SKIRTS AND SUITS IN CONFERENCE INTERPRETING:FEMALE INTERPRETERS AND MALE CLIENTS ON THE CURRENT ROMANIAN MARKET
SKIRTS AND SUITS IN CONFERENCE INTERPRETING:FEMALE INTERPRETERS AND MALE CLIENTS ON THE CURRENT ROMANIAN MARKET

Summary/Abstract: In this article, we use semi-structured interviews to examine the relationship between women conference interpreters and their male clients on the Romanian interpreting market in order to understand how highly skilled female interpreters fare on an unregulated market. Our findings show that the relationship between male clients and female interpreters moves beyond the linguistic dependence of the employer on the employee to a professional dependence. This shift blurs the boundaries between personal and professional. I argue that women conference interpreters in Romania are dependent on male clients for advancement in their career. This dependence becomes breeding grounds for harassment behaviours to which women respond with tolerance. However, these practices lead to the devaluation of highly skilled professional women as well as to the devaluation of their occupation.

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