Feature speaker at The Intelligencer Remarkable Women of Quinte luncheon, Karen Schulman Dupuis.(Photo: Quinte News).
The event was the 16th annual The Intelligencer Remarkable Women of Quinte luncheon at Occasions By the Bay in Bayside today (Friday).
However, the keynote speaker, a self-described “shift disturber” titled her speech “unremarkable women.”
Karen Schulman Dupuis is a Business Designer specializing in digital and social media.
She told the crowd of about 150 people that what was unremarkable was most women’s shared life experience of being stereotyped into certain roles (domestic, humanities, service sector, sales, administration), being treated as a sex object in various ways by men (leering, touching, off-color remarks, demands for sex), and being led to believe they were of lesser value than men in the workplace, if not at home.
Ms. Dupuis first told of her love for mechanical work when she was in high school, and of the ridicule she faced from fellow students, teachers, and other adults when she demanded she be allowed to take “shop” class.
She excelled there, but part of the deal was that she was to get back into a home economics class instead of shop.
When she was just 19 and on her own in Toronto, Dupuis was the victim of sex assault by an older man who was her superior in the workplace. She described the experience as “devastating” and one that threw her into a depression and into four mostly lost years.
She got herself together and entered the new technology industry when the internet was taking off and growing by leaps and bounds. Dupuis said she loved it, but even in that situation, a man who was her superior based his behavior toward her based on her reactions to his inappropriate advances.
She described the situation as “exhausting” and said she only survived it as long as she did because she had a “great husband as a support.”
After these experiences and others, and changing locations and careers, Ms. Dupuis stressed that women have to value themselves and demand others
recognize that value. She said most women would do well to answer questions about issues at work with “well, in my professional opinion” more often.
She suggested women learn to not try to be what others want them to be, and to struggle to learn what they really want out of life, and do things daily that move them toward that goal. She stressed women stop pretending to like things they don’t like and stand up for themselves.
“Ask for that raise, ask for that promotion. You have value and never forget it.”
Ms. Dupuis also suggested men would do well to try and mentor women, believe in their abilities, promote them, and champion women in their organizations who show promise.
The Intelligencer Remarkable Woman of the Year was Catherine Langlois, owner of Sandbanks Winery in Prince Edward County. First runner-up was Belleville Police Detective Sergeant Anne Earle-Dempsey, and second runner-up was Tracy Bray of Back in Motion Chiropractic.
Major sponsors of the event were Belleville Toyota, Shoppers Drug Mart, and ourselves, Quinte Broadcasting (CJBQ, MIX97, ROCK107, Quinte News).
