Try Moira Cameron’s–she’s the first woman to guard the Tower of London in 522 years.
My family just got back from holiday in London. We took my mother-in-law, an ardent Anglophile who had never before been. She and my husband took in a day at the Tower, where they were guided by a yeoman of performance skills rivaling Albert Finney’s (or so mom-in-law gushes). Here he is, snapped by my hub:
Workplaces in the United Kingdom aren’t any more sexist than, say, in the U.S. That I know of, anyway. But this one was. Beefeaters must serve 22 years in the Royal Army to be considered for the storied post, and also must have earned medals for long service and good conduct. That’s a pretty sexist rule in and of itself; it’s much harder for a woman to serve two decades uninterrupted, especially if you factor in children. Still, there are a handful of women with that distinction, others of whom had applied for the job before Cameron finally snagged it.
Cameron, 42, started yesterday, but won’t lead tours until she completes the mandatory training next year. The British press yukked that she’s already made a change in the dress code by opting out of the traditional beard. They also itemized the things she carried in the giant pockets designed by Henry VII to hold yeoman’s cash (here, from The Guardian):
Lip gloss, mirror, mints and several sets of keys – including the ones to her sentry box – were all tucked away, she said, in the floppy compartments sewn into her blue and red tunic.
To me, that’s kind of the equivalent of detailing Hillary Clinton’s outfit at a campaign debate without making note of other candidates’ clothes. I mean, would you ask a new woman CEO what she carries in her briefcase?
Besides making history, Cameron will earn a nice salary of about $50,000, plus use of a subsidized apartment on the grounds. That, to me, was the best news: another decently paying, well-regarded job opened up to women. No small thing in a country where an ice cream cone can cost $6.