Women computers

I graduated summa cum laude, from Radcliffe, which is basically Harvard in skirts,” says US astronomer Henrietta “Henri” Leavitt (played by Cathy Azanza) in Repertory Philippines’ “Silent Sky.”

In the 19th century, women were deemed too frail to do science, and forbidden to mix with male colleagues. Henri was not allowed to use Harvard Observatory’s Great Refractor Telescope to do her own research, and instead had to work as a “computer” in director Edward Pickering’s “harem.”

Though derogatory, harem-ing means hiring women to do typical male work, such as measuring and cataloguing star brightness. Women “computers” performed calculations manually—they were thought to be more meticulous, and worked for lesser pay.

Henri was tasked to study variable stars, whose luminosity differed over time. As Henri studied these Cepheids in photographic plate images of the Magellanic Clouds, she discovered that their pulsing rates were linked to their brightness. The study brought to life Leavitt’s Law.

Cepheid stars became the first “standard candles” in astronomy, making it possible to compute distances to far-off galaxies. Leavitt’s findings enabled astronomers such as Ejnar Hertzsprung and Edwin Hubble to better understand the structure of the universe.

In 1924, the Swedish Academy of Sciences moved to nominate Leavitt for a Nobel, but she had passed away three years prior.

Watching Henri and her cocomputers Annie Cannon and Williamina Fleming (played by Bibeth Orteza and Naths Everett, respectively) fulfill their responsibilities with aplomb and wit brought to mind the dilemma of Cara (not her real name), the finance head of their manufacturing family business in the Visayas.

Cara has been working for her father and uncles for 30 years. Generally, she feels satisfied, and has long been entrusted with family finances.  But Cara, who graduated near the top of her class in university, knows she can never be the primary successor—because she is female.

Discuss meritocracy with your father, I advise Cara. It’s 2019, and women, such as SM’s Teresita Sy-Coson, Jollibee’s Grace Tan Caktiong and Filinvest’s Josephine Gotianun-Yap, are at the helm of huge family businesses.

Cara sighs. “For Papa and the older generation, entrepreneurs are primarily men. Women play supporting roles, like taking care of the purse and keeping the peace. I can only be the successor in a crisis, if suddenly, something happened to the males, which—knock on wood—we hope not!”

Though anachronistic in the age of #MeToo, Cara makes a valid observation. Based on a 2016 PwC study of family businesses in 25 countries, 45 percent of next-generation women believed their male relatives were far more likely to be chosen for the top posts.

Only 30 percent of women surveyed were at the board level, significantly lower compared to the men’s 55 percent.

Ironically, according to Maura McAdams of the DCU Centre for Family Businesses, women in leadership roles might make sounder business sense.

“[A 2013 study] concluded that female-influenced companies were more successful than male-dominated ones—and having just one female director could cut the risk of bankruptcy by 20 percent. Female managers tend to eclipse [males] at setting basic expectations for employees, building relationships with subordinates, encouraging a positive team environment and providing employees with opportunities to develop within their careers … Thus, ‘if used astutely, [women’s] observations, intuition and emotional capital can make a difference between success and failure of family firms.’”

“While we cannot maintain that in everything woman is man’s equal,” says Williamina in Silent Sky, “yet in many things her patience, perseverance and method make her his superior.”

Silent Sky (directed by Joy Virata) will run from Feb. 1 to 10 at Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in RCBC Plaza, Makati.  Tickets are available at Ticketworld.

Queena N. Lee-Chua is with the board of the Ateneo de Manila’s Family Business Center.  Get her book “All in the Family Business” at Lazada.com.ph or call National Bookstore’s Jennie Garcia at 0915-421-2276.  Contact the author at [email protected].