Short and angry
I am always noting sexism around me, always pointing it out and telling people off for their offensive comments. Usually they are small, sleight of hand if you will, basic stereotypical and deeply entrenched sexist things but it is rare that I hear something blatant enough to enrage me.
Now understand the context of me being tired and overworked but also at the stage in my progression as someone striving for gender equality where I am tired of trying to explain why I feel dismissed in a calm eloquent manner which is more concerned with not offending the perpetrators than standing up for myself. However I am not trying to excuse what I did today. It doesn’t need an excuse as I do believe it was within reason.
Picture an engineering class, bored looks on their faces, sprawled about the room with no idea of order what so ever. We had a project due today and most people are tired or not there. There are about 15 girls and maybe 50 boys present. Now our lecturer asks for a volunteer to do an example on the board. Most of us don’t know what’s going on or really care at this stage, he isn’t a good lecturer, no one particularly likes him and it’s been a long day so as usual no body responds and after trying various people the only person who actually knows what’s going on finally ends his misery and goes to do the example.
She gets it all right, knows exactly what to do and ends up with the successful answer and probably teaches us more in those few minutes then he does in an entire lecture.
As she goes to sit down he pats her on the back and says to the class, “look guys, if this girl can do it, you boys can definitely do it too”….
The class expressed some surprise with most people noting that the sexist comment was well beyond acceptable even for those who do not particularly care. At first I didn’t realise what he had said. I suppose subconsciously I didn’t think I would hear such a comment in a university setting. As the lesson progressed I started to get angry.
To some it may seem that a comment, that an unthoughtful few words is too insignificant to get angry about and although there is much to do with sexism that is far more physically and emotionally harmful than this, this is a fundamental representation for how women are treated in our society… Especially in a degree like engineering.
With a few words he dismissed everything she had done, her work, her effort, and her brain were swept to worthless because of her gender. THIS IS WRONG.
I am taking steps in the direction of no longer keeping quiet and so after the lecture I went to him and expressed that what he had said was dismissive and offensive and that I thought it was unfair. I tried to explain that we already in the minority and we are already treated in a derogatory fashion and it does not help for someone of authority to add to this and teach our peers that this behaviour is okay.
I did succeed in making him uncomfortable and he did admit the error in his ways however did not apologise and it took most of the day for me to calm down in fact I think I am still shaking.
Some of my peers do think that I shouldn’t have said something. They think that it may jeopardise my academic success if I don’t keep quiet. My response to this is: Firstly, there are people who risk their lives for gender rights, I genuinely think this is the least I can do. Secondly if this does affect my academic relationship there are more than enough routes for me to protect myself and I stayed well within my rights. And thirdly, let us not get too melodramatic, I do believe his head is a little too big for me too affect him to such an extent.
What I do not understand is why I was the only person who said something? Why weren’t my peers similarly reeling in anger?
This treatment is NOT okay.
Being a girl means you have a specific body part. It does not mean that something must be easy if you can understand it. It does not mean we have to conform to specific roles or characteristics. It does not mean we can be silenced and dismissed with a few words.
We are supposed to be equals. We should be allowed the opportunity to prove ourselves as anything that we want to, whether it be an anthropologist, a financial accountant or even an engineer.
And NOBODY no matter what position you are in should be allowed to dismiss us.
The University Cape Town and specifically for me the Engineering department is not doing enough to prevent gender discrimination and exclusion.
This is not fair, and it is not right and it needs to change.
Doing something as a girl should not be synonymous with something being easy.
Plain Old Glasses 