My life and career are plagued by people that simply cannot see past the female stereotype that society perpetuates.
It is apparently a shock that as a woman I own power tools and can complete my own DIY projects without the help of a man. When using power tools around men it is beyond obvious that they are watching and judging, waiting for me to mess it up somehow so they can say “you should have left it to the men”.
It’s also a shock to men that as a women I am equally as competent as a man with technology. In fact my husband will gladly tell anyone that I’m a million times more competent than he is. But others talk to me like I am a complete idiot and then become angry when I tell them that I’m perfectly capable of managing the task they think is beyond me.
As an administrator I found myself regularly put down by male members of staff. It was assumed that I would either do all of their dirty work that they couldn’t be bothered to, or that I was lazy and stupid. I was regularly told o was wrong and rarely celebrated for the things I did well.
I am at the tail end of a degree in graphic design, an arena that I know is very typically male dominated. Thankfully I am old enough and wise enough now to fight back against sexism and to prove that I am an equal. But we shouldn’t have to fight to be seen as equals, we are equals!
I am raising my son to know that women are just as strong and powerful as men, but even he has fallen into the traps of societal expectations of women at times and I’ve had to reprimand him for it and talk to him about why he was wrong to say those things. It feels like an endless fight to get the recognition we deserve, but I won’t stop fighting for equality.