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I had a discussion today with my parents over my concerns about how my 1B term went. It transitioned into talking about how I felt about co-op and while they gave me advice on being confident in my abilities and selling myself as an employee, they focused on one thing.
Being more feminine. “You need to sell that you’re a girl.” “You’re special because you’re a girl.” “You need to be more delicate because you’re a girl.” “You need to do work like a girl”
I can’t tell you how much this frustrates me. What does it even mean? I don’t want to be hired because I was born with a vagina and have breasts; I want to be recognized by my ability to create value and take initiative. I want my hard work and dedication to speak.
What hurts the most is knowing that it’s coming from my parents. They see me as capable of getting a job in the first round of co-op when the job market is crazy and only 30% of my program has a job even now but they see it as “you’re a girl, that’s the deciding factor.”
This is not the first time I’ve been characterized as a woman in engineering/tech-field and it certainly won’t be the last. However, I can hope towards a change that when I tell someone I’m studying ECE their first reaction isn’t, “oh! But you’re a girl!”
