I am a feminist; supporting women who are trying to make something great of themselves makes me feel like I am contributing to the advancement of women in every field. I encourage you to do the same. From my experience I still feel like it is a man's world despite all the necessary attention that is being shed onto the girl child. The policies coming up that are inclusive of women have shown the world the importance of empowering women. My focus today is especially on women working in male dominated fields but, this is a problem that pervades in all sorts of different environments.It can be rather intimidating working alongside men, you feel the need to constantly prove yourself because there is pressure to perform. Making your way to the top without having to compromise on your dignity because of the prevalent objectification of women that clearly exists, is more arduous than it sounds. Saying no to unrelenting unwanted advances in the workplace or any other place for that matter can be seen as being conceited which can make your male colleague change his behavior towards you. It is strenuous for women in hyper-masculine environments to find a balance of neither being seen as yielding or too harsh. I am not saying that this is the only dynamic that happens but it happens so it should be addressed.
Just to show you an instance demonstrating the gravity of the situation, the results of a survey called 'Elephant in the Valley' were released earlier this year. The survey was conducted on women that work in Silicon Valley and those living around the area and it focused on finding out the challenges that women face in their work place. These were mostly women in tech and venture capitalists. It was found that 60% of women acknowledged that they had faced sexual harassment in their workplace. There were other issues addressed but I wanted to focus on this specific statistic (www.elephantinthevalley.com). I believe such statistics can be reported in other fields as well and this makes me feel unsettled.
Well, my advice to you is to not condone such behavior, ever. You are doing yourself an injustice by ignoring and not standing up for yourself in a situation where you feel condescended upon. Surprisingly, most men are oblivious of what us women go through in such a workplace and it is upon us to bring awareness with regards to the issue. Courage to say no will do you great in your life. Don't be a victim if it can be avoided and if it can't, take the matter up to someone with the power to stop what is happening to you. You have the power to demand mutual respect. The essence of being a woman is something special and should be valued by everyone. It's time for you to see that, more so, it's time for the world to see that.
