[Semi-OT] Venice's first female gondolier

[Nick]

Just saw this in today's The New York Times, and thought it tied in nicely
to the recent threads about Aria: after nine centuries of male monopoly (in
Venice, here on Earth), a 23 year old woman has become the first woman to
pass the grueling test to become a trainee gondolier and can now take
passengers on her gondola while completing her training.

(Which inspired me to go back and re-read the chapter about Akari-chan's
promotion from pair to single: not sure I'd call it 'grueling', but it did
seem to be a genuine test of her skill at handling a gondola.)

All of which makes me wonder: did the males-only tradition in Venice
influence Amano's creation of a world where the Undines are exclusively
woman and most other gondola jobs are only open to men?

--
Nick <mailto:tans...@pobox.com>

May you live in interesting times...

[Aje.RavenStar]

"Nick" <tans...@pobox.com> wrote in message
news:1nhc45l95bh5ae2qt...@4ax.com...

As I recall, though I haven't gone that far in the manga (though Grandma has
been introduced in the volumes the publisher finally decided to sell) -
Aria Company itself was founded by a woman, and has been a small, 1 to 2
person operation since - making up for it by being staffed by those
recognized as among the best.

More than likely, though, the situation is that because Aqua is still a
frontier planet, there are more job opportunities, or opportunities with
better chances of advancement, in 'luxury' fields such as those that involve
catering to tourists.