It goes without saying that the translation world is dominated by women. Are they simply better linguists? Do they by nature, possess the skills required for success in the field? While we ponder on the answers, I would like to, in commemoration of Mother's Day, highlight and express gratitude to my female stronghold. I am surrounded by, and have drawn inspiration from many resilient women. Across the globe, women have come a long way, and significant strides have been made towards empowerment and gender equality. Yet, the struggle to face and overcome the sometimes unfair competition and discrimination between sexes is still very much alive; even in seemingly tolerant/equal workplaces or the most advanced societies. The gender wage gap in America for example, cannot be overemphasized. For the purpose of this blog, we would like to focus on sharing the experiences, tips and lessons learnt from our journey in the freelance world. Women in the freelance world may be faced with very different and subtle gender issues than their mainstream counterparts but it's a huge consolation they do not have to worry about gender pay gap; quality service is the determining factor. In fact, we may be in a vantage position for dominating the language industry. No offense to my very able male colleagues and I know I can't say this out loud, but are women just better linguists? This constitutes a topic for a whole different blog post.
Regardless of gender, it takes a lot of courage, faith and trust in God or whoever you call the Man upstairs, to venture into the freelance world.
After that leap of faith, miracles don't happen for you. Your degrees or experience obviously influence performance and output, but they don't do the job for you. That's where your values and work ethic come to play. Amongst other things, it takes hard work, dedication, discipline and most importantly, consistency to keep your business going.
And even then, the sustainability of your business is dependent to some degree on your networking abilities but mostly on the quality of your services as well as your honesty and overall integrity.
My DNA carries resilience, strength, tenacity, independence and hard work from a woman who went against all odds, made enormous sacrifices, defiled society, stigma and isolation to stand up for her values (honesty, truth, independence, integrity) even if it meant us going without a meal. Just like everyone else, she's no perfection, but I can't be grateful enough for the opportunity to draw inspiration from her.
The assertions about the strengths, values and work ethic that constitute invaluable success factors, albeit personal, are reflective of the womanpower.
