With all the inspirational stories we post here and on the Girls Can’t WHAT? Facebook page, it’s easy to forget that there are women out there who are still struggling.
This email from reader, Leah, is a great reminder that while it is great to break through gender barriers in male-dominated fields, it is often lonely and difficult to find support.
Leah writes:
Hello,
My name is Leah. I have recently been enrolled in the Marine Mechanics Institute in Orlando Florida. I have become familiar with various mechanical as well as electrical systems and I would like to work as a marine mechanic in the future after graduation. I have been in the program for about 6 months and have managed to maintain a 4.0 the entire time.Being a girl in this field is very intimidating for me as well as sometimes very uncomfortable, I am the only female enrolled in my class this year. I am having trouble finding any sort of scholarships for my enrollment at this school and I am very
financially tight on money. I am all on my own, I have moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Florida and I am an extremely hard worker. After Graduation I plan on moving to North Carolina to pursue my career in the marine mechanics field.If there is any way you could lend a helping hand with a scholarship of any sort I would appreciate it so much. Please help encourage the female population to become comfortable with working in male dominated fields.
Thank you very much,
Leah
Not being familiar with marine mechanics or how any of the programs work, I’m reaching out to my Girls Can’t WHAT? network for help today. If you know of any support groups or programs that could help Leah get connected or pay for her training, please post them in the comments below. If not, please feel free to share a few words of encouragement with her.
We’re all in this together. Let’s help each other in any way we can. Thank you so much for supporting Girls Can’t WHAT? and helping us change the world.
5 comments
Leah
This is a website that I have set up to help me collect money. Ladies PLEASE help me share this website to help me out. Thank you so much for your efforts http://www.gofundme.com/417g90
leah
thank you so much for supporting me, it feels awesome to have people who know how i feel. Any advice as to scholarship ideas or anything?
Heather Angelika Dooley
Leah,
In my lifetime, about 85% of my jobs were male-dominated jobs. In fact, many of them had no women working on the floor at all, so I was the only woman. I am not well-versed in Marine Mechanics, so I do not have specific advice pertaining to your specialized field, but I can express what I learned through my experiences.
I found that my employers always believed in me and my capabilities — hence why they hired me. :) It was my coworkers and colleagues that seemed to doubt me in my position. Because many of the jobs were labor jobs, or labor-intensive, many of my (male) coworkers would try and “rescue” me. They would run over and help me lift things, jump in and take over moving something large, even put their hands out to help me open things, etc. They were just being gentlemanly, so I never condemned them for being chivalrous — they were obviously just raised well — but I *did* let them know that I would come to them if and when I needed their help. Not to assume I needed it, in other words. All of them obliged and supported me (and then sometimes, jokingly, would let me nearly get crushed by the weight of something I was trying to strong-arm, to make a funny out of my stance :P).
Along the same theme, I felt that I had to work 90% harder to prove myself. Again, not with my employers, but with my coworkers. In each job, trade, or skill, I found that it took about 5 months after training to have the eyes fall off me and to be treated as one of the gang. The more I proved my ability, the more they forgot that I have different genitalia and I became just one of the “dudes”. As soon as they discovered that I wasn’t going to wince at their male locker room behavior, wimp out when it was time to get down and dirty, or become a handicap, then there was no separation or segregation between myself and the men, whatsoever. In fact, most of the time they had to yell at me to go clean off with the air chuck before I could get in their cars to carpool to lunch because I was the dirtiest one of the bunch! ;)
The only real advice I can give is to just enjoy the company of you co-peers, BUT even if you can hang with the sometimes crude, uncouth ways/conversations of a troop of boys (because that’s what they are when they act like that (it’s like they’ve regressed to 12 again, and they’re not afraid to admit it)), don’t let it jeopardize your integrity. If it ever crosses over into sexual harassment or misconduct, don’t stand for it! I am not hyper-sensitive to boy-like behavior, in spite of what my female empowerment projects may project, but I was fortunate to always work with comedic gentleman. They may have been acting like wayward buffoons (peeing on each other’s toolboxes, removing wheels from office chairs, putting Visine in the orange Igloo cooler), but they would have NEVER let someone disrespect me for real — I was one of their “brothers”/a member of their crew. On the couple of occasions where I worked alongside someone who felt threatened or apprehensive of sharing work space together, I didn’t put up with ANYTHING any other person on the team would not. And the best way to not put up with someone’s disbelief in you is to PROVE ‘EM WRONG!
Just continue to do what you love, do it well, and then get to know your coworkers on a *human* level. Hopefully you’ll be as lucky as I was and make some of the best friends — and memories! — of your life. :)
3 Cheers to you!
~ Heather
kmorisen
Leah-I’m going to agree with Gretchen, good job on the 4.0 GPA. However, I am going to do something odd, and that is, encourage you to fail once in a while. Now, I don’t say that to discourage you, though that is how it may seem, rather, I encourage you to fail to learn from the mistakes and to teach others from your errors. Remember that when you do so, you often learn the greatest lessons of life. Look at it as success not failure. Now, that being said. I want to commend you in entering a male dominated field. As one who has done so several times, first as a firefighter then as a scientist and now as an aspiring pilot, I can say without reservation that it is hard, but the most rewarding thing you will ever do! Never stop chasing your dreams even if they seem out of reach, you will attain them! Of that, I have no doubt. Lean on people who support you and toss away the naysayers. Believe in yourself, in your abilities and in those around you who share those beliefs! Remember no one person can attain anything on their own, but, you cannot reach your goals with people who bring you down.
I wish you all the best in life, though I know in my heart you will make it wherever life leads you!
gretchen
Leah – first let me commend you maintaining the 4.0 GPA. That in itself is a great achievement! Let me also point out that your willingness to let me share this publicly and your pursuit of finding support groups and help to reach your dream is admirable. No one reaches their goal alone. You have to share it and look for support from like-minded people. I am hoping that this post will bring you some encouragement as well as some ideas to keep you moving forward towards your goal.