As part of earning my Bachelors in Biology, I was required to take a "Capstone" course in Natural Sciences. A section of this course involved learning about Women in the Sciences, and the struggles that they had gone through to make a place for current women in the sciences. The fact that early women who had chosen to have a scientific career had not also had the option to have a family; that they had been derided for their choice of career over family; that their intellect had been insulted constantly; that they often did not receive proper credit for their ideas; but that they chose to persist anyways. The idea was that, for the most part, this was not the case today, and that the current problem was convincing women to choose scientific careers rather than other available options.
So I work in a scientific discipline. Often my supervisor (also a woman) and I visit sites together, because we work well together. Often I am out alone. These days I am usually the only woman on the site.
This week:
- I was asked if I was on match.com (before you get your hopes up, no, I'm not).
- I was whistled at by a contractor before I had even finished approaching the group of men on the site.
Now, let me say this: being whistled at is not a compliment as far as I'm concerned, especially when I am there to do a job. This is at least the fourth time it's happened (although not the strangest. Once it was a mailman driving by. One expects better things from our postal servicemen.) Also, so far as I know, I have yet to be whistled at when I'm not working. And, as far as I know, none of the guys I work with have been whistled at, so it's not a Hey-Let's-Annoy-the-State-Worker kind of thing either.
So, men, what's the deal?
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