MB sent me this link in an e-mail. The story is about the mortgage market but the interesting feminist bit is in this snippet:
There's no real estate slump for Cecily Tippery.
...
The worse times get in the housing market, the better they are for Tippery.
That's because she specializes in selling foreclosed homes that have been repossessed by lenders.
Tippery, 56, who projects the pleasant demeanor of a soccer mom but has a steel-trap memory for all the details about her numerous listings, has built a mini real estate empire in less than a year.
She went from a single-person operation to a staff of seven. She went from having four to six listings a year to sometimes getting a dozen a week. She's sold 29 properties this year and has 17 in escrow. She works 12 hours a day, almost every day.
"Luckily, I have a very understanding husband," she said with a chuckle. Her son is grown.
Try a reversal on that by changing Cecily to Cecil. Would Cecil be described as looking like a "Nascar dad"? Would we learn that his wife is very understanding and that his children are all grown so that it's ok for Cecil to work twelve-hour days?