I never understood why the hundreds, thousands of translators, many of whom are educated, modern individuals, could not defend their rights, and their profession is still considered one of the lowest paid in nearly all countries of the world.   I became so curious that I started to explore the issue and find related documents and scientific works, and then I came across data that affected me so much that I could not even imagine.

As per the sociological researches or surrounding reality - majority of literature translators are woman. It is so in Georgia and it is more obvious in many countries of Europe or Asia. For example, following the works of the scientists Dam, Zethsen, Wolf et al, 84% of translators in Turkey are women, followed by Denmark with 87% and topped by Germany, where 91% of published literature were translated by women.  

The same authors give us pretty interesting information on how the individuals of both genders in large companies perceive the social/symbolic status of the translator co-workers (if we look beyond novelistic field). We find that men attribute low grade status to a translator (at least that's the case, unconsciously), and for their female employees it's a rather honorable profession.

This is how the circle of diverse "feminization" of this profession is tied up in a second, whereas the researchers are trying to interpret this data, and many of them have an answer to this question: the whole universe sees the work of a translator as a work that has been deliberately chosen in line with children's upbringing for having a comfortable working schedule and more freedom, to be more adapted to their needs. And in the business empire managed by the men, any kind of work that is adapted to such needs of a woman [a housewife], belongs to the basic steps of the carrier hierarchy, including their economic or symbolic capital.

Teachers of kindergartens and schools still belong to such capital. What's behind it? -  rejection of personal needs of a woman, woman’s labour - in men-managed spaces.

Thus, profession of a translator is considered to be an occupation that is well adapted to the needs of upbringing of children and remuneration of the translators correspond to the basic steps of the carrier hierarchy.  As it appears, the gender aspect also aggravates the situation, and the social problems in the field of translation to some extent intersect for women.

It is not necessary to go further into the problem when even one part of old or new translation studies contains surprisingly sexist comments. For example, often we hear that freelancer men are working faster, then women. How’s that possible? They are saying that these men are more trained in translation technologies i.e. profession is perceived as “feminine” (or even – motherlish), but the other side of the coin – hard household duties are steel not noticed. I shall cite here one anonymous story for you and this can sum up my letter. 

“I work very slowly. I’ve translated the only novel very quickly -  in 2-3 months. It was in 2009. I translated for days and nights, when I had time to be left alone. My child turned 7, when I was translating that book. It was a beautiful novel and it was pleasure to translate it, though, when I remember about those days, something “hurts” deep inside. I remember my child wandering around empty apartment, as I was not really there. This age is when a) a child has many questions; b) is emotionally attached to a parent; c) has no personal environment. From then on, I’ve never repeated such thing again, I have switched my working schedule to night: 11:00-06:00. So, my life has changed for a long period of time or indefinitely. I still “steal” time from my child, but not as much as in 2009. Probably, I steal my own health.”

Translated by Tamar Mirianashvili