Who is gonna take me down this river!?!

Maria Blevins Ph.D.Speaker:

When a person comes whitewater rafting, especially the first time- they are showing up to an unfamiliar experience in which they probably have a lot of incomplete information.  If they are sensible, they are maybe a little nervous. So, when they meet their guide, they have created an expectation of who will get them down the river. Perhaps they expect Jeremiah Johnson or Grizzly Adams to greet them. In a research project that I have conducted interviewing 65 whitewater rafting professionals about negotiating gender in the whitewater profession, participants had had multiple experiences in which the customers experienced disappointment upon discovering their raft guide would be a woman. As Martha said “from guests. It's not harassment as much as it is, like I said, just, aw, we got the girl.” Women described one of the most challenging parts of the job was proving to a new set…