Response to those who answered my question on gender
Having it pointed out to me that the NZ project is restricted to New Zealanders took me by surprise and upset me. I was born in Zambia but emigrated to New Zealand when I was 12. I became a New Zealand Citizen three years later. In total I have lived in New Zealand for a total of 45 years (12 years and then 13 years in two later periods living in Zambia and South Africa) and as a New Zealand citizen - technically, I suppose I'm therefore, not a New Zealander - one born in New Zealand. I stand corrected and will not presume to do records I'm not entitled to do again. May I ask how I'm to know if I'm allowed to index a project or not? I had no idea, after doing 20,000 entries 10 years ago, that certain projects were restricted to people born in particular countries. Things certainly have changed over the 10 years I've been away from indexing.
To the others who responded, I am very well aware that many names are used for males such as Marion, Shirley etc and that there are females who have male sounding names like Michael and George . I also read the instructions for the project and gathered that if the occupation and other information agreed that you could enter the gender. I was clearly wrong. I feel now i'm 10 years older I'm probably reading instructions incorrectly and should probably retire myself and leave indexing to the younger folk.
I apologise for being an old nuisance. I really only wanted to help facilitate the Gathering for those on the other side of the veil. My mother worked for 60 years on my family genealogy and there isn't a family name available that hasn't been done, leaving nothing for me to do there. This has all saddened me making me feel old and foolish. Again, my apologies.
Answers
-
Hi There
You are not an "old Nuisance" Our father in Heaven values everyone, and us "Old" folk have a wealth of knowledge and experience that is very valuable. Beside we are not "Old" we are more experienced 😃
The dictionary meaning: having lived or existed for many years. So Imagine how much experience you have, you are a walking encyclopaedia.
Re: Names When indexing we cant assume the gender based on a given name, I myself have added a gender., when none were listed. I have also been told to "use your best judgement" In some cases if it is stated Wife, husband son or daughter we can then list a gender based on this information.
Don't give up... practice make perfect.... and our Father in Heaven needs your help especially when it comes to Indexing. Your experience is invaluable.
A great quote: “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” ― Albert Einstein
We are really sorry you felt "old and foolish" from your experience. But don't let that negative experience stop you. We can move forward and learn.
We hope that you don't give up.
We wish you the very best
Miriam Rimmer
🏋️♀️
0 -
Hello Michele. I think there is a very serious misunderstanding here. You misread a comment I made to think that because you were not born in New Zealand you are not allowed to index NZ records. That is simply not what I said. I also told you that you were correct that occupations can be used in this project to determine gender. The two people who posted before me said that you could not do this and I was making a point to clarify that the New Zealand project had a different set of directions - knowing that they could not see them or hadn't read them!
Here are the two parts of my comment from that earlier post with Bold type to clarify the points you took exception with:
"The New Zealand project, which is restricted to indexing by New Zealanders, always had a unique project instruction or a field help that says you can use the occupation to determine the gender. (Please notice, it says New Zealanders, not NATIVE New Zealanders).
Additionally, we can use relationship terms "or other evidence in the language" to determine gender in most projects. So, words like butler, maid, fireman, seamstress, etc., can be used to determine gender in this project." (Letting you know that you were not wrong and the project instructions allowed this).
In this type of forum, people do not know the skill level of the people who post or their familiarity with genealogy. So, the folks who mentioned Shirley, Pearl, and Marion were not trying to be condescending or malicious. They were just trying to be helpful in discussing why given names cannot be used to determine gender.
I hope this clears up the posts a bit. Words don't carry emotion and it is sometimes difficult to work in this type of environment and convey messages. But, I do hope that you will continue to work on the New Zealand records for as long as they are available and enjoy indexing again.
Best Regards,
Melissa
0 -
Hi Michele, you are able to index the NZ Electoral Rolls project if you are an indexer anywhere in New Zealand. You should note that this project is now over 90% indexed but reviewing is way behind. Once you have indexed over 1,000 names in Web Indexing, your help would be much appreciated in reviewing this project if you would like to.
0