New Britain herald., 1930-10-15
idity and shyness we cover oul weakness with arrogance.
 Professional Jealousy


 There is probably nothing worse that women have to cope with in their career life today than profess sional jealousy. Jealousy of course can be considered natural reaction to the instinct of mastery. Studies seem to show that so long as this job envy is present there is a steady decrease in efficiency. Jealousy and envy incident to crude competition are lost in the solvent of good fel- lowship.
 There are all sorts and kinds of fear complexes that enter into the career-life of women. The fear of growing old and the effect of age on the job is probably an ever pres ent one with women over forty still working.
 Condition, Compensate, Consolidate
 How are conflicts and complexes to be averted? That women in their career-life have any more con- flicts and complexes to meet than mer or women in the home has not been an assertion in this paper. Life is with people who live at all a con- tinuous conflict, but we have means for meeting these conflicts just as much as we have other tools to work with in life. The first is what the psychiatrist calls conditioning" We change the environment to suit the need. This may be to get away from some people that we have been living with that tend to increase the tensions. By reconditioning often the tendency to produce und desirable results is minimized. An office man. ager is doing this constantly when he is trying to make things more comfortable so that his workers may do their best work.
 "The second way is through com- pensation. In the clash between am- bition and the real facts in life, we often compensate. We have one thing if we have not another. It is usually a comforting and even a health-producing device. but the over-use of it is bad and leads to day-dreams and extreme rationaliza- tion. A common form of compensa- tion is clear understanding or state ment of the facts at issue. Then we say at least we know where we stand. For example a woman head l feared her chief. She always trem- bled like a leaf when he sent for what was the truth, Why darn it, he can't any more than fire me anyway, and she felt bolstered up. It is through understanding that we are able to see through complexes and conflicts and sometimes see how foolish they are. We give up one thing for another of greater value. Escapes and hobbies are also form of compensa ton. These can be prac- ticed to extremes until we no longer enjoy the escape.
 The third way of minimizing con- ficts and complexes is through con- solidation. Where two interests are l in conflict the dominance of one and the suppression of the other may be averted by consolidation. It is not easy for two conflicting interests | to consolidate; there has to be con- promise. The individuals or group must see likenesses and differences and unite in their major concerns. | We can only relieve our difficulties by understanding them, finding the areas of conflicts or the kind of con- plexes. The essential conflict arises when we refuse to face vital issues or when we stop questioning. The woman who would understand is the woman who will progress. Are women in careers today asking how they may understand as well as how they may do'