1:10-not easy with men
Diary of an IITian girl
*This blog is not for the sexists*. It is to all the girls out there who heard -” Tu to ladki hai, tera toh ho jaega”.
Yes, you can relate to it. Yes, this has happened to you too, when your capabilities at every step is questioned just because you are a girl.
Tired of giving innumerable tests, absolutely keeping in mind my domain, I got shortlisted for many companies. It is then, people started backing me up in the most “generous way” possible. Apparently, being a girl is sufficient to get the job. I don’t know where their logic vanishes at the time as if they have cleared the test for me. To my wonder, it is not just me who had to face this. Many of my female friends have heard the same while they were interviewing for internships as well.
But not “obviously”, that’s not what happened. The real story is I was having my continuous interviews and giving my best, side-tracking my realization of being a girl. When, I was free for about half an hour in between, my utterly helpful friends came to me and said “oh in this company you are the only girl, you will be selected” and then I realized, “Oh! There is one such rubbish also there”. With so much strong predictions of my future, I was not selected in that company but in another one.
As a kid, I was never aware that what I achieved had anything to do with my gender like my JEE rank. But once I entered college, I was monotonously reminded that I am a girl, in every step of my path. Similarly, my grade point never had anything to do with my gender. It had more to do with my hard work and persistence and clearly, not having a laid-back attitude that is driven by procrastination.
When I entered into IIT, I did not make it up to here because I was a girl (at least till now), I came as equal. I was never used to get things because of my gender. I always considered myself capable enough to carve my own path. I never wanted any preferential treatment while group recruitment, coursework help, or anything else for that matter. The saddest part of the whole story is that, the guys who themselves keep cribbing about this preferential treatment, continue to perpetuate it when they become group coordinators or secy’s.
There is a lot more discussion happening, whenever a company selects a little less deserving girl but there is not one statement made when a similar guy is selected? Why is there a mere silence then? Sometimes, anyone can get selected based on their interview performance and sheer luck, then why is the judgment only for girls. Accept the fact that, if some girls are selected randomly, then there are guys too.
It’s a misconception hovering around such “brilliant minds” that girls succeed because they are girls, when we compete with boys, we excel because we are better. All the companies that visit are to hire engineers not girls. Yes, we have benefit in those hackathons, which are specifically for girls but there the story is totally different, nothing related to capabilities ;)
We belong to the premiere institute of India and sadly, we are the ones spreading sexism. It’s high time to change this culture, shut the mouth of those who remind you that you are a girl, stop taking benefits, which you feel you got due to the gender bias. Don’t let anyone do any partiality to you. If you won’t raise your voice, the gender discrimination will continue further, at the time of internships and jobs as well.
To the guys, stop giving partial treatment, walk a mile in the girl’s shoes before you comment on how she made her achievements. Stop propagating the sad banter that girls are dumb and boys are logical. If you are logical then please prove that. The average girl in IIT is exhausted of being looked down upon and being treated as inferior. Be proud of your colleagues who continue to excel. Don’t judge without knowing.
For every girl out there, you have excelled in whatever you really deserved. Never ever question yourselves.
You go girl.
