Working with an all-female staff has it’s advantageous. Female representation in politics, Planned Parenthood, and women world leaders are go-to conversation starters, which creates a stimulating and inspiring work atmosphere. This is my second summer working for a small, women-only run organization – last summer there were only 2 full-time employees, this summer 10. It began to dawn on me today that it is highly doubtful that I will be able to continue working in a female-dominated work place. This realization reminded me of an article written by a Claremont student, who argued that women at Scripps College – and female education institutes in general – will not gain the appropriate skills to fight gender imbalance in the workplace. Here are some of my reflections of the skills I gained from working in an all-female atmosphere:
- I don’t feel judged for my clothing, outside work activities, or the foods I consume at work. My friends who are working in larger companies this summer often vent to me about how their every move seems to be scrutinized by their male co-workers. Having the experience of not feeling judged for not being into sports or having a bad hair day enables me to notice when such judgment is happening, instead of it becoming a normalized precondition to working. Having friendly coworkers who showed me from Day 1 that mistakes are OK eases my workplace anxiety. I can take this confidence to initiate conversations and share my opinions into my future internship workplaces.
- I feel respected by all my co-workers, from my direct supervisor to the director of the entire program. Nobody cuts me off mid-sentence, talks over me, or doesn’t fully explain an assignment. I am comfortable asking my supervisor for more responsibility, making bold edits/suggestions, and asking questions. Many people might feel absolutely fine doing these things in a male-dominated office, however I am the type to overthink everything and take social signals as cues of how to act very seriously. With the practice of raising my voice among higher-ups, I will be able to do so when I am in the minority.
- I feel supported in my academic/extracurricular/career interests. Women tend to value forming relationships more than men, and actively seek out how they can help others. This attitude creates a non-competitive workplace, which I really enjoy. In future internships I hope to continue seeing my colleagues as support systems, people who I can give and receive help from, and not competitors. I’ve also learned from this experience to not be scared to talk about future goals and plans. I received helpful insight when bringing up interning in D.C. [people shared their summer experiences in the city], an office I was applying to in particular [someone knew a friend who worked there], and even class registration.
