#MicroblogMondays 14: It’s a Men’s World

I don’t know why this thought crossed my mind this afternoon. And I don’t know to which extent it really is a factor to why I feel overwhelmed at work more often than not these days. And maybe this all (me writing about it) is tainted by a meeting this afternoon which left me drained and full of self-doubt (and self-loathing) again. And my low self-esteem is maybe probably the biggest “issue” in all this.

So, without having any real data on it, I would say that the workforce in my department is about 50% female, 50% male and I like that just fine. But recently I’m in charge (or “co-charge” at least) of various inter-departmental (is that a word?) projects and by now I realize that the female/male ratio looks very different in other departments or at least it does on the level I’m involved with.
Which by now often leads to me sitting in meetings and working together with men mostly. The business department, facility management or IT. It’s all men. All the time! And it’s really starting to get on my nerves to always be the only woman in a room. It’s not that these men are sexist or rude or anything, we get along fine. But it still often feels like kind of a men’s club. Add my self-esteem issues and a “healthy” dose of male self-esteem and you might get the idea. I know my skewed self-image might be part of the problem, in the way that I feel much more scrutinized than I should be. But I can’t help it…

Oh, well, maybe I just had a bad day today and I won’t mind it all that much again tomorrow :-)

[MicroblogMondays started at Mel’s blog]

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4 Responses to #MicroblogMondays 14: It’s a Men’s World

  1. Mel says:

    Hope tomorrow is better, though I totally know what you mean. I have three work situations — two primarily male and one primarily female. And it is completely different as I move between the groups.

  2. Hope says:

    My industry is like 95% men, so I’m pretty used to being the only woman in the room. :\

    I’m pretty good at holding my own (I think I have a sorta masculine personality, plus I like to talk about stereotypically “guy stuff” like sports, etc). But it makes for all sorts of other problems. “Is this guy being a jerk because he’s a jerk? Or because he’s sexist?” “Do I really want to deal with the hassle of telling that guy that his comment was sexist? Because there’s nobody else who’s going to say anything.” Sometimes I worry that it’s going to put a big chip on my shoulder. But, I also see things improving a lot.

  3. Susanne says:

    I think I’m getting used to it by now and feel a bit more secure in these all-male-situations. But it still would be nice to have a all-women-project as well to balance things out :)

  4. Susanne says:

    I’m so glad that I don’t feel like I have to deal with any kind of sexist comments or behaviour in these work situations so far. It’s all nice and fair and all, but the vibe in the room is just different. At least it feels like that to me. But I’m doing ok so far, once I got used to it.

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