History of Feminism

Oh boy.

I was a legal secretary for my dad. Then I went to college and court reporting school for an associate's degree.

I was a court reporter for 20 years. Got a B.A. in biology and a law degree. I was overqualified and had obviously outgrown my profession. The president of the National Shorthand Reporters Association (now the NCRA) would not let me put "B.A., J.D." after my name, in their national directory, because they had never seen the inside of a university. The guy just had a two year community college degree in court reporting. I had that degree TOO. He was judging me and had no right to. He said "a biology degree is no big deal but a law degree is really something". How the hell does he know? Could he pass the biology courses I took? Not to mention freshman chemistry which I made a B in and LOVED.

The court reporters make noises about continuing ed and people getting a bachelor's degree but they don't really mean it. I think it's because it's a female dominated profession and they don't really want females getting a serious education. A B.A. in biology was bad enough but a doctorate in law was really threatening. I gave up my court reporting license after the state board wanted me to explain how a biology degree and a law degree would make me a better court reporter. And I was the best educated court reporter in the state. And it's a big state.