I have a favorite picture on my computer desktop. It shows an Amish girl of about 15 driving a team of 12 draft horses, 12 tons of horse power, plowing a large field. She’s in a dress, of course. She’s poised and calm, as she’s doing what can be considered a precision job. It’s an amazing image.

There is a reason why it strikes me so strongly. It goes against a popular opinion that was constantly voiced when I was growing up. “If women work, they will lose their femininity.” That was the chorus I heard when the Equal Rights Amendment was being argued in the 70s. Women were working outside the home in large numbers for the first time, and it had the establishment scared. I didn’t understand their logic, but I also couldn’t find any good examples of women in charge of something.

That is, until Star Trek. Lt. Nyota Uhura was a beautiful, feminine woman who could decipher garbled messages, rewire a communications board within 5 minutes, and command the ship when others were away, getting kidnapped or zapped or whatever. She became my personal hero because her character flew in the face of the suggested (or even overt) misogyny that work was inappropriate for women. She is the reason I am in technical communications.

For my friends who are black, her representation was crucial for different reasons. They were finally seeing black people on television at least half as much as much as they saw them in real life. Now, I work in IT, more and more, with people from multiple races, ethnicities and backgrounds. It all started with Nichelle Nichols.

Okay, time to feed the horses. I think a colorful, rayon, tropical print, sleeveless, summer dress will do nicely.