Women in industry | Tiny girl in a big world.

Brianna Swank/pexels.com

In recent years, I realised that being a girl means you will never have a boring day at university, and never a dull day at work. I am not saying your professional life will be hard on you, but it sure will not be easy.

I spent my whole BA degree at university, being surrounded by men, because I wanted to study something not so ‘girly’. I was the only girl in my seminar group and one of two girls from my lecture group... and from day one, I ended up being all alone and not really interacting with anyone... just minding my own business.

It was not because they were rude or bad people, but we can all agree on that I was not going to be invited to their daily pub sessions, Sunday night football sessions or the infamous, “let’s all pack in a tiny student accommodation room and play FIFA” sessions. I might as well just say hello once a day for the sake of not being the weird-girl and continue with my life, because let’s be honest, we would never be good friends.

Was I right? I mean, I ended up having couple of good friends from the class, while the rest acted like I am a toxic waste and did not really want to walk closer than a 3-meter vicinity around me. One of my now good friends told me that; “I thought you were a lesbian all three years, because you looked so disinterested in all the boys in the course.” If you are reading this right now dude, way to go, good assumption...

When I enrolled onto my Master's degree, I was excited! Because, this time my class was full of girls. I thought the nightmare was over, and I could return to being the shiny, happy and cheerful me again. Well, I was positive until, around the middle of the first semester, I attended one really inspirational guest lecture. She told us that all this awaits us in the future, and will be literally all we experience in the professional world, in terms of social networking and in-work diversity. I remember thinking and feeling, ‘oh great... so it was not just that one period of my life.’

Then I started to reflect this theory on my work experience. I work as a video content producer at a boxing gym and I was happy there, I never felt any discrimination coming from my co-workers or my boss. But the moment I put a little thought into the situation, I realised some of the funny and questionable things, which mostly came from other people such as the guests. They are all minor acts like, avoiding me and asking questions to my male co-worker even though I am totally available, and he is as busy as it gets. Another example, them giving me the good old look that resembles the disappointment of a girl having the full control of the big camera.

Believe me, being 1.63m and 48kg does not help the situation, but I cannot let this get to me. We, as women, cannot let this get to us. These things, you probably will experience, if you have not already, and it is definitely not something to celebrate. However, I strongly consider not caring too much and keep on doing your very best... that’s how we tackle this whole situation. In my opinion, if you work hard and you are good enough at your job, the chances you will suffer from this is almost a non-existing matter. At least this is what I want to believe, because it seems the lack of diversity will always be a case, and discrimination will be our nightmare wherever we go in the professional world or during our education. But being confident, and if needs be fighting, your way up looks like the best option... then so be it.