I remember one sweet young thing in the early
1970's on our Fen edge site who filled her
wheelbarrow so full that not another crumb
could be placed on it, looked around at one
of our number of Neaderthals and smiled
sweetly. He walked over, with his shovel in
hand, and proceeded to remove a few shovels
full of earth. He then asked sweet young
thing if she could lift it with that amount
in it. Sweet young thing said that she could.
Neanderthal then said "Effing well take it
yourself and don't fill it more than that the
next time, thank you very much". Result: end
of problem.

Being 6'4.5" tall and 200 lbs and immensely
fit at the time, and more importantly,
possessed of a very simple shoveling
technique taught by a one-eyed
African-American friend, I was routinely
called Superman by some of the more
dismissive folks on my first Brit dig. I told
them that I could train the smallest female
person on the site to move as much earth as I
could in a day and would take bets to that
effect. There were takers. I won more beer
than I could drink for weeks. Result:
paradigm shift on perceptions of small
females and shoveling techniques.

I also equally remember being called out on a
miserably rainy day to build the huts that a
bunch of diggers from "across the pond" and
from north of the 34th parallel would inhabit
for their field school. We were not happy
with our boss to be "volunteered" to help
another dig crew, but we unloaded the modular
site huts. The other director and his wife
were among the very, very few who did help us
build the danged things for their little
charges. We got them built, all the while
being watched by faces who peered out of
little circles rubbed in the condensation on
their bus windows. Only later did we hear
that when the little dears arrived in a
pouring rain to see the pile of walls from
the modular huts on the backs of the lorries,
that they took one look at us and said "Then
came the animals". Among our number were at
least two of the so-called weaker sex, but by
that time, gender wasn't an issue. Result: we
were a team of equals. We'd worked beyond our
so-called societal limits.

I've always been a firm believer in the old
Roman adage: Don't stand in the way of one
who is doing what others say can't be done.

I also can't help wondering how many folks
were incensed at INH's probably deliberately
provocative comments and resolved to burst
through those perceptions to the betterment
of our profession? Sometimes indignation is
as big a motivator as exhortation.

My tuppence worth.

Lyle