Why I Became a Feminist, Pt. 8

by Guest Blogger

I was raised in a family of contradictions. My father is a doctor, well respected and a partner in his practice, and one of the most liberal people you will ever meet. My mother dropped out of medical school to marry my dad and yet I would never say that she is in any way inferior to him (she recently got her master’s degree at NYU and is taking further courses through Harvard’s online program). My older siblings went to liberal arts schools and graduated as International Relations majors. My younger brother and I are both into theater. At the same time, my family was more than supportive when I announced that I wanted to be an engineer.

It wasn’t until this year, my first year at an institute of technology, that the need for feminist ideals seemed to become relevant to my life. It wasn’t until this year that I was told “Just don’t talk in so-and-so’s class.” “Don’t draw attention to yourself.” “Trust me, such-and-such doesn’t think that women should be engineers.” It wasn’t until this year when I got shocked looks for, heaven forbid, wearing a skirt or was forced to realize the delicate balance between being a girl and not being thought of as one.

Now, I consider myself to be an intelligent person. So, walking into a class room and having the boy sitting next to me patronizingly explain to me something I understood better than he did bothered me, but I decided to ignore it, at least until a TA asked why I didn’t “just get a boy to write that code.” Or when the internship office nearly mandated that we wear skirt suits to interviews. Heaven forbid we seem less than feminine when applying for engineering jobs.

So, until this year, feminism was irrelevant to my life. I was a nerdy girl who didn’t have to worry about the social pressures. I became a feminist when I realized that the battle is not over, the glass ceiling is still intact, women in engineering are not seen as equals, and that getting hired to fill a quota is really not as good a feeling as getting hired on my merits.

-Katie
(mysanityisrelative @ gmail.com)

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The “Why I Became a Feminist” series is open to anyone who identifies as feminist and wants to share their story. Please email me at rottenlittlegirls @ gmail.com and I will consider publishing your piece in this series. I’d love to have a broad range of voices and experiences.

Check out the rest of the series!