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My personal experience (in software development) is that the guys who
patronize me do it on all subjects (and often they do it to everyone male or
female). Ex: I mention I'm writing a paper on web design (not his
specialty) and he tells me exactly what should be in it and what approach I
should use, regardless of the fact I never asked, and without asking me
about my approach.
The developers I work with now put me through my paces, but no more than
they do anyone else. There's a certain informal initiation when a new
programmer arrives on the scene, as everyone measures his or her's technical
knowledge and interests. A very technocratic approach of doling out
respect.
My worry is that I may reinforce preconceived notions that male developers
might have. I'm technical, but not deeply. Many places I'd be considered
very knowledgeable, but my company is doing high-level, cutting edge kind of
stuff and has some *really* smart people. It can be tough to keep up.
The same cannot be said for other environments I've worked in. I once
worked for an environmental engineering company, and the sexism was rampant.
Every day was a fight, less for me who worked in publications, more for the
female scientists and the lone female project manager. The quality of work
took second place to the good old boy network (early 1990s), where
scientists were assigned to projects based on whether the project manager
wanted them on their team. And then there were the little things: more
than one of us (women) arrived in the mornings to find our desktop changed
to display Teri Hatcher dripping wet. And the sexual innuendos. But it was
really only about two or three of the managers and a few of the scientists.
The rest were fine to work with.
Then there was insurance company I worked for in the late 80s. All women in
this department (about 50 of us) with all female mid-management and all male
upper management. Then came the day one male was hired into our midst. You
never saw someone leapfrog so fast out of the ranks. And it wasn't upper
management, it was the female supervisors. All of the sudden he was the one
who got the training opportunities, the special projects, etc.
Then there was the time in college I got bawled out by my supervisor for
having the nerve to think I could fix a complicated piece of machinery like
a vacuum cleaner (I'm good with machinery). I could run it, I just couldn't
take it apart! This was the same guy who decided that only men had the
brains and ability to run the floor buffer. (Mid 80s)
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