It’s the year of the woman, a revolution of celebration of equal rights amongst genders. Women are a strong breed of intelligent creatures with all odds turned against us in a world programmed with men in mind. It’s about time the world recognized us for what we are, and that’s not special, or outstanding, but equal to our male counterparts. Despite the growing epiphany that women are capable of and excel in the exact same things as men, to amend a millennia of unjust behavior, it’s going to take much longer than one year to balance out the scales. Nonetheless, a naive little girl of thirteen, never knowing a world in which she wasn’t held to the same standard as anyone else, was still taken aback by the fact that she would be one of two girls in an engineering class.
When my parents and I were first looking into my high school, we were intrigued by the engineering program offered by my school called the Luddy Institute of Technology or LIT. It was essentially an engineering class tailored towards setting students up to reach their potential in their technical careers. If you complete all four years, you have the potential to graduate with an apprenticeship or a college certification. In my eyes, the program seemed amazing, and in all honesty, it was one of the primary reasons why I go to the school. When I was doing my interview as part of the application process, I chose LIT as my elective, and was under the impression that every student at the school would be fighting for a spot in the class. But on my first day of school, I was in for a bit of a surprise.
No matter what you do, nothing can prepare you for first day nerves. I think everyone gets little butterflies in their stomach the first day at a new school. Will they like me? Will I like them? Are the teachers nice? Are the classes hard? All these doubts crossed my mind as I passed the school threshold for the first time. I had filled out the application, done the interview, gotten the letters of recommendation, and took the test, yet I still felt unprepared. When I first got there, I was quite early and was the only high school student there, but soon enough a group of bright eyed and polo clad girls were sitting around me, the welcome wagon had arrived. I was grateful for their company, but not entirely crazy about all the attention. I started school about a week late, so almost everyone had their established friend groups, and all of a sudden, I was absorbed into the clique of ninth grade girls. I remember that one of the first things they asked me was what my elective was, and when I told them I was going to be taking LIT, one girl nearly leaped with excitement. Her name was Brenna and we have been friends ever since. I was so surprised that she was very excited, and even more surprised that the reason was she was no longer the only girl. I was taken aback by her statement but had no time to process it because the bell had rung and it was time to go to homeroom.
Later in the day when we arrived at LIT, I was starting to grasp her aforementioned struggle, because we were the only two girls in a room full of boys. It never really dawned on me that in a twenty first century engineering class, I would be one of two girls, but I guess that’s just how it was. Now, I myself was not phased by being outnumbered by boys, growing up I realized early on that boys are a lot easier to get along with than girls, but I was still somewhat shocked that we were amongst the minority. Of course it was more of a matter of interest and that working in a shop wasn’t exactly appealing to the other girls, but I was still caught surprised. Everyday I felt singled out, like as soon as you walk in the room, the first thing you see is Brenna and I, or you didn’t see us at all. The boys in the class were nice at first, on the level of colloquiality associated with mere acquaintances, but it soon became apparent that there was an elephant in the room that they were stepping around, and that elephant was Brenna and I. Seeing that we live in 2016 United States, sexism is much less prevalent than it once was, and the thinking that a girl can’t work in a shop is highly primitive in thought, but I know that personally, I didn't feel like they considered me equal to them. It wasn’t anything blatant or offensive, it was more offhanded comments, and sly remarks that snowballed into a little bit more than harmless jokes. Going into the class, Brenna and I knew that just being girls we would have something to prove, and so we did, in everything we did we tried to beat the boys.
Brenna and I naturally are very competitive in nature, we’re winners, and we wouldn’t settle for anything less. Every time we were given the opportunity to beat the boys, we took it upon ourselves to do just that. It took time, but we worked hard to earn their respect and be treated like equals. Looking back, I’m not entirely sure why we were so determined to be deemed “worthy” in the eyes of our peers, it was almost second nature to want to beat them, but even still, we’ll always be separated as the boys and girls, never unified as a single body.
Throughout the year, LIT was most definitely my favorite class, we learned all about how to use and identify certain tools, create mechanical drawings, as well as became proficient in the CAD program SOlidWorks.We had so much fun and I think in the end, being the only girls just added to that. In my life, gender equality has been this reoccurring theme that I am very passionate about. Growing up, I knew that I could do whatever I wanted if I worked hard enough, there was never any question about it. But there are women in the world who aren’t offered those same opportunities just because of their gender. Equal pay, right to education, political power, and everyday social interactions, are just some of the ways that women are at a disadvantage. But gender inequality doesn’t only detriment women, men are discriminated against everyday. In today’s world being called a “feminist” is treated as an insult, as if it’s synonymous with a man hater or it's a poor disguise for misandry, but in reality, a feminist is someone who believes that women and men are equal. Gender Inequality affects everyone, whether it's in your rights as a human being, your career, or even just your high school engineering class, it’s everywhere. It’s a primeval mindset to think that one gender holds supremacy over the other, and 2016, the year of the woman is an opportunity for people everywhere to balance the scales and give everyone equal opportunities and rights, no matter their gender.
When my parents and I were first looking into my high school, we were intrigued by the engineering program offered by my school called the Luddy Institute of Technology or LIT. It was essentially an engineering class tailored towards setting students up to reach their potential in their technical careers. If you complete all four years, you have the potential to graduate with an apprenticeship or a college certification. In my eyes, the program seemed amazing, and in all honesty, it was one of the primary reasons why I go to the school. When I was doing my interview as part of the application process, I chose LIT as my elective, and was under the impression that every student at the school would be fighting for a spot in the class. But on my first day of school, I was in for a bit of a surprise.
No matter what you do, nothing can prepare you for first day nerves. I think everyone gets little butterflies in their stomach the first day at a new school. Will they like me? Will I like them? Are the teachers nice? Are the classes hard? All these doubts crossed my mind as I passed the school threshold for the first time. I had filled out the application, done the interview, gotten the letters of recommendation, and took the test, yet I still felt unprepared. When I first got there, I was quite early and was the only high school student there, but soon enough a group of bright eyed and polo clad girls were sitting around me, the welcome wagon had arrived. I was grateful for their company, but not entirely crazy about all the attention. I started school about a week late, so almost everyone had their established friend groups, and all of a sudden, I was absorbed into the clique of ninth grade girls. I remember that one of the first things they asked me was what my elective was, and when I told them I was going to be taking LIT, one girl nearly leaped with excitement. Her name was Brenna and we have been friends ever since. I was so surprised that she was very excited, and even more surprised that the reason was she was no longer the only girl. I was taken aback by her statement but had no time to process it because the bell had rung and it was time to go to homeroom.
Later in the day when we arrived at LIT, I was starting to grasp her aforementioned struggle, because we were the only two girls in a room full of boys. It never really dawned on me that in a twenty first century engineering class, I would be one of two girls, but I guess that’s just how it was. Now, I myself was not phased by being outnumbered by boys, growing up I realized early on that boys are a lot easier to get along with than girls, but I was still somewhat shocked that we were amongst the minority. Of course it was more of a matter of interest and that working in a shop wasn’t exactly appealing to the other girls, but I was still caught surprised. Everyday I felt singled out, like as soon as you walk in the room, the first thing you see is Brenna and I, or you didn’t see us at all. The boys in the class were nice at first, on the level of colloquiality associated with mere acquaintances, but it soon became apparent that there was an elephant in the room that they were stepping around, and that elephant was Brenna and I. Seeing that we live in 2016 United States, sexism is much less prevalent than it once was, and the thinking that a girl can’t work in a shop is highly primitive in thought, but I know that personally, I didn't feel like they considered me equal to them. It wasn’t anything blatant or offensive, it was more offhanded comments, and sly remarks that snowballed into a little bit more than harmless jokes. Going into the class, Brenna and I knew that just being girls we would have something to prove, and so we did, in everything we did we tried to beat the boys.
Brenna and I naturally are very competitive in nature, we’re winners, and we wouldn’t settle for anything less. Every time we were given the opportunity to beat the boys, we took it upon ourselves to do just that. It took time, but we worked hard to earn their respect and be treated like equals. Looking back, I’m not entirely sure why we were so determined to be deemed “worthy” in the eyes of our peers, it was almost second nature to want to beat them, but even still, we’ll always be separated as the boys and girls, never unified as a single body.
Throughout the year, LIT was most definitely my favorite class, we learned all about how to use and identify certain tools, create mechanical drawings, as well as became proficient in the CAD program SOlidWorks.We had so much fun and I think in the end, being the only girls just added to that. In my life, gender equality has been this reoccurring theme that I am very passionate about. Growing up, I knew that I could do whatever I wanted if I worked hard enough, there was never any question about it. But there are women in the world who aren’t offered those same opportunities just because of their gender. Equal pay, right to education, political power, and everyday social interactions, are just some of the ways that women are at a disadvantage. But gender inequality doesn’t only detriment women, men are discriminated against everyday. In today’s world being called a “feminist” is treated as an insult, as if it’s synonymous with a man hater or it's a poor disguise for misandry, but in reality, a feminist is someone who believes that women and men are equal. Gender Inequality affects everyone, whether it's in your rights as a human being, your career, or even just your high school engineering class, it’s everywhere. It’s a primeval mindset to think that one gender holds supremacy over the other, and 2016, the year of the woman is an opportunity for people everywhere to balance the scales and give everyone equal opportunities and rights, no matter their gender.