar tells us and says that because of this attitude, she had no fear, and the main thing is that she had inner faith to become whoever she wanted to be.
To this day, women employed in fields considered to be men’s professions are often asked questions that no one asks men – “Why did they choose this profession?”, “Maybe it’s a coincidence”, and so on. However, Tamar’s strong character allowed her to defend her position.
“Despite many obstacles, with my hard work and self-confidence, I still defend my positions and let my voice reach everyone. Thanks to my character, it is not difficult for me”.
According to Tamar, stereotypes can be broken if a person’s desire is strong enough.
Desire gives a person strength to do whatever they want. When you want something with all your heart and work hard for it, there is no circumstance that you cannot overcome. Seeing each other’s success is also a great motivation. It gives you the strength to continue your search for yourself and the path to success. I had an instance when one of the girls at the university told me that I was her motivation to continue fighting in her chosen field. Those were the most important words I could have heard at that time.
Lily Pulariani – Digital Technologies
Lily Pulariani is a digital knowledge spreader who lives in the village of Dim, in Baghdati region, and shares digital knowledge with women and young people – or, more precisely, teaches them how to be safe in the digital space.
A few years ago, because of family responsibilities, she decided to return to her village and is now involved in both professional activities and house work, and digital empowerment of other people.
“My professional activity in the village is mostly remote. I tried it there too, including volunteering, but business at the local level is not properly developed and my knowledge was not relevant for them. Employment opportunities in the region itself are limited and are mainly related to teaching or public service. Another challenge I have here is the lack of a workspace where you can sit quietly, get away from everyday family worries and work,” says Lily.
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Another one of Lily’s activities, empowering others digitally and sharing knowledge, is also full of challenges. She says that it is much more difficult to popularize technologies in rural areas, because there is no community in the region that would be interested and help you to do the work.
“I’ve been trying to change things in the village for two years now, but I can’t fully see the results of these efforts. It often happens that a part of the population is completely detached from certain fields, for example, the technology. Education in the digital direction would benefit many people, including women, especially married women. Developing proper skills in this direction gives you the opportunity to work remotely, besides, many women living in rural areas create products that could become their source of income, if they knew better how to sell them,” says Lily, adding that in case of these women, acquiring new knowledge is associated with a number of barriers.
Women devote a lot of time working at home, and they are often unable to leave the house, so remote work is the best way of self-realization. However, they devote so much time to work at home and it is so tiring, that they don’t have time and resources to take care of self-development and gaining new knowledge. Developing in the digital direction can be quite time-consuming.
In Lily’s experience, the interest of women to develop in the technological direction is big, but daily challenges prevent it.
“We also had trainings in computer direction and when we were going to accept 10-12 women, more than 20 expressed their desire. It turned out that the claim – “Who needs a computer in the village?!” is a lie, and the problem is that they don’t have time or appropriate technology at home.”
According to Lilly, when coming across the school spaces, she observes that stereotypes related to the professions of women and men are still common, which is an additional obstacle to the interest of women.
“When I hear from students at school that they see the future in technological professions, I always wonder what project they were involved in, because they mostly get interested in this way. You can’t learn how to use a computer at school, it’s only accessible in class, under the teacher’s supervision, you can’t take care of your interests, you can’t search”.
Thinking about new professional opportunities, taking care of self-development, talking about personal experiences and empowering each other is much more easier when you have a place for socialization, a space where you can get together with likeminded people. However, spaces like these do not exist in the regions, which is an additional challenge.
“Every day we working at home, and when you want to rest, women gather at the neighbor’s house. Kitchens have become a space where we talk, but it is not a private, protected space where you can talk openly. Discussions on important topics for the village, conversations and thoughts about self-development rarely happen in spaces like this. It would be appropriate for this, for example, a library, which is needed by every village and is amortized and damp in our village. Similar spaces are not given attention in the regions”, says Lily.
According to her, if you express your interest to take care of it yourself, arrange it, make some space better, you face a lot of resistance, because it shows that if there is a will, changes can be made.
We still haven’t found a space where we can gather and talk, which will give us the opportunity to care more about the development of the village. Gatherings would give us an opportunity to think about common problems and mobilize the necessary force to make changes.
There are many problems in the development of digital skills in the regions, however, in some villages, the most important thing, access to the internet, is still not possible.
“The main thing is a good internet connection — there still are villages, including tourist destinations, from which it is difficult to even make a call. This creates many difficulties for the people living there, because you are completely cut off from the outside world, you are isolated,” says Lily.
