The NFDA (National Funeral Directors Association) has released an article about the demographics of future funeral directors. I was not surprised at what they have reported: the number of female students has increased 71% since 1996. Women now represent 60% of currently enrolled mortuary students. When I graduated from mortuary school in 1997, women were definitely in the minority.
It was difficult those first few years to get families to trust that a female could direct a funeral just as well as a male, not to mention the way some ministers felt about us. Oklahoma is not really a progressive state. It was a man's profession. Not anymore. Out of the 30 or so directors working for our company in OKC, I would say that 85% are female. Ministers are finally used to us. In fact, they typically look at me first now, and not at the 70 year old male limo driver.
Looks like we made it!
PS, I finally scored a tshirt I've been wanting for ages. My birthday was last week and my twin sister got me the one (from Undergroundhumor.com) that says "Have you hugged your funeral director today?" Right on. The Moose, she rocks! So, peeps, go on out and hug your funeral directors today. We aren't that creepy....
pic of Me and Tracy: Funeral Directors Extraordinaire!
1 comment:
Oh how I laugh while reading your posts. I tell ya what ma'am when I ride out to Oklahoma I'll give ya that hug and hopefully we can take a ride too.
Ronman
Happy Birthday!
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