Post by marle on Feb 23, 2015 21:06:47 GMT -5
I was thinking about whether my shyness (as well as some other traits) is keeping me from experiencing some of the headaches I keep hearing from others.
As an example- and I am going to admit, I may just have been lucky so far, and the other shoe is going to drop soon... but I keep reading about how there is so much discrimination in the IT field for women. I work in this field, and this has not been obvious to me. It may have just been the kind of places I've worked, and not having worked long enough. But I wonder if my shyness insulates me from it in several ways. One- I have no desire to "move up the ranks" to anything managerial-like, as I don't want to deal with people that much. This has been one of the major complaints of gender discrimination. Two- it's not apparent whether my being "assertive" as a female is a problem, since that's not one of my traits. If I *do* speak up about something, I'm not as loud and assertive as others, so that explains why people aren't paying attention to me. If gender is a factor, it's obscured by those other reasons. Number three- I don't have a full social life, much less children to worry about, so I can work long hours when necessary.
In high school and college, I have never felt pressure to NOT study math or computer-related courses as a girl. Is it because I didn't socialize with other students, so I felt less peer pressure? I rarely spoke to my instructors, I just quietly studied on my own. Is that why I didn't notice whether I was "taken seriously" or not?
I wouldn't say it's good to have some of these traits. It would be better if I were a little more assertive and had a full social life. But at the same time, it does seem like there are many stresses I don't have to think about that other people normally have to deal with.
As an example- and I am going to admit, I may just have been lucky so far, and the other shoe is going to drop soon... but I keep reading about how there is so much discrimination in the IT field for women. I work in this field, and this has not been obvious to me. It may have just been the kind of places I've worked, and not having worked long enough. But I wonder if my shyness insulates me from it in several ways. One- I have no desire to "move up the ranks" to anything managerial-like, as I don't want to deal with people that much. This has been one of the major complaints of gender discrimination. Two- it's not apparent whether my being "assertive" as a female is a problem, since that's not one of my traits. If I *do* speak up about something, I'm not as loud and assertive as others, so that explains why people aren't paying attention to me. If gender is a factor, it's obscured by those other reasons. Number three- I don't have a full social life, much less children to worry about, so I can work long hours when necessary.
In high school and college, I have never felt pressure to NOT study math or computer-related courses as a girl. Is it because I didn't socialize with other students, so I felt less peer pressure? I rarely spoke to my instructors, I just quietly studied on my own. Is that why I didn't notice whether I was "taken seriously" or not?
I wouldn't say it's good to have some of these traits. It would be better if I were a little more assertive and had a full social life. But at the same time, it does seem like there are many stresses I don't have to think about that other people normally have to deal with.
