A Christmas Carol – Part II

In my last post, we learned from my boss how (1) women should have children before they’re 30, (2) women are good at cleaning, (3) it’s great that men and women have different traditional roles.You might be asking yourself at this point: Why would these harmless, obvious statements tip one female scientist over the edge to commit the ultimately aggressive/insane/pointless act of starting a whining blog?? Let us continue the tale. Setting: In a place far, far away, a group of people had gathered to do scientific field work instead of spending Christmas with their loved ones…

During Christmas dinner, the discussion turned to the ‘fact’ that women are less technical than men. Different suggestions were put forward as to why; nature vs. nurture, etc, but the basic ‘truth’ was never disputed; that women are less skilled and interested in technical things than men. Over the course of this discussion I started laying out my point of view rather passionately while resorting (probably annoyingly) to “studies-have-shown” type argumentation more often than anecdotal evidence regarding my granddaughters* or girls who have done internships in my workshop**, at which point the whole conversation apparently got “too serious” or something. We moved on [or at least I read the facial expressions, got the hint, and shut up – or rather kept my input to a polite minimum – for the rest of the evening], but not before my boss*** had expressed his belief that “women are intelligent. Often more intelligent than men.”

I was quite relieved when the Christmas dinner was finished so that I could wander away on a garden path and be alone for a few minutes. In those few minutes, dear reader, I must confess that a tear**** or two rolled down my cheek. What the hell, you may wonder, is her problem? Dear reader, my problem was this:

I am a woman. Over 30. Without kids. Who lives abroad since many years. Who only gets to go home to see my family maybe twice a year. Who just spent Christmas on a different continent, instead of at home. Who generally works her ass off throughout the year. The amount of work I do all along and my preparedness to give up important family holidays are a measure of my interest in and commitment to my work. Which happens to be a fairly technical, and not traditionally female, line of work. Now you’re telling me that

1. Apparently I have my priorities all wrong: I should be off reproducing. Women should have children before they’re 30. Ergo, I’m overdue. What am I even doing here?

2. After all the years I spent in university and the thousands of euros in student loan debts I’ve run up, after the blood, sweat and tears (not to mention my fertile years) spent getting my PhD, the main role that I fulfill is to tidy up. Which is something I didn’t even have to learn, it comes naturally to me, because women are good at cleaning.

There’s more, but in the interest of keeping this to a readable length I bid you good day, and leave the rest for the next post!

*possibly because I have no granddaughters; in fact, not even daughters

**possibly because I have no workshop

***somewhat under the influence

****Let’s not get started on the topic of crying – that’s for another post.