Thought I’d have a little fun with this post and let you all tell me what bugs you the most. So have at it…what’s the most sexist thing you have to deal with every day? Is it workplace humor, digs against motherhood, school issues…sports? Tell us about it!
10 comments
gretchen
Thanks Katie! Glad you found a group that appreciates your skills.
Katie
Mine is when I go to wrestling practice and the coach favors the boys. I am almost never taken seriously by the other wrestlers as well, they give me nicknames (like barbie) and tickle me while we are supposed to be wrestling…
I have been wrestling for about three years now and i JUST found a group of people that take me seriously. (by the way I LOVE your website)
gretchen
Olga – I totally get what you are saying. It is frustrating when people assume another person (especially a male) is the leader. I have been in that situation more times than I can count.
And yes, we do have to work so much harder to get the same respect. It’s truly ridiculous. 8-|
Olga
I’m studying to be an aerospace engineer and practicals often involve lots of hours in the workshop. Besides the practicals, I’m also in an amateur rocketry group so I get a lot more ‘workshop’ time than most others and I know my way around. My pet peeve is when guys with MUCH LESS experience than me try to (WRONGLY!) ‘correct’ me when I use a power tool.
Other annoyances include:
– When working on a project in a group, my ideas aren’t taken seriously until some other guy has the same ‘idea’.
– If I’m working in a group with other guys as the leader/coordinator, and a third person joins the group, they will ALWAYS automatically assume that one of the other guys is in charge and go for advice to him instead of me.
– When I first joined the group, i had to prove myself like 5 times more than most of the guys do (I’m not exaggerating!) before people started to take me seriously.
I could go on and on with this list…
Thankfully with time the attitude of the guys is slowly changing but it really annoys me that I had to spend so much time and effort proving myself before I was finally treated as an equal in the workshop!
gretchen
Yusra – welcome to Girls Can’t WHAT? Sounds like you have a few stories to share!
What kinds of cars do they consider as being a “girls taste”? I used to drive a Camaro, a Firebird and a Corvette. Not exactly girly cars. ;)
Yusra
absolutely LOVE this blog! it’s wonderful!!
im doing my bachelors in mechanical engineering and we dont have many girls around, heck there are a total of FOUR girls in the whole department!
the most sexist thing they do is to tell me i have a “girl’s” taste in cars…i love cars, n they do OBVIOUSLY (rolls eyes), but they have to hammer me down with that one too
gretchen
Julie I totally understand that. When I tell people I work from home they look at me like “oh that’s nice”. As if it’s not a real profession.
Julie
Not quite daily, but being a SAHM must mean I have no education beyond high school. (Unfortunately, that comes from other Moms as well as men.) Therefore, I must not understand complex subjects.
—
;-) My education is in Nuclear Physics.
gretchen
Yup – been there done that. My personal favorite is being treated like I don’t have a clue about computers. 8-|
Positively Present
Ugh, sitting in a room filled with men at a business meeting and having them all talk to and look at each other while almost completely ignoring me. AWFUL.