I have never been much of a writer - not for lack of skill, but simply lack of interest and necessity. I tend to prefer for my work to speak for itself, and then use words to fill in, the hopefully minimal, gaps. Words are a means to and end; the end being communication. In light of recent events, personal and political, I want to write; in the hopes that I will be heard. So this post is to give a little background the random internet passerby that happens to read this and thinks, "what is this girl talking about?"
As a child, I was always taught that children should be seen and not heard. This left me with the feeling that I should be seen, and not heard - which only was confirmed as a grew to be a young woman. Unfortunately that kind of clashes with my personality... I like to be heard! As a woman, I think I; my words, body, ideas, have value. Weird, right? So then there is also this intersection of who I am, and what I do. I am woman, but I am also an engineer. As a woman in engineering, there is this fight - not just with the rigor of the academics, but with the stereotypes. The stereotypes of engineering as "socially isolated/isolating, technologically focused, non-collaborative, masculine," and that girls ability being inferior to boys, keep women from being equal to men in engineering and computer science (Cultural Stereotypes as Gatekeepers). Anywhere one group is systematically and continually underrepresented, their voices are subjected to manipulation. So, as a women in engineering combating stereotypes, I will share my voice, and my story to give a humanized perspective to men in the field so they might reflect on their actions, to other women, so they know they are not alone, and for myself, because I matter. More generally, I also want to explore why people behave in the manor I observe; the social values that spring up around us without, to my understanding, logic. In those expressions, I want to question my own reasoning and understanding of a situation and I hope that you, dear reader, do the same to yours. The world works so much better when we all think a little bit about why we do what we do; in my ever biased opinion. In short; I am going to use words to think out loud to you, reader, about stuff I see and experience and what I think about it. Enjoy. e
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