ORAL FINAL ESSAY 2

Oral Final Essay

Interview
I held my interview with Suphak Ryan, who is my colleague from Thailand. She works
as an Accounting Coordinator and has a Master’s degree. Suphak is 37 years old and a mother of
three children. Suphak has been working at different roles for more than a decade now, but she
has had to take several breaks in between for personal reasons. Some of those reasons were to
take care of her children when they were very young. I chose Suphak because I have observed
how well she strives to balance her professional growth and personal growth. As a mother of
three children, and an accounting coordinator, she has a lot in her hands, and she handles that just
fine. I developed my questions after reading various articles on Women Studies, and the impact
of gender in career development. We conducted the interview during lunch break at work in
Washington, DC, in person on February 19, 2020. I learned that striking a balance between
professional growth and motherhood is hard, and at some point, a woman sacrifices career
growth to take care of her family. She has also met from different places such as Greece,
Switzerland, Russia, and this has shaped her beliefs. I was surprised that Suphak lost her parents
when she was young, and she did not have a parent figure to engrave gender stereotypes in her
on the different roles of women and men. Overall, Suphak made the process easy; she was honest
and answered all the questions I had despite the small language barrier that sometimes made
understanding each other hard.
Analysis of the Interview
I found that Suphak gave interesting responses that would be of interest to an audience
that is also interested in the Women’s Studies Scholarship. When I asked for her thoughts about

ORAL FINAL ESSAY 3
Hillary Clinton’s presidential run and her position as the first female four-star general, she
replied, “I thought it was amazing that she was making history! I want everyone to know that
women can do everything men can!” Suphak believes in the potential of every human being, and
one should not be constrained by gender from achieving their vision. her answers depicted a
professional woman who is ambitious, and one who does not believe that her gender has
anything to do with her accomplishments. She can achieve anything, not because she is a
woman, but because she can work hard to achieve her goals. Further, she said that one of the
things that she wants her kids to learn from her is that “their mom worked hard to make
something out of herself regardless of what life gave her. I want them to know that anything is
possible regardless of gender or location. I want them to feel that if they work hard, they can
achieve all their dreams”. An audience interested in Women’s Studies Scholarship would be
intrigued y her ideas of not viewing the labor market in terms of one’s gender, but rather the
accomplishments, qualifications, and commitment to get better.
The learning resources explain a lot, some of which relate to the responses that I got from
Suphak during the interview. Hegewisch & Hudiburg (2014) state, “To improve women’s
earnings and reduce the gender earnings gap, women need stronger efforts to ensure non-
discriminatory hiring and pay practices, better training, and career counseling, and improved
work-family supports.” The quote above shows that women are sometimes not vocal enough
about their grievances, hence the wage gap between men and women. during the interview, I
asked Suphak whether being a woman had affected her career goals in any way. She responded
by saying, “As a woman, I have a hard time speaking up when I do not like something because I
think we are taught not to be demanding.” I realized that there is inequality, and society does not
have similar expectations of men and women. Further, in Week 6 PowerPoint Lecture on Gender

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and Work, it is evident that social stratification has created gender stratification, whereby there is
an unequal distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between men and women. This came out
clearly during the interview. Also, I would suggest that students read The Gender Wage Gap by
Occupation 2013 and by Race and Ethnicity, an article by Hegewisch & Hudiburg (2014), it
explains about disparities in the labor market and the role of women in enhancing equality. They
should also read week Six PowerPoint Presentation on Gender and Work. I found the resources
relevant to the answers provided by Suphak during the interview.
Overall, the interview with Suphak made a contribution to the Women’s Studies
Scholarship. First, it put what is in articles about gender and work into perspective. From the
interview, it is evident that we exist in a society where there is gender stratification. Women are
not as free as their male counterparts in airing their views on issues that they disagree with. This
could partly explain why there is a wage gap in the labor market. Women are not vocal enough,
and their grievances are not voiced. They know they earn less than their counterparts but remain
quiet about it. However, from the interview, it is evident that a group of women that believes in
equal opportunities is cropping up. Suphak clearly stated that she believes that one can achieve
anything if they work hard, and location or gender should not be a deterrence to success.
Therefore, even as the Women’s Studies Scholarship highlights the plight of women in a
stratified society, women are also changing their view and believing in inequality.

ORAL FINAL ESSAY 5

References

Hegewisch, A., & Hudiburg, S. K. (2014). The Gender Wage Gap by Occupation 2013 and by
Race and Ethnicity. Washington, DC: Institute for Women’s Policy Research.