There aren’t many jobs left that women haven’t gotten into. What about gondoliers in Venice?

After a thousand years, a woman has finally gotten her own paddle. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the story on the front page of the New York Times today. It’s about a woman named Alexandra Hai who is the first woman to become a gondolier in the beautiful water-logged city.

It took a court to get her paddling but that can’t take away from her accomplishment, right? Well, one thing can.

There are accusations that she got her job only because she was a woman. That she couldn’t pass the many tests needed to become a gondolier. That is the claim by many in Venice. If indeed she got some breaks because of her gender, then that sucks. That shouldn’t be the way women move forward. But if, as she claims, the tests were unduly difficult for her because critics would go to any length to keep her out of the water, then that sucks too.

If she’s qualified then more power to her. But if she just got the gig because she is sans penis, then I feel for the poor sap tourists who will be putting their lives in her unqualified hands as she tries to navigate the winding canals.