In my job, I am the only female amongst ten males. Let me elaborate a little, I am the only female amongst a sea of men that work in technology and that only talk about computers, video games and the latest episode of the Walking Dead. Now, picture me, a social butterfly who loves to talk about my hobbies, the latest trend or what is on social media. You mix this in and you quickly realize I am a girl that is living in a boy’s world. A girl that is trying to be a part of the “boys club” but struggles with the fact that she cannot relate to anything they talk about. I’m going to be honest here, I work in a technology computer driven field but I never speak of my job unless asked. I don’t like talking about what I do or talking about computers. To sum it up, I don’t like to talk ‘techie’ talk. This is no disrespect to anyone that works in this field, it’s just not for me.
To be a female in a boy’s world can come with blessings and its fair share of challenges. Sometimes I think it comes with more challenges and obstacles than anything else. When you are a single girl in a boy’s club, you are instantly labeled as two things. The first is when you try to stand up for yourself or speak your mind, you are labeled as bossy or in better terms, a bitch. The second is when you become friends with one of the boys, you are instantly labeled as a whore who walks around with a big fat scarlet “A” stuck to her shirt. Another challenge is when one of the boys begins to take your kindness and interprets it as something else. They begin to assume things. Meanwhile, you are sitting there faking every smile and pretending you like conversing with them. The cold hard truth is you look at them as an inadequate coworker that you have no desire what so ever to have any kind of relationship with. When you are a nice girl in a boy’s world, this sort of thing happens. It’s just another obstacle to jump over.
But then you have some amazing opportunities that come out of an all boy’s club. There are guys who will go fishing with you, hiking, or to concerts with no strings attached. The biggest blessing is when you find that one coworker who becomes your best friend. The person you run to for everything, the person who is always there for you and the person who looks out after you. This makes facing all the challenges and obstacles worth every minute of being in a boy’s world.
It’s certainly a different kind of experience being the only girl. You learn a lot about how to handle yourself, how to navigate through your job and believe it or not, you actually can learn a thing or two from being in a boy’s world. I used to be ashamed to tell people I was the only girl. I was also embarrassed to tell people what I did for a living. I have realized that it’s not embarrassing because in a way I am lucky. Lucky to be able to hang with good people all while crashing the boy’s club!
